IT IS a very great pleasure to have you back again this year. I know you are getting some well-earned information on Government and how it works. And, you know, if you get well enough acquainted with it, when these old people now that are running the Government get out, your turn will come, and you can keep it running on an even keel.
You see, we have the grandest Government in the world. There never was one like it in the history of the world. We must keep it just what it is--a government of all the people, and for all the people.
And if you do that, this Republic can last--well, indefinitely, I hope--I won't make any prophecies, but it ought to continue forever if we do as we should do, and remember that the welfare of our country is based on the welfare of the whole people.
I hope you have had a pleasant visit here. I hope you have learned a lot about your Government, and that you will go back and teach that learning to somebody else who has not had your opportunity, and so help carry on this great Republic of ours.
It is a pleasure to have you here.
Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White House. The delegates were in Washington attending the Sixth Girls Nation of the American Legion Auxiliary.
Harry S Truman, Remarks to the Delegates of Girls Nation. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/231252
