Remarks of Welcome at the White House to President Tubman of Liberia

Mr. President, Mrs. Tubman, Secretary and Mrs. Rusk, distinguished guests:

There are two flags flying here, each of them with a star and stripe in red, white, and blue. They speak more powerfully than any words of all that binds the two nations that meet here in friendship today.

The flag of the Republic of Liberia is fashioned after our own flag. That nation's Constitution and legal system are also drawn from an American example. We are proud to recognize this evidence of an extraordinary and a very enduring friendship.

It began in 1816 with a blow for freedom. The Congress of the United States struck the chains from 88 American slaves, freeing them to return to Africa. President Monroe and the American people gave funds and diplomatic aid to help establish a new and an independent nation.

Liberia's first hundred years are called the "century of survival." Big powers and hungry neighbors tried to swallow up that little state. But this was also a century of kinship between the Liberian people and the American people. In crises, the two nations joined to uphold their common and their treasured birthright:

--the idea of self-determination;

--the right of every nation to live free of interference and intimidation by another nation;

--the duty of all nations to make common cause in defending the indivisible freedom and the inseparable peace of mankind.

There are men today who still scorn those ideas; there are men who still assault those rights. There are still small and helpless nations in this world that come under vicious attack.

But there are also men who have known the fight for survival--who have learned the necessity for free men to unite against aggression-and who today accept the duty of sharing in the struggle for peace in the world.

In all the years of our long partnership, Liberia and America have given many such men to each other, and have given them to the world. One man has stood out among them for a quarter of a century now. I am proud to welcome America's staunch friend--one of Africa's most senior and most respected statesmen--President Tubman of Liberia.

He is no stranger to this house or to our hearts. This is his fourth visit to our land and I can just recall his first visit some 25 years ago to meet with our great President, Franklin D. Roosevelt.

President Tubman has seen the world transformed since that first visit. His leadership has helped to charge a most electrifying and eventful period of change. President Roosevelt saw its promise and he also saw its peril when he looked ahead just before his death. "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow," he said, "will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith."

You moved your nation and your continent forward, Mr. President.

Twenty-five years ago, you stood almost alone as an independent nation in a largely colonial Africa. As we meet here today, more than 30 African states now stand with you as masters of their own destiny.

That, I think, is a reflection--a reflection of your own deep faith in freedom, your own belief that the nations of Africa must join as equals and must advance in unity. We admire your vital contribution to the creation of the Organization for African Unity. We encourage your efforts to enlarge regional cooperation, and we hope that your forthcoming West African summit conference in Monrovia will add to your success.

You have stabilized and you have enlarged the life of your own people with a unification policy extending the franchise and the representation throughout your land.

You have made vast improvements in the physical, educational, and administrative structure of your own country.

Your open door policy has drawn foreign capital to greatly speed your own economic development.

We have stood together, Mr. President, through all the trials as well as through all the triumphs of this past quarter of a century. We have followed President Roosevelt's very good advice, moving forward with "strong and active faith."

So let us continue in that spirit, allowing no doubts of today to limit the promise of what we can achieve tomorrow. Let the flags of our two nations fly together, as they do here today, marking a place of honor and a place of hope where free men can rally in peaceful and always progressive purpose.

Mrs. Johnson and I are most happy and very honored to welcome you and Mrs. Tubman back to this land that is made up of your good friends--and always of your very firm partners.