Remarks in El Paso at a Ceremony Marking the Settlement of the Chamizal Dispute

Mr. President Lopez Mateos, Mrs. Mateos, Governor Connally, Mrs. Connally, Senator Yarborough, Ambassador Carillo Flores, .Ambassador Sanchez Gavito, ladies and gentlemen:

These are days when a shaft of light cuts through the darkness and brightens the deepest hopes of man. This is such a day.

Two free and growing nations have resolved an old and divisive grievance.

It is 100 years since the roaring summer floods of the Rio Grande remade this land. Then we were both in the midst of mortal conflict to preserve our nations. We were both dedicated to extending liberty in the face of extreme danger. We were both led by men whose greatness has endured the estimate of history--Abraham Lincoln and Benito Juarez.

Lincoln commanded my nation "to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace .... "Jufirez reminded us: "Respect for the rights of others is peace." The goals of these men have guided us to this day.

We approached the council table with respect for each other's rights and determined to achieve a just and lasting settlement. Thus, we triumphed over a problem which has troubled relations for half a century.

In that connection, I want to pay unusual tribute today to our former Ambassador to Mexico, our present Assistant Secretary of State in charge of Latin American Relations, the very able and the very devoted friend of both Mexico and the United States, Mr. Tom Mann.

It is a great thrill to be here on the border of these two countries. It was a great pleasure to see so many of my old friends from both nations. I particularly enjoyed meeting one of the men who has done much to promote the friendship of Mexico and the United States throughout his public life, Judge Ewing Thomason of your own town of El Paso.

So, to Ambassador Flores and Ambassador Mann, and Mr. President Lopez Mateos, let me say: Let Chamizal stand as a symbol to all the world that the most troublesome of problems can yield to the tools of peace. And let us never forget, let us always remember, that another great man whose visionary statesmanship made this settlement possible was John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Let me take a moment on this occasion to review the progress of freedom and peace, for these are really the twin stars for both of our great nations. I would also like, Mr. President, to talk to my people about the attitudes and policies toward the world, of which this settlement is another shining symbol.

For almost 20 years the world has lived with the ambitions of tyranny and lived with the threat of war, and they are still with us. But I believe that reasonable men of every party and every nation can agree our world has really become a safer place for freedom.

In Latin America, country after country has chosen the course of democratic development. The followers of communism have made no new conquest, and their numbers have actually dwindled.

Our Alliance for Progress is an effective instrument of social justice, of which you spoke so eloquently, and of economic progress for all the nations of this hemisphere. I know much of its success rests on the fact that it has the same goals as the continuing Mexican revolution which you, Mr. President, have done so much in your term of office to advance.

And it thrills me more, Mr. President, than you know, to realize that here at the end of your term we could meet on an occasion like this, stronger in friendship, happier in achievement, than when we met before you took the oath of office as President of Mexico a few years ago.

Yes, much of the good will and the peace that exists now between our countries and this hemisphere is due to your own understanding and your own efforts in that direction. And here in America we have found peaceful roads to the solutions of differences, from Chamizal to Panama.

In Africa, not one of 20 new nations has chosen communism. Ninety percent of African trade, as we meet here today, is with the West. Ninety percent of its students sent overseas have come to the West. All this, in a continent that many feared a few years ago would fall easy prey to Communist ambitions.

In the Middle East, only a few years ago, it seemed that Communist subversion was nearing success. Today, those nations are stronger in their independence than ever before. And Israel has grown in freedom.

In Asia the giant of India has endured a powerful assault and a painful transition. Free Japan is flourishing again, and Chinese aggression, by force and by threat, has failed to subdue its neighbors.

In Eastern Europe steadily widening cracks are already appearing in the Communist empire. Nation after nation has sought new ties with the West, and new independence from Moscow. And we will continue to encourage this movement, not through empty slogans or threats, but through patiently building bridges of interest and understanding.

