Remarks in Pearl Harbor at the Commissioned Officers Mess.

Governor Stainback, Admiral Radford, gentlemen of this great Territory of Hawaii:

It is certainly a pleasure to have this short visit in Honolulu. I sincerely wish I could stay longer. In fact, I made a suggestion to my advisers this morning that we might take a vote on whether we should just let the situation drift and stay here. But, of course we can't do that; you know we can't do that.

I am very much interested in this part of the world. I was highly appreciative of the fact that these young ladies appeared in their native costumes. That was an accommodation to us. They looked very beautiful, and I know that all of you enjoyed the luncheon much better on that account.

I know also that this Territory has furnished some very able assistance in Korea, and that your casualties have been very great. I am sincerely sorry about the casualties, but somebody has to meet these situations; they can't be met with sticks and stones--somebody is bound to get hurt.

Last night, before I left San Francisco, I visited the hospital at Fairfield Base and called on those wounded who had just come in from Korea. Those young men have magnificent morale. Secretary Pace, General Bradley, and several others of the party went with me to that hospital ward. There was not a single complaint. There was not a single man there who did not feel that he was making the proper sacrifice for his country. If all of us in the whole country had that same brand of morale, we would never get into trouble. I think we are slowly and gradually attaining that situation.

It is difficult for us--for this Republic of ours--to realize the responsibilities of the Government of the United States. In one generation we have come from an isolated Republic, which considered itself entirely safe with an ocean on each side of it, to the position of leadership of the world--the most powerful nation in the world.

And as the most powerful nation in the world, we have to assume world responsibilities. One of the principal reasons why I am anxious to see the Territory of Hawaii and the Territory of Alaska become States is because of their vital importance to the defense and to the welfare of the United States of America. They are both key positions in the national defense of the United States on its western borders. It is necessary that they have representation in the legislative bodies of the United States in order to bring that lesson home to the Congress. There are men in the Congress who do not yet realize that we are an international nation now, and not just a Republic bounded on the east by the Atlantic and on the west by the Pacific. I hope that lesson can go home to the whole country in such a way that we can maintain the peace of the world.

I am not one of those who thinks that another world war is inevitable. I am just as sure as I stand here that the people behind the Iron Curtain are just as anxious for peace as I am. I am just as sure as I stand here that if the truth could be gotten to these people, there would be peace in the world. And we are going to get the truth to those people, and we won't have to do it with guns, I am sure.

I can't tell you how very much I appreciate the hospitality of Admiral Radford and the Governor of this Territory, and I sincerely wish that I were not on an errand which requires constant study and work, so that I am not in a position to attend any special meetings of any kind.

It is necessary, after our conference with General MacArthur on the situation in Korea and Japan, for me to immediately return to San Francisco and tell the world what our policy is as it affects the world and world peace. And on the 24th of October I shall appear before the United Nations and try to drive the matter home in such a way that we may begin to arrive at a situation where we can have world peace and not world war. That is my sole ambition. I have no other--never had any other. Since I became President in 1945, it has been my constant effort to get things worked out so that there would be permanent peace in the world. There is no reason why it can't be done.

I want to say to you that had I been able to accomplish that in 1948, I don't think it would have been necessary for me to go out and show certain people that polls don't count. I am glad I did that, however. I am glad I did that, however, because it taught those people a lesson, and they needed a lesson--they needed it badly.

I am hoping that as a result of what we are trying to do, we will wind up with a condition where we won't have to make the sacrifices that your young men are making now.

It was my privilege, after the Second World War, to pin some medals on some of your soldiers from this Territory--brave men who won those medals in Italy. I decorated the whole regiment, or battalion, I forget which it was, in the backyard of the White House, and I pinned some special medals on some of those young men. And I was very proud and happy to do it.

You know, one of the greatest things that I do as President of the United States is to award medals to these young men who win them. I have awarded more Congressional Medals of Honor than all the Presidents put together. That is not because I am there, it is because of the fact that we had the greatest war we have ever fought, which ended while I happened to be President.

I want to thank you again for all this gracious hospitality, and I hope that you will hold the door open and let me come back down here sometime, if I can get Key West's consent, and stay longer.