Mr. President and Mrs. Diori:
We are greatly honored today to welcome here to the White House one of Africa's most distinguished statesmen. President Diori Hamani of Niger is the first President of his nation. His strong and wise leadership has united farmer and herdsman, settler and nomad into one people determined to win the blessings of prosperity and freedom.
He has given his people a deep faith in democracy. In only 7 years, they have firmly set the roots of a democratic tradition. At the same time they have rolled up their sleeves and they have gone to work to improve their economic conditions.
But President Diori's good works transcend even the boundaries of his own beloved homeland. He is also President of a group of 14 African nations, who are joined together to provide for such basic needs as a postal and telecommunications system, a limited common market, and a shared airline. Our honored guest today is also President of a council of five West African neighbors who help each other with the very heavy burdens of economic development.
You have said, Mr. President, that the formula for success in your country must be "hard work, prudence, and moderation." That is a proper creed for any people. And no experience better teaches us how valid it is than the short, bright history of the land that you lead. So it is with great pleasure, Mr. President, that Mrs. Johnson and I welcome you, your lovely lady, and your distinguished associates to our shores.
We will enjoy being with you. We believe that the exchange between us will be of benefit to both of our countries and we trust, to peoples of the world.
Welcome, again, to Washington.
Note: The President spoke at 11:45 a.m. on the South Lawn at the White House where President Diori Hamani was given a formal welcome with full military honors. President Diori responded as follows:
Mr. President, the cordial welcome you have given to me and my wife, the honors with which we were received, the greetings which you have just spoken, confirm the feelings of warm sympathy and friendly hospitality characteristic of the Government and the people of the United States.
You have already received eminent heads of states from Africa and through their personalities you have seen the diversity of ethnic groups and peoples and many of the idiosyncrasies of the African Continent.
But from my plane I have seen your country for the first time and it is a total confirmation of what I already knew about the wealth, the strength, and organization of your prodigious country.
I say confirmation because for the people of Niger the people of the United States have always been well-known. Long before we attained independence, the farmers, the nomads, and the urban population knew your missionaries whose ideals, generosity, and devotion they could appreciate.
Our soldiers have fought next to yours during two world wars for democracy against the spirit of domination.
And, lastly, Niger's leaders have learned at school the history of your country, the obstacles that were overcome to win its independence and to maintain its freedom.
The accession of the Republic of Niger to international life has permitted to our peoples and our governments, by means of direct relation, to better know each other, to better respect each other, and to better cooperate.
We fully appreciate the efforts undertaken by the United States in the field of cooperation, by granting scholarships, by sending highly qualified technicians and experts, by giving material and equipment of all kinds, by the financial assistance, and, at last, by the dynamic action of the Peace Corps.
The people of Niger fully realize and appreciate this generous effort and in their name I want to sincerely thank you and the American people.
I have the firm conviction that from our upcoming talks will derive a common desire to work freely in any circumstances, everywhere, at any time to attain a worldwide harmonization of the economic development in a world that is free and secure.
The friendship between our two countries means that in greeting you I am greeting the American people in the name of the people of Niger.
And allow me to associate in this homage Mrs. Johnson, the First Lady of the United States. Long live the friendship and cooperation between Niger and the United States of America.
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks of Welcome at the White House to President Diori of the Republic of Niger Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/237599
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