Remarks at a Dinner for Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson.

Colonel Johnson--Lt. Colonel Johnson-Mr. Chief Justice, Mr. Secretary:

I am happy, of course, to be here. I have been looking around over this audience, and it certainly is a pleasure to be with you. I see the ranking member of the House Committee on Appropriations--the chairman, in fact--from Missouri sitting over there, and I see the ranking member on the Defense Committee of the House, the only Republican in the House that Missouri can boast of--Dewey Short. And I see former members of the committee with which I served in the Senate, sitting over here--Harley Kilgore and Owen Brewster.

As I look around over this gathering, I have come to the conclusion that Lt. Col. Louis Johnson has more friends than I thought he had. I am glad that "Steamboat" Johnson put him in his place. You see, I rank him in that case. I am a colonel myself, at least I suppose I am. I don't know whether the Chief of Staff has canceled that commission or not.

General Bradley: No sir!

THE PRESIDENT. I have had a lot of experience with Chiefs of Staff, and I like them all. And Chiefs of Naval Operation, too, and the Chiefs of the Air Force. But this is a wonderful occasion. I have been in Washington since January 3d, 1935, officially. And I have had associations with nearly every man in this room of one sort or another.

Mr. Forrestal was Secretary of the Navy when I became President of the United States on April 12, 1945, on a very sad evening for me and for the Nation. Mr. Forrestal did a magnificent job as Secretary of the Navy. He has implemented the defense program as Secretary of Defense, and he is being succeeded by an able and distinguished gentleman from West Virginia, Lt. Col. Louis Johnson, in whom I have the utmost confidence, as I had in Mr. Forrestal.

This audience is made up of a cross section of the Government of the United States. I see the Secretary of the Treasury sitting back there, who is also a colonel of field artillery--Mr. Chief of Staff, is he not? And I see the other members of the Government scattered around over here. It would take me all evening to name them. It goes to show that we have, I think, the most interesting government in the history of the world.

I had an argument with the Chief Justice of the United States in Key West, not long ago, over the approach of a certain Hun toward Rome. We settled the argument, and we were both right. Now I want to argue with him about another quotation which he made tonight, by the great historical leader Cato. If I remember correctly, that quote was "Delenda est Carthago." Now there have been statements in the Senate of the United States, only they have been "Delenda est Trumano." They didn't work quite so well as "Delenda est Carthago" did. And I am happy to say that I have no ill feeling toward those gentlemen who would like to have "Delenda est'ed" me.

I think we are facing a very great age, and I have been trying to build up a Presidential family--a Cabinet--that can meet that age. And I think I am succeeding in doing it.

I am exceedingly sorry that Secretary Forrestal found it necessary to retire, and he is perfectly right in wanting to retire. He has been in this Government longer than most anybody here in the executive branch of the Government. He has had a successful career, and all I can wish for him is a most successful future. I know he will have it.

As I told him today at the farewell luncheon which the Cabinet had for him, that whenever there is a Cabinet meeting the doors are open, and he is perfectly welcome to come in and give us any information and advice he feels like giving us.

His successor, I am sure, will perform his functions successfully. I have known Louis Johnson a long time. I was in a Legion fight one time when he was trying to be National Commander. "Steamboat" Johnson here was engineering the program, just as he engineered this one tonight. And he did it successfully. Louis had a very outstanding career as the National Commander of the Legion. I am satisfied that he will have an outstanding career as Secretary of Defense.

We are faced with a great many problems, both in this hemisphere and in the Eastern Hemisphere. We have been trying to meet those problems to the best of our ability, and I believe that when the history of the years after the war are written objectively and not politically, we will have nothing to be ashamed of or sorry for.

I wish I could have been here earlier tonight, but as you know I have certain chores that have to be carried out. The Director of the Budget comes in nearly every day and hands me a stack of documents to read, and the Secretary of State comes in nearly every day and hands me documents to read; and as soon as he leaves, the Secretary of the Treasury usually comes in and hands me documents to read. Today I saw every member of the Cabinet, and each of them had things that they thought were necessary for me to look into. I have been trying to cover that situation since I left the White House office at 5:30 this evening.

You know, the White House is not functioning now, it's about to fall down. I hope it doesn't before the Congress gets around to the point of having it fixed. The engineers and architects decided that the President and his family ought to move out because the second floor might cave in and cover him up. Some people would be very happy over that, but not me! Eventually, I hope, we will get back into the House.

I am exceedingly pleased to be here. As I said, I wish I could have been here before now, as I know you have had a very pleasant evening. All of you look as if you did. From the looks of the debris around here, I am sure you did.

I wish for the new Secretary of Defense every success, and as far as it is possible for me to give it to him, he will have the cooperation of the President of the United States.