U.S. Citizenship

Likely Soon For

American Samoans

The US Secretary of the In terior, Mr. Stewart L. Udall, is determined to bring all of the benefits and privileges of Ameri can nationality to the people of

American Samoa, according to

the Under Secretary, Mr. John A. Carver, Jr., who is the second top man in the Interior Depart ment.

IN a television interview during a visit to America Samoa in June, Mr. Carver said the US House of Representatives had recently passed legislation which would give the people of Guam and the Virgin Islands the right to elect their own governor. Senate action on the measure was pending.

Asked if this right would soon be extended to American Samoa, he said the Governors of all territories be lieved in the “drive towards partici pation of the people of all the terri tories toward all the benefits of citizenship”.

This involved a progression through which American Samoa would have to pass.

The first step for Guam and the Virgin Islands came when Congress passed organic acts granting the people US citizenship. Citizenship, he said, would be the first step in American Samoa.

Governor H. Rex Lee, who took part in the interview, said American Samoa would probably have an elected governor and citizenship “in the not too distant future”. ‘The Samoan people are increasingly tak ing responsibility,” he said, “and are moving rapidly towards this.”

Governor Praised

Mr. Carver paid a tribute to the work of Governor Lee, who com pleted five years’ service in the terri tory on May 27.

“The Governor’s programme is a magnificent one and it is moving forward,” he said. “The programme has resulted from Congressional and Administration concern that the Islands were neglected.”

Congress had appropriated the large sums spent in recent years be cause “there was a great deficit” in

American Samoa and this neglect had to be corrected.

Mr. Carver said his visit to American Samoa had no connection with persistent rumours that Governor Lee would be leaving for a position elsewhere. Because the Governor was highly regarded in Washington, he was “coveted” for many other positions, but each time he had been offered a new position he had decided that the future of American Samoa should be given first consideration.

Governor Lee would not leave at any time if his departure would jeopardise the future of American Samoa and the programmes planned for its people.

Lyndon B. Johnson X presented the Governor of American Samoa, Mr. H. Rex Lee, with the President’s Award for Dis tinguished Federal Civilian Service on June 30. T* 1 ? award, consisting of a gold medal and citation, was presented to Governor at House m Washington, m recognition of his ser- X lces to people °f American aamoa.

The citation said Governor Lee was “an imaginative and courageous administrator” who had transformed American Samoa “into a community surging with progress and prosperity”.