John Fitzgerald Kennedy

Mr. McNamara chose the plane he chose because he felt it most efficient, because he thought it would do the job and because he thought it would save the Government hundreds of millions of dollars.

We will continue to do it.

I plan to get the tax cut.

And I must say, Mr. President, I know of no more vital, energetic, warmhearted, vigorous, hopeful people than the great citizens of this great democracy.

Occasionally, universities are regarded as dangerous places for Presidents, and we are grateful to you for your warm welcome to all of us on this occasion.

The impression that we, all of us, from the United States carry back is of the hands of friendship which have been extended to us and the strong feeling that while we came in a sense as strangers 3 days ago, we leave tonight as friends.

Second is the right of every individual citizen to political liberty, the right to speak his own views, to worship God in his own way, to select the government which rules him, and to reject it when it no longer serves the need of a nation.

It is a great pleasure to leave Washington, where I am lectured to by professors, to come to Costa Rica where I can speak to students.

We are committed to four basic principles in this hemisphere in the Alliance for Progress.

Well, we want to express our great welcome to those who are working in the trade union movement, which is essential for a progressive democracy, so we are glad to have you here today.

This group of young men and women, who represent a good many others, by working to secure the 500,000 signatures, which represents a tremendous labor, from the people of Costa Rica, committing them to the success of the Alliance for…

I want to express my very warm appreciation to all of you for your kindness to all of us who came from North America to this conference.

The first is the right of every nation to govern itself, to be free from outside dictation and coercion, to mold its own economy and society in any fashion consistent with the will of the people.

We want to express our thanks to particularly all those who are in these clubs.

And I am honored that you have invited me here today.

So I am delighted to have you all here, representing, as you do, our best hopes for this hemisphere.

So we say goodbye and many thanks. Hasta luego and viva Costa Rica.

It is sometimes easy for us, living in our nations' capitals, to become disheartened about the nature of the struggle.

We will leave tomorrow and go back home and continue our work.

Education, homes, jobs, health, security-those are the things for which this country stands.

If there is any theme which I think this conference best expresses, it is the common dependence we have one upon another.

Those are the things which together we must achieve for our people, and I want to assure you through the Alliance for Progress we will stand and work shoulder to shoulder in making this hemisphere an example of what democracy can mean.

Gentlemen: I want to again express, on behalf of all of us, our great appreciation to our hosts, the Presidents of the Central American Republics, and the President of Panama.

This is a great responsibility, a great opportunity, and you are the leaders of it.

I want to express our very warm thanks and appreciation to all those who work for the United States Government here in Costa Rica.