The greatest enemies of freedom in the world are ignorance and disease, and in both Mexico and the United States, we are redoubling our efforts to fight both of these dreadful barnacles. Western Europe today has never been stronger. Its people now reach for new heights of abundance. There are differences, but they come from strength and they come from self-confidence, not from weakness, not from fear. And there is no difference in our resistance to Communist ambition or our devotion to freedom.

The Soviet Union is increasingly absorbed in the disappointments of its economy and disputes with former comrades. Our strength is convincing them that they actually have nothing to gain by war. Increased willingness to reach agreement has brought the test ban treaty in which so many peace-loving nations like your own have joined, one of many first steps toward the day when really the fear of war can finally be banished from this earth.

I do not wish to paint too bright a picture. There is another side of the coin. Every continent carries danger and uncertainty. There are unsolved problems, there are unresolved conflicts, from Cyprus to Viet-Nam, from the Congo to Cuba. Tomorrow's bitter headlines could very well shatter today's bright hopes.

But if we look beyond the problems of the moment, to the larger pattern of events, we see a world where freedom is stronger and where lasting peace is nearer. I believe that we have cause to hope that the great forward movement of history is in step with the deepest hope of man.

This is not the product of a single period, and certainly not the product of a single President. It is the sum of a hundred achievements and acts of courage by every administration, since the first nuclear blast ended one world and started another. Nor is it the product of a single nation. It rests fundamentally on the devotion to freedom of countries which share common hopes around the world.

The foreign policy of the United States has been guided by three cardinal principles, and these are the principles that we intend to continue.

First is determination backed by strength. The United States is the most powerful country in the history of the world. Its might is strong enough to deter any rational aggressor, and is flexible enough to meet any threat from any source.

But I must caution you, and I must remind you, that strength must be matched by courage and wisdom if it is to protect freedom. And where freedom has been under attack, the United States has moved to meet those attacks. We have never rattled our rockets, we have never played the part of a bully, we have never taken reckless risks. We have never pressed our adversaries to the point where nuclear assault was their only alternative. But America has always and will always stand firm.

To our own citizens and to our friends from our neighboring country today I would remind you that this is not an accident of the moment. This was true of President Truman in Greece and Turkey. This was true of President Eisenhower in Lebanon and the Formosa Straits. This was true of President John Kennedy in the Cuban missile crisis. And it was and it is true in the Gulf of Tonkin.

Second is sacrifice of our own resources and our own efforts in order to build the strength of others.

One of the most stimulating and inspiring experiences of my entire public life occurred to me on the streets of Rome just a few months ago when I was Vice President and I was driving down the streets of that beautiful city.

A priest came running from his schoolroom, followed by other teachers, and three or four hundred little boys. He had seen the American flag flying on the Vice President's car.

He threw himself in front of this car and the brakes had to take a screeching halt, and we came to a stop. He dashed up to the door and he said, "I just could not let the American flag go by, because never in the history of all mankind have any people demonstrated so much compassion and so much humaneness. Never have the victors treated the vanquished as the United States has treated us."

And then he turned and looked at the Rome skyline that had been rebuilt since World War II, and he pointed to the magnificent buildings that towered that skyline, and to the smokestacks where industry was thriving, and he said, "There, together, we rebuilt this land. I want you to go back and on behalf of the 400 little children in my school, say thank you to all the people of the United States for the sacrifices they made in order that we could build again."

In my moments of depression, when things seem not to go so well, and some people tell me all the things that are wrong with my country and my beloved land--and few of them ever remind us of the things that are right--I get consolation and comfort from thinking about what the people, the little people, of the other places of the world and the other continents--of the gratitude they feel for the understanding that has been ours.

From the Marshall plan to the Alliance for Progress, the people of the United States have freely given of their abundance to the progress of other nations. We have done this because it is right that the strong and the rich should help the weak and the poor.

And this great leader who honors us with his presence today, President Lopez Mateos, has recognized that principle and put it into effect in America. And as long as I am President of the United States, I am going to recognize it here. He and I both know that the world is safer for others when others have the strength to keep their own freedom.

