John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We thank you especially for undertaking the burdensome tasks that sometimes go with peacetime military service.

We take the greatest pride in this record.

I first of all want to express my strong appreciation to our allies in NATO who participated in the honor guard this morning.

In these days we depend upon God and we also depend upon our soldiers.

Never in history has a country had so many of its sons serving so far away from their own land in a time of danger, not for the purpose of conquest but for the purpose of freedom.

No, I have no plans to visit the African countries.

Now, it is up to those countries.

The matter which was-which came to the surface or was discussed last year was not considered to be a sound basis for negotiation.

Peace and freedom are prerequisites for overcoming the obstacles that still prevent the greater part of mankind from enjoying full participation in social and economic development.

I hope that these Peace Corpsmen of America and the members of the German Development Service will be joined by representatives of dozens of other free countries in a great international effort in the 1960's for peace.

Our troops are in Western Europe because it meets a very vital need of the United States.

It is a powerful country which has made an astonishing comeback.

I think we have consistently attached the greatest importance to the maintenance of a free Europe since 1945.

I think that the relations between the Federal Republic and the United States are fundamental to both of our security.

I do not regard our effort as one that concerns only Western Europe and only the United States.

I want to take this opportunity to express the appreciation all of us feel to the German people for their very generous welcome.

Dante once said that the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in a period of moral crisis maintain their neutrality.

Because I regard the relationship between the United States and Western Europe as vital to our security.

I think the commandants have made very clear what our view is of the action which has been taken.

That is why we are not going.

I think the management, the successful management, of our monetary policies and our trade policy is essential.

The United States never registered any objections to the treaty.

I want to express our warm congratulations to the Federal Republic, to the people of the Federal Republic, for the effort that they are now undertaking.

Well, what we mean is that we cannot accept with equanimity, nor do we propose to, the Communist takeover of countries which are now free.

The purpose of the talk basically, of course, is to get a test ban.