John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We sometimes take some encouragement in the fact that there are so many obvious evidences of a desire of people to be free and a desire of people to maintain their anti-Communist position.

So I was anxious to have you come to the White House because we want to emphasize the necessity for the experience which you are going through, that it be shared by all people in the National Government who have anything to do with our…

I WANT to welcome you all to the White House and to tell you that I am very appreciative to have a chance to say a word to you.

I congratulate the Institute for its initiative, and we are going to attempt to encourage this kind of effort in every other college and school that we have which is involved with national security.

This is not merely a military effort, but it also requires, as I have said, a broad knowledge of the whole development effort of a country, the whole technique of the National Government to identify themselves with the aspirations of…

The foreign Service Institute has done an excellent job in laying this out.

This most ancient form of warfare, going back as it has to its earliest beginnings, has become far more important than it has ever been in the past, and it is going to become more important in the future.

In the foreign Service today you have a great chance and a great opportunity.

My own feeling is that there is a place for the non-career Ambassador--not for political reasons, but when he happens to be the best man available.

This is not an easy career, to be a foreign Service officer.

I think this is much more beautiful, much more appropriate.

Therefore, in the final analysis, it depends on you.

There is a feeling, I think, in the foreign Service, that the State Department and the foreign Service are constantly under attack.

Somebody told me that you are about the only two men around who can do this work, so we want to take good care of you.

This distinguished mantel which bears the prayer is a work with which he had a good deal to do.

Personally, I think the place to be is in the kitchen, and I am sure the foreign Service officers of the United States feel the same way.

Theodore Roosevelt and Thomas Jefferson were both men of extraordinary versatility and combined a great many talents.

President Kennedy promised the cooperation of his Government toward that end.

Americans also share with the people of Burundi a profound respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter.

In extending the congratulations of my country, I speak for a people who cherish individual liberty and independence and who have made great sacrifices so that these principles may endure, and who share with the people of Rwanda a profound…

The people of the United States of America will work to strengthen the bonds of friendship between our two countries.

President Kennedy recognized that the fundamental goal of the Mexican Revolution is the same as that of the Alliance for Progress-social justice and economic progress within the framework of individual freedom and political liberty.

I look forward to the establishment of the most cordial relations between our two countries, and all Americans stand ready to work with the people of Rwanda to reach the goals we all share of peace, enlightenment and material well-being.

I am confident that in the future our two countries will be as one in safeguarding the greatest bond between us-our common belief in a free and democratic way of life.

I wish to extend to you, your Government, and the people of the Republic of Rwanda, on the occasion of Rwanda's accession to independence, the congratulations and warm wishes of the people of the United States.