Remarks of Welcome to Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Viet-Nam, at the Washington National Airport
Mr. President, it is indeed an honor for any American to invite you to this country. You have exemplified in your corner of the world patriotism of the highest order. You have brought to your great task of organizing your country the greatest of courage, the greatest of statesmanship--qualities that have aroused our admiration and make us indeed glad to welcome you.
We hope sincerely that the talks that we shall be able to have in these next few days will do much to strengthen still further the friendship between your country and this one. You are indeed welcome, sir.
Note: President Diem responded as follows:
Mr. President, this is a great joy for me to be again in Washington, and a great honor to be welcomed by you. I thank you very much for your kind words about me. But it is mostly the courage of the Vietnamese people, your own faith in my country and unselfish American aid which has accomplished a miracle at Vietnam.
The history of these last thirty months is a shining example of what faith, determination and solidarity can do to uphold and strengthen freedom in the world.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks of Welcome to Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Viet-Nam, at the Washington National Airport Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233263
