Remarks of Welcome at the White House to the King and Queen of Thailand

Your Majesties:

On behalf of the people of the United States, I welcome you once again to my country.

All of us who had the pleasure of meeting you when you were here in 1960 remember that visit with a very special warmth and with great pleasure.

Since that time, Mrs. Johnson and I both have had the privilege of visiting Your Majesties in Thailand. We will never forget your hospitality nor the friendship of the Thai people themselves--and the warmth with which they welcomed us to your country when we were there last fall during our trip to Asia.

That our heads of state and government have met often in recent years, I think is a symbol of the changing times and the changing relationships. Until very recently, the United States and Thailand were thought of as the most distant of lands.

They were widely separated by both geography and interests. Today, we look at it from an entirely different viewpoint. We see ourselves as your neighbors. We are only hours apart. We are neighbors who share the problems and the opportunities of a great, common Pacific frontier.

We welcome Your Majesties as the beloved leaders of a gallant nation which has not only the desire to be free--because all nations have that--but the wisdom and the courage to do what is necessary to be free.

There was a time not long ago when some of our friends in Asia were deeply concerned about their future. They wondered whether they were destined to be dominated by an aggressive alien power.

They wondered whether they would have to face that power alone--unaided by friends who wished them well, but whose wishes could not be translated into reality.

Those days are gone. Throughout Asia, there is a new spirit. It is a spirit of faith in the future. It has brought in its wake confidence-confidence that the future of Asia is not something that is preordained, but is something that can be built and shaped to Asian desires by Asian efforts.

I am glad to say that the people of your nation of Thailand have led the way. Thailand never gave in to despair. Thailand never assumed that its independence could not be maintained.

Your people knew that men are not the victims of history--but are the makers of history.

You were among the first to send your sons to fight for liberty in Korea. Without hesitation, you took your stand as a charter member of the SEATO Alliance.

Now, today, you are making an invaluable contribution to the struggle of freedom in Vietnam.

I have no doubt about the outcome of those efforts in which we have joined as Pacific partners. When the free men of Asia's future write the history of the present, the gallantry and the courage of the Thai nation will be a luminous page.

Your Majesties, Mrs. Johnson and I are so delighted that we could welcome you once again. We look forward to very useful and fruitful discussions with you--and a happy evening in the White House together tonight.

Thank you.