Remarks on Arrival at Walla Walla, Washington.

I JUST WISH that on this beautiful Sunday afternoon that Mrs. Nixon and I could have the chance to meet everybody that is here at the airport, but if so, we would never get to Alaska in time to welcome the Emperor of Japan, so we cannot do it.

I do, however, want you to know that to receive such a welcome here at Walla Walla, where I visited 15 years ago, is really very heartwarming.

I know you know the people from your own State who are here, but I know that you would all want to give a hand to the Governor, Governor Evans. I said when the Governor was elected, and I said in 1968: He is, without question, one of the outstanding Governors in this country-progressive, strong, intelligent. I am very proud that he is here in the State of Washington.

More important, of course, I think you, too, should see Mrs. Nixon and Mrs. Evans.

Now, we have a very distinguished man traveling with us who is going on to Alaska. He is a man you can all see without any problem when he gets up here--he could be playing on that team, incidentally--the Secretary of the Interior, the biggest man in the Cabinet, Rogers Morton.

And also the mayor, Mayor Proctor, and your representative, Representative Bledsoe. Wouldn't you like to say hello to them?

Now that I have introduced all of these celebrities, I would just like to say a word to this wonderful group here about the visit that we are paying to this State and the visit that we will be paying later in the day to Anchorage, Alaska, and its significance.

First, I am very appreciative of the fact that I am in a town, or at least in the airport of a town, that is very much like the town in which I grew up, Whittier, California. I went to a small college, a small coeducational college, a Friends college, and I have always had no regrets about it. I deeply believe in the small, independent colleges, and I am glad that in this city you have two, Whitman College and Walla Walla College.

I also think you should know that I received what to me, in all my travels around the country, is perhaps the greatest compliment in the way of a gift that I could possibly receive. Could you bring that up here a moment? ¹

¹ The President received a blue Whitman football jersey bearing his name and the number "1" from Steve Washburn, co-captain of the Whitman College football team.

Now I will tell you a little story. As you probably guessed, I am somewhat of a football fan, as many of you are. But I went out for football 4 years at Whittier College and never made a letter. 8% consequently, to meet these men from this team and to know that I was selected as an honorary captain to the team really made me very, very proud.

Let me say, incidentally, speaking here in the State of Washington, I happened to check over the sport pages today-rather big day for Washington teams yesterday. The Huskies beat TCU [Texas Christian University], a strong team in that Southwest Conference.

And Washington State, the Cougars, broke that winning streak--I remember back in the days of Babe Hollingsberry when they used to beat Southern Cal-but now here they go off and beat Minnesota and surprised a lot of people.

But most important, the Missionaries beat Eastern Oregon, and Steve Washburn now is not going to wash his foot for a few days, after that.

But on from football to the subject of much greater seriousness, and one which I know will be of interest particularly to the young people here, and also to your parents, because you are interested, of course, in what happens, as we are, and I am, to our children. I know, too, that a tragedy occurred in this city, and that all of us, all of you, share the sympathy for the fine young boy who, in an accident, lost his life.² I know, too, that as you think of that tragedy to that young boy, we think of young Americans in the future. What does the future hold for them?

² The President was referring to Chuck Anderson, a senior at Walla Walla High School, who died on Wednesday, September 22, 1971, of head injuries sustained in a high school football game the preceding weekend.

I would like to tell you a little about what I think the future holds for young Americans. Sometimes you may be rather discouraged about the future. We have been passing through a difficult time in this country, the longest and most difficult war in any nation's history, a war that, however, is being brought to an end in a way that we can win a lasting peace.

Finally, you also are looking to the future, wonder what it holds for you in terms of jobs and opportunity and progress and all the rest.

First, on the peace side, let me say that this journey that we are making to Alaska has very great significance. There, for the first time in the whole history of either country, the President of the United States will meet with the Emperor of Japan. This is significant not only symbolically; it is particularly significant because, as you know, our two nations, just 25 years ago, concluded a long and very difficult war for both nations. And incidentally, over half the people in the world living today have been born since that war was over. That shows us the opportunity. It shows us also the challenge of peace.

One of the purposes of this visit, and the other meetings I have been having with Japanese leaders, is to develop the kind of a foreign policy in which Japan and the United States, while we will always be competitors, and friendly competitors economically--let us never be enemies again. Let us never have war again between these two great nations.

Then, at a later time, as you probably have noted, I will be making a trip to Mainland China. There I will meet with the leaders of the People's Republic of China. Eight hundred million people live there, 800 million people who presently are isolated from the rest of the world, in the world community. I would not want any of you to think that this meeting means that the differences between our two nations will end, because they will not. There will be great differences in the years to come.

But it does mean this: It means that now we begin a dialogue. We take the steps in which we have a chance to talk about our differences, rather than to fight about our differences. And as we look ahead to the future, to the future of these young men, and even the younger ones in the grade school here, 15, 20 years from now, I hope and I pray--and I know that all of you on this Sunday join in that prayer--that when they grow up, that they can grow up in a world that will be an open world in which they can travel to all parts of the world; and that they can grow up in a world where the 800 million people of China are not isolated from the rest of the world, where the danger of war that would exist if they were isolated is reduced, because then, whereas we may have differences, we will talk about them and not fight about them. That is something we all want for America and for the future.

Now, having spoken of the promise of peace, we also have some challenges. The State of Washington--as Governor Evans has so often and so eloquently and so vigorously emphasized to me in his visits to Washington since I have occupied the President's office--the State of Washington has had economic problems due to the fact that we are changing from war production to peace production. Two million men, for example, have been let out of the armed services and defense plants as a result of our success in ending American involvement in Vietnam.

As a result, it has meant that in the Seattle area, in other parts of the country, even this part of the country of this State, there have been problems in terms of unemployment.

But let me tell you, don't be discouraged about it because what we are going to build in this country--and we can do it-we are going to build a new prosperity-a new prosperity without war. That is the kind of prosperity we want: jobs that are based on production for peace rather than production for war; a new prosperity without inflation.

That is why we have a program to stop the rise in the cost of living. But in building that new prosperity, let me just tell you what an enormous stake this State, as a matter of fact, Washington and Oregon, all of this great Northwest, has in it.

I mentioned the visit with the Emperor of Japan. I mentioned the visit that I will be paying to the People's Republic of China. Do you realize that the next quarter of a century will be the era of the Pacific? Think of the millions of people that live there. Think of the trade and everything that will develop in the years ahead there. Here in the Pacific Northwest we have the gateway to the Pacific.

If I were a young man and if I were to choose a place to come where there was opportunity of the future, I would well come to this part of the country. I would come here because, being the gateway to the Pacific, the opportunities for development and progress are enormous.

So, what I am simply saying to you is that in this time of transition from war to peace, in this time when you may be somewhat discouraged about the economic progress: Take heart. Take heart because the future is going to be, I believe, a peaceful future, and the future is going to be one---in that peaceful future--when because of this new opening to the Pacific that we 'are now developing, that this Pacific Northwest will enter its greatest era.

Let me say that I grew up in a rather large family, five brothers. My youngest brother was born when I was in college, and my mother always said he was the smartest of the lot. You know where he chose to live and where he is still living-in the State of Washington. So believe me, you are in a good State.

Thank you very much.