The most urgent and critical need of the people of Greenbrier County -- and of all the people of West Virginia -- is the need to attract new industry -- new jobs and new incomes -- to your State.
And there is no place in West Virginia more ideally suited to industrial development than Greenbier County. You have some of the best and most beautiful business sites in the world. You have a strong, determined and skilled people -- people who want to work, are willing to work, and should be given the chance to work. You are situated within easy reach of America’s most important markets. And you have the resources -- the human resources and the material resources which new industry demands. All you need in order to start a vital, booming industrial development in Greenbrier County is a little help and a little understanding from Washington.
We Democrats have given you this help and understanding. We have proposed legislation in Congress to help stimulate new jobs and new industry in Greenbrier County, and the many other hard-hit areas of this country -- legislation which will restore prosperity and hope to your State -- a bill which provides long-term loans, technical assistance, help in building roads and water supplies, and all the essential prerequisites of economic growth.
A Democratic Congress passed this bill in 1958 -- but it was vetoed -- vetoed without regard to the suffering and tragedy that fills the more than 100 distressed communities of heavy unemployment -- vetoed by a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower. But in 1961 -- with a Democratic President in the White House, this legislation will become a reality -- and in 1961 -- Greenbrier County will begin the march back to prosperity and abundance for all its people.
Source: Papers of John F. Kennedy. Pre-Presidential Papers. Senate Files, Box 909, "Ronceverte, West Virginia, 4 May 1960." John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.