Remarks Upon Awarding the National Geographic Society Gold Medal to Jacques-Yves Cousteau

I WANT TO SAY that it is a great pleasure and honor to participate in this event sponsored by the National Geographic, which has been a great American institution, and which has advanced our information on a whole variety of horizons in the last years.

And I can think of no more felicitous award than this to the Captain. We have learned in the last 60 years how to fly better than the birds--or at least higher and longer. And the Captain has given us a possibility that some day we may swim as well as the fish--or at least deeper. And he is, therefore, one of the great explorers of an entirely new dimension, and I can imagine his satisfaction in having opened up the ocean floor to man and to science.

And therefore I present the National Geographic Society Gold Medal Award to Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, undersea pioneer to earth-bound man, who gave the key to the silent world, April 19, 1961.

I congratulate also your wife, the representatives of France, the Ambassador, Mrs. Alphand, and your country, and you, and the Geographic.