May 19, 1949
I APPRECIATE that most highly. I want to say to you gentlemen that I hope you will have a pleasant time. You are most, most welcome here. Our only difficulty is finding the means to meet the precedent for courtesy which was set in Brazil. I don't think we can ever hope to come up to the treatment which we received when we were down there, from the President all the way down. Our press was cordially treated. I don't think I ever had such a welcome in my life as I had in Rio de Janeiro; in fact, I know it.
I have endeavored to give President Dutra something in the nature of the reception which he gave me in Rio de Janeiro. Of course, we knew very well we could not hope to approach the turnout which you had in Rio de Janeiro. One of our handicaps is that we have only 700,000 people in Washington and in the immediate vicinity, and I understand that Rio de Janeiro has something approaching 3 million, so that makes some difference.
The President assured me this morning that he had had a wonderful time, that he is having a wonderful time, and we want him to continue to have just that sort of pleasurable visit here.
We are all of the same opinion, that the cementing of the good-neighbor policy in the Western Hemisphere is vitally important to the welfare of the world as a whole. We have always counted Brazil as our friend, and I know that we can always count Brazil as our friend. We are in a peculiar position. They give us credit for being an exceedingly powerful nation, but our neighbors to the south of us and our neighbors to the north of us are not afraid of us. We are all friends together. That is an example that I hope some other people in the world will start to follow.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke in his office at the White House at 3:35 p.m. His opening words "I appreciate that" referred to remarks by Herbert Moses, president of the Brazilian Press Association, who had presented the group to President Truman.
I APPRECIATE that most highly. I want to say to you gentlemen that I hope you will have a pleasant time. You are most, most welcome here. Our only difficulty is finding the means to meet the precedent for courtesy which was set in Brazil. I don't think we can ever hope to come up to the treatment which we received when we were down there, from the President all the way down. Our press was cordially treated. I don't think I ever had such a welcome in my life as I had in Rio de Janeiro; in fact, I know it.
I have endeavored to give President Dutra something in the nature of the reception which he gave me in Rio de Janeiro. Of course, we knew very well we could not hope to approach the turnout which you had in Rio de Janeiro. One of our handicaps is that we have only 700,000 people in Washington and in the immediate vicinity, and I understand that Rio de Janeiro has something approaching 3 million, so that makes some difference.
The President assured me this morning that he had had a wonderful time, that he is having a wonderful time, and we want him to continue to have just that sort of pleasurable visit here.
We are all of the same opinion, that the cementing of the good-neighbor policy in the Western Hemisphere is vitally important to the welfare of the world as a whole. We have always counted Brazil as our friend, and I know that we can always count Brazil as our friend. We are in a peculiar position. They give us credit for being an exceedingly powerful nation, but our neighbors to the south of us and our neighbors to the north of us are not afraid of us. We are all friends together. That is an example that I hope some other people in the world will start to follow.
Thank you very much.
NOTE: The President spoke in his office at the White House at 3:35 p.m. His opening words "I appreciate that" referred to remarks by Herbert Moses, president of the Brazilian Press Association, who had presented the group to President Truman.