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o What is the cost to the nation of mental retardation? That cost is known to be staggering in terms of service expenditure and undeveloped human resource. Its more precise determination and elaboration in terms of long-term national societal trends is a major planning need.

o With jobs being increasingly designed for people, what kinds of job engineering can and needs to be done for the retarded? What kind of teaching-training techniques need to be designed for use with the retarded to ready them for jobs designed for their particular skills?

o In the increasingly complex city, how shall we at once utilize and protect those mentally retarded who can support themselves in a job but need a form of guardianship in their off-duty hours?

o How shall we plan to serve the mentally retarded among the 10 percent of the U.S. population who will continue to live in small towns and rural areas?

o What will shorter work weeks and more leisure time for Americans generally mean for the retarded? Will there be adequate volunteer help available? What of recreation for the retarded themselves -- what are its undiscovered potentials for bringing the retarded a greater share in the fullness of daily life? How shall we inspire young America to enter this critically important field, both as volunteers and as career workers?

o What job, personnel and career changes and innovations will be necessary to match available skills and resources to the meeting of ever-growing need in the mental retardation field?

o What are the moral and ethical implications of technological findings in the genetics and management of mental retardation? Should a discourse on these subjects be instituted among scientists, philosophers, theologians, social theorists, parents?

The widest possible attention to the problem of mental retardation is a national necessity. The problem affects all parts of American society. The best thinking and action of labor, industry, the professions, and government must be brought to bear on this problem. It is too significant a problem, too tough a challenge to be left to a comparatively few specialists and other interested persons.

MR. PRESIDENT, THIS REPORT PRESENTS ACTION AREAS in which concerted national, state and local effort by public agencies and private, voluntary organizations can produce significant progress in combating mental retardation and lessening its effects. This Committee has in progress a group of special reports which will present specific documentation and recommendations on many of the areas described in general terms in this report. Effective action, however, need not await the compilation of details, but can be taken at every level now on the basis of information already available.

We enlist your aid, Mr. President, in endorsing, the release of this report to the public and in urging action at all levels for a continuing, effective national attack on the problem of mental retardation.