[Released May 4, 1950. Dated May 3, 1950]
PLEASE ACCEPT my sincere thanks for the kind message you have sent me upon your departure from New Orleans. It was indeed a great pleasure for me and for Mrs. Truman to welcome you and your lovely wife to the United States, and to share with you in such genial circumstances a demonstration of the traditional friendship of our two peoples devoted as they are to common principles of democratic government.
I am glad that you have enjoyed your visit and congratulate you upon its success.
The kind invitation you have extended to me to visit your beautiful country is deeply appreciated. I should indeed be happy to return your visit if the pressure of business permits me to do so some day in the future.
On behalf of the people of the United States I send you best wishes for health and happiness and for the welfare of your great nation.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[His Excellency, Gabriel Gonzalez Videla, President of the Republic of Chile, Santiago, Chile]
Note: The text of the translation of President Gonzalez Videla's message, dated May 3, follows:
Dear Mr. President:
In departing from this beautiful country, I wish to express to you, Mr. President, my most profound and sincerest thanks for the extremely cordial manner in which I have been attended by every element that constitutes the very heart of this great democracy. I shall cherish with unfading memory the pleasant conversation with you, in whom I found the living symbol of democracy and good neighborliness.
I realize that all the attentions shown me were directed towards the people of Chile, and to the regime of respect for law and of devotion to liberty, which they have created, and earnestly defend as their most precious treasure. In this common attitude of vigilance against the totalitarian menace, and for the strengthening of democratic institutions, destiny and history will find our two nations united. I beg you, Mr. President, to again accept my sincerest thanks, together with those of my wife and the members of my party; and our respectful compliments to your very worthy wife and charming daughter.
My government and the people of Chile await with enthusiasm the opportunity to receive you and your family, that we may demonstrate in our own land the affection we feel for the great people of the United States and their exemplary President.
Sincerely,
GABRIEL GONZALEZ VIDELA
Harry S Truman, Exchange of Messages With the President of Chile. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230343