Remarks at the Evening Parade following an Inspection of the Marine Barracks.

General Shoup, Colonel, Mr. Vice President, officers and men:

I want to express on behalf of us all our very warm appreciation to you for your salute tonight.

I was invited a month ago by General Shoup to come here to see whether the instructions given by President Thomas Jefferson to Colonel Burrows in regard to constructing a barracks here which would be near to the Navy Yard and also, in his phrase, "within easy marching distance of Washington," had been carried out.

I also, to my dismay, learned that one more impressive Washington title did not have as much significance as I'd thought. I had always enjoyed the title of Commander in Chief until I was informed by General Shoup tonight that the Marines who are here, and others like them in this area and many others, can be moved around at his command; that the only forces that cannot be transferred from Washington without my express permission are members of the Marine Corps Band. They are the only forces that I have. But I want it announced that we propose to hold the White House against all odds at least for some time to come; and we are determined to maintain the spirit which you have shown tonight.

All of us are proud of the Marine Corps. And we recognize that the qualities which have made this drill tonight so distinctive are the same qualities which several weeks ago permitted General Shoup and Admiral Anderson to state that they could put several thousand Marines ashore at Bangkok in 48 hours. And when I pointed to a place on the map of Thailand a good deal to the North they said that they could put them there a day later--and there some of them still stay. It proves that the new breed is as good as the old breed, and I can think of no higher compliment.

All of us, I am sure, 10 years ago, thought that the need for the man with the rifle would be passing away from the scene in the 1960's. And it is true that there are a good many Americans tonight who are stationed underground in a hardened silo whose only duty is to watch some tables and some dials and a button. But the very size and magnitude of these new, great weapons have placed a new emphasis upon what we call, rather strangely, conventional war, and they have made it even more mandatory than ever that we keep the man with the rifle. And that is what the Marine Corps has emphasized. No matter how complicated war has now become, we need a Navy which can take ships close in to shore; we need an Air force that can protect those ships; we need small boats that can take men on a beach; and we need men who will go ashore. The Marine Corps, the Navy, the Army, and the Air force do that. And I hope that the people of this country and all those who look to this country for their independence know how indebted they must be to those of you who serve--the officers and men--and it's a great satisfaction for me to be able to report that President Thomas Jefferson's command has been very successfully carried out.