The NATO Alliance is a tribute to the vision of this policy, and around the world our influence has been on the rise as others have learned we seek not to dominate but to help, we seek not to rule but to cooperate, we seek not to demand their submission but to assist their freedom.

Next Tuesday I am going to welcome to the White House a great leader of the world who is coming there representing NATO. He and I are going to get in my plane, Air Force One, and fly out to the Strategic Air Forces to see General Power so that he can see with his own eyes, and he can tell the people of NATO, that our mission is peace in the world and we have the strength to accomplish that mission.

Third, we have patiently searched for those areas of common interest which might lead to fruitful agreement. A difference in language, a difference in environment, a difference in resources, a difference in people, a difference in customs--all of those are problems that make it difficult sometimes to understand the other fellow. But Americans try to follow the Golden Rule, do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And we have tried to find a basis for reaching agreements that step by step would ultimately lead us to be able to live without fear in this world of our time.

The test ban treaty is a product of this process. The Chamizal settlement is a product of this process. Lasting peace will come from the careful, the patient, and the practical search for these solutions.

It is easy to become impatient and impulsive. It is easy to tell the other fellow, "Here is our ultimatum, and you do as we say--or else." But that will never be the policy of this country under my leadership.

Our Government is not a government of ultimatum. Our Government is a government of respect for the rights of others, and the attempt to understand their problems. We have the strength and we have the self-confidence to be generous toward our friends and to be unafraid of our adversaries. There is no reason why we should tremble in our boots. There is no reason why we should become so frightened that we would frighten others into a nuclear war.

A nation strong in its might, a nation that is secure in its own beliefs, a nation that is steadfast in its own goals, should never be afraid to sit down at the council table with any other nation. That is what the great President of Mexico said to me before he took the oath of office as President. We discussed some of the problems, including the Chamizal. We discussed building dams for the benefit of both of our people. We discussed the problem of health, of education, of transportation, in his country and in mine. We agreed that we could march better shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, than we could by threatening and intimidating each other.

It is only the weak and the timid that need fear the consequences of communication and discussion. The United States has never been such a nation and we will never be such a nation.

The Presidents of the last 20 years have all been willing to go anywhere, to talk to anyone, to discuss any subject, if their efforts could strengthen freedom and advance the peace of the world. And I pledge you here today I will go to any remote corner of the world to meet anyone, any time, to promote freedom and to promote peace.

President Lopez Mateos, the Chamizal is a very small tract of land. But the principle is a very great one. Let a troubled world take note that here, on this border, between the United States and Mexico, two free nations, unafraid, have resolved their differences with honor, with dignity, and with justice to the people of both nations.

President Lopez Mateos, the statesmanship that you have evidenced in this settlement could well serve as a model for great leaders the world over.

As we meet here, we live in a very complicated world. There are more than a hundred different nations with a hundred different histories, each with its own dreams and each with its own desires. There are rich nations and poor nations. There are strong nations and weak nations. There are white and black, slave and free, friend and enemy.

We cannot abandon all of those who disagree with us. To do so would only leave them at the mercy of communism. We cannot force and bully all others to think and act as we do in the United States. We can recognize their just interests and still protect our Own.

We can stand fast in freedom's cause, and that I guarantee you is what we are going to do.

Mr. President, we can and we will welcome the challenge of working toward a peace on a hundred different fronts, in a hundred different ways, for as long as the task may take. In this way, and this way only, we can make steady progress toward freedom and peace, and toward the fulfillment of man.

The struggle for peace is rarely dramatic. There are no marching bands and there are few swift victories. But I believe that this generation has an opportunity for greatness given to no other nation at no other time.

Other great leaders have built victorious empires and they have conquered vast territory. But those achievements have crumbled under the relentless erosion of time and change. So working together with all the free nations in this hemisphere we can help build an order of peace and progress which will endure for generations. No people have ever had a greater challenge.

And, Mr. President, to you and the people of your country, and to my fellow countrymen, I say to you today as prophetic as I know how to be, that I genuinely and earnestly believe that no people in all history have ever been more ready to meet the challenge of peace and more prepared to achieve it.