Here are the exact words that Mr. Rogers said to the Senate Subcommittee on Communication before being awarded the government grant that launched “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” on May 1, 1969:
“This is what I give: I give an expression of care every day to each child, to help him realize that he is unique. I end the program by saying ‘You’ve made this day a special day by just your being you. There’s no person in this whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.’ And I feel that if we in public television can only make it clear that feelings are mentionable and manageable, we will have done a great service for mental health. I feel that it’s much more dramatic that two men could work out their feelings of anger, much more dramatic than showing something of gunfire. I’m constantly concerned about what people are seeing.”