Political Quotes

“I rise to welcome the Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe to Congress and to speak to the importance of United States-Japan relations and the future of the Asia-Pacific region. Tomorrow is a momentous occasion. For the first time ever, our country will welcome the leader of Japan to speak before a joint meeting of Congress. For over 2\1/2\ centuries, our Nations have been intimately linked by trade and commerce. In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry waited with his ships on Japanese shores to deliver a letter from President Millard Fillmore to Japan's Emperor on November 13, 1852, which said in part: I send you this public letter by Commodore Matthew C. Perry, an officer of the highest rank in the navy of the United States, and commander of the squadron now visiting Your imperial majesty's dominions. I have directed Commodore Perry to assure your imperial majesty that I entertain the kindest feelings toward your majesty's person and government, and that I have no other object in sending him to Japan but to propose to your imperial majesty that the United States and Japan should live in friendship. Thus, our Nations embarked on a path and relationship that would change the course of world history. On July 29, 1858, the United States and Japan concluded the Treaty of Amity and Commerce, and in 1860 Japan dispatched its first diplomats to Washington, DC. They were the very first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power in 200 years.…”