Mr. Chancellor:
I wish to express my deep appreciation for that very gracious and eloquent welcome.
I, in return, express to you and to the people of your country our admiration and our respect for what you have accomplished in the years since I first visited this country 22 years ago.
When I first came to this country at that time 22 years ago, I visited Berlin, Essen, Frankfurt, the other great cities of this nation, and I saw them leveled and broken. But one thing was not broken and that was the spirit of the German people.
You have spoken generously of the assistance that the United States has provided for the German recovery, but without the spirit of the German people, without the industry of the German people, there would not have been the miracle which the whole world has admired of German recovery and the strong German nation we see today.
Like so many of my countrymen, I share some of that tradition of the German people. My wife's mother was born in this country and she has that spirit and my two daughters also have that spirit.
But as we speak of the things that have changed over these last 22 years, the miracle of German recovery among them, there are some things that have not changed.
One thing that has not changed is our devotion and dedication to the goal that the German people will again be united. One thing that has not changed is our mutual dedication to the principle of independence and freedom for all of the peoples of Western Europe. And one thing that has not changed is our devotion to the great alliance of which we are a part.
I trust that my visit here and the conversations that I look forward to having with you and members of your government will not only strengthen the relations between our two countries, but also will further strengthen the great alliance of which we are a part.
We stand here together today, heads of our two governments, heads of two great peoples, devoted to the cause of peace, devoted to the cause of freedom, and we will work toward that cause in the talks that we have.
Note: The President spoke at 10:16 a.m. at Wahn Airport, Cologne, Germany. His opening words referred to Chancellor Kurt Georg Kiesinger of the Federal Republic of Germany. An advance text of the President's remarks was also released.
Chancellor Kiesinger's welcoming remarks were not made public in the form of a White House press release.
Richard Nixon, Remarks on Arrival at the Airport in Cologne Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/240669
