Chairman John Bailey, my friend the Vice President, Mr. Speaker Rayburn, President Truman, Mrs. Wheeler, Mr. Gardner, Mrs. Price, fellow Democrats:
     It is a great pleasure to be here, and I want to express my appreciation to the members of the committee who made this dinner such a success, to all who participated in it: Mrs. Wheeler, Mr. Gardner - and Stew Udall who handled the publicity [laughter] - and all the others. I am glad to be here with the Vice President. When I was away recently, somebody called the White House and said, "I would like to speak to the President." And they said, "Well, he's in Canada." "Well, I'd like to speak to the Vice President." And they said, "Well, he's in Southeast Asia." "Well then, I would like to speak to the Secretary of State." They said well he was in Geneva. "Well," they said, "who's running that store?" And the operator said, "The same man who has been running it for years - Sam Rayburn!"
     I must say that I thought one point in Lyndon's very fine speech, which I think is worthy for us all to - who are Democrats, and that is, the success of any President of the United States who has the distinction of being a Democrat is due to the fact that he is supported by a strong, democratic, progressive party.
     Woodrow Wilson once said in 1913, "What good is the success of a political party unless it's used by the nation for a great national purpose?" And I believe in the administration of Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman, and now today - the Democratic Party has a great national purpose, to move this country forward.
     I will say on becoming President that the only thing that really surprised us when we got into office was that things were just as bad as we had been saying they were; otherwise we have been enjoying it very much.
     In 1783, the first American official to visit France, Benjamin Franklin, signed in Paris the treaty declaring that His Britannic Majesty acknowledged the United States to be free, sovereign, and independent. When we became free, sovereign, and independent, there was a King of France, a Czar of Russia, an Emperor in Peking. They've all gone, and this country remains.
     Today, 178 years later, I return to the place where the United States was born, and my trip next week - the ground for that trip was laid in the administration of a predecessor of mine, Harry Truman, whose vision and activity in the 1940's helped make it possible to build a Europe which is our strong ally in difficult days.
     I must say I do not go to Europe in a difficult time in the life of our country with any feeling of historic inevitability. I suppose when historians come to write about the 1940's and 1950's with the perspective which history will give them, they will say that this was a time when the power of the Sino-Soviet bloc increased. But I think that they will also note an even more remarkable event, and that is that from 1945 to 1961 was the most extraordinary growth in the individual liberty of individual countries that the world has ever seen. And it is my judgment that when the time comes to write the story of the 20th century, the dominant fact will be that liberty grew and spread around the world.
     And that's why I go to Europe, and with confidence and hope, because the United States is associated with that great cause.
     I do not believe that meetings between heads of state, either allies or those whose purposes make them our adversaries, are designed to solve a series of specific problems or bring about a fundamental change in relationships. For only changes in the realities which underlie the relations between nations, shifts in power, the pressure of events, revisions of policies which reflect new needs, fresh assessments, and the change in power balances within the countries - only such changes as these leave a permanent mark on the prospects for peace. Aid while meetings of Presidents and Premiers can sometimes help in fulfilling such changes, they rarely initiate them.
     We do not lack for communication with France or the Soviet Union, or any other nation. The Vice President with distinction has carried our message to Southeast Asia in recent days. The Secretary of State has already met with our allies and adversaries around the globe. Capable and dedicated Ambassadors maintain a constant flow of information and judgment between foreign capitals and Washington. Representatives of nearly all countries work here in the United States.
     Nevertheless, meetings of those who bear the responsibility of leadership in states, viewed as an instrument of policy and not as a substitute for policy - these meetings can play a real and helpful role in the quest for peace.
     In a fast-moving and revolutionary world where new crises and threats occur almost daily, where the power to make decisive and perhaps irrevocable decisions rests in a few hands, where calculation of how others will react is often a decisive factor in decisions - in such a world I believe it is indispensable for leaders of nations to have an understanding of men with whom they must deal.
     In addition, there is no real substitute for the attempt to explore general areas of accommodation and mutual interest, to ward off danger and clarify intention at the highest level. And as long as we realize that there is no substitute for the long and painful process of diplomatic negotiation, necessary to translate general principles into specific agreements, these meetings can be useful.
     Moreover, such meetings are symbolic. In the case of our allies they symbolize the deep unity of the Western World, the fixed determination by which we guide our policy, unalterable under any conditions, to marshal our common strength for the defense of freedom.
     And the meeting with Mr. Khrushchev is also a symbol: an expression of our intention to leave no path to peace unexplored, to neglect no opportunity to ease world tensions or to lessen the dangers into which our adversaries may plunge us and themselves.
     Thus I go to Europe, seeking not solutions to all our problems, but insight into the conditions which must guide our policies in the coming difficult months. I go as the representative of the great nation of the United States. I shall tell our allies that the United States is embarking on an effort to muster the energy and resources of the strongest nation in history - in the world - in defense of our common heritage. I shall tell those who do not agree with us that our desire for peace is matched by our determination to resist all those who seek the destruction of freedom. And I shall tell the world that here in this country American men and women are calling forth all the great resources and untapped power of this country, providing strength for that faith in the freedom of man which will be the silent guest at every conference table.