Remarks at the Dedication of the Smithsonian Institution's National Collection of Fine Arts.

Distinguished Regents of the Smithsonian, Secretary Ripley, Dr. Scott, ladies and gentlemen:

This is a proud moment. I wanted to say that dedicating the new home of this National Collection makes me feel like a proud father, but on the plane this evening coming back from Kansas City, Mrs. Johnson said that would sound boastful.

So then I thought I might say that I felt like a proud grandfather. But some people, she told me, think I already talk too much about my grandson.

So tonight, my friends, I am authorized to tell all of you that I do feel very much like a proud uncle of the National Collection.

I think you know how an uncle is. He doesn't visit very often, but he likes his relations to do well and it is good to see that the National Collection is doing well.

If I will never be remembered as a patron of the arts, I should be delighted to be known as an uncle of the arts.

Truly, this is a historic night for all of us. Until now, the United States was the only great country which had no national museum devoted to its own art.

The American collection was shunted about our Capital like a cultural stepchild. It was always in search of a home. Tonight it has a home, a great, historic home whose sandstone came from quarries that were first operated by George Washington, and whose halls welcomed Abraham Lincoln on the night of his Inaugural Ball.

So tonight, thanks to the tireless dedication of many, many Americans, we see laid out before us the creative history of our great Nation.

From the beginning, America was known as a very vigorous and a very dynamic nation. It grew quickly in size, in population, and in wealth. From the beginning, America was a wonder of the world, and also a hope for the world.

And it would have been most unusual, I think, if all of this energy had not been accompanied by great artistic outpouring. As we can see here this evening, it was and it is.

Through art, it is said, the soul of a nation is revealed. This new museum is a great resource for America, and for all the world, for that matter.

I am proud that I can be here with you to open this museum. I am very proud of the patrons who have made it possible. I am proud to wish it a long, a happy, and a prosperous life.

Let me add another word. This is a day that we shall remember for another reason. It was 1 o'clock this morning that I was awakened and informed that Hanoi was prepared to meet us in Paris, to talk about peace.

We often think about peace as an absence of war. But, in fact, peace is a struggle, an achievement, an endless effort to convert hostility into negotiation, bloody violence into politics, and hate into reconciliation.

I have sought this moment for more days and nights than you will ever credit, and in enough places for all the historians to judge that we were fully credible when we said "any time, anywhere."

Now we shall begin. The days, the weeks, and the months ahead are going to be very hard and hazardous and trying, and exact the best from all of us. But with every fiber of my being, I shall try to move us from fighting to peace, from enmity to brotherhood, and from destruction to common efforts on behalf of the men and women and children of all of Southeast Asia.

In all of this, I ask all of you for your prayers.

Thank you, and good night.