February 21, 1952
IT IS a very great pleasure to receive you here this morning, and I am more than happy to receive you after what you have just said about the progress you are making in the far West with the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes.
My interest is for the welfare and the fair treatment of your people. I was being interviewed yesterday by a housing commission, and they were discussing the terrible situation of certain minority groups in the country. They named all the minority groups but they didn't say a word about the only 100 percent Americans in the country, and that is the American Indians.
My interest is in your welfare. I think that we owe a debt to your people that we never can repay. I think I have a collection--a library, in fact--of stories of the great Indian leaders of the Middle West, and of the Six Nations up there, that are just as interesting as any other stories of any heroes you want to read about in the world. Now, if I can do anything to further the welfare of your people, I am here to try to do it.
NOTE: The President spoke at 12:20 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House.
IT IS a very great pleasure to receive you here this morning, and I am more than happy to receive you after what you have just said about the progress you are making in the far West with the Navajo and Hopi Indian tribes.
My interest is for the welfare and the fair treatment of your people. I was being interviewed yesterday by a housing commission, and they were discussing the terrible situation of certain minority groups in the country. They named all the minority groups but they didn't say a word about the only 100 percent Americans in the country, and that is the American Indians.
My interest is in your welfare. I think that we owe a debt to your people that we never can repay. I think I have a collection--a library, in fact--of stories of the great Indian leaders of the Middle West, and of the Six Nations up there, that are just as interesting as any other stories of any heroes you want to read about in the world. Now, if I can do anything to further the welfare of your people, I am here to try to do it.
NOTE: The President spoke at 12:20 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House.