WILL YOU PLEASE extend my cordial greetings to all those gathered at Los Angeles for the opening of the Olympic Games and also my hearty welcome to our visitors from abroad? I deeply regret that I am unable to be present, for I had looked forward with eagerness to the pleasure of seeing those wonderful sports, and also to visiting my home State.
In the years since the Olympics were held in America for the first time at St. Louis they have grown steadily in the interest of all the nations, until today they occupy at least as great a significance in our world as the original Olympic Games occupied in the ancient world, when Greece was at the height of its glory. They have become a positive force for international acquaintance and understanding and good will.
They teach that the hardest competition may be accompanied by good humor and that rivalry may be expressed with good sportsmanship. I warmly hope that the games may be in every way successful. Especially do I send my encouragements and best wishes to our American athletes.
Note: Vice President Charles Curtis read the President's message at the opening ceremonies of the games. Some 2,000 athletes from 50 countries participated in the quadrennial competition.
As printed above, this item follows the text set forth in a contemporary news account.
Herbert Hoover, Message to the Opening of the Games of the Tenth Olympiad. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/207328