Remarks of Welcome to the President of Germany at the Washington National Airport

President Heuss and Ladies and Gentlemen:

Never before in history has the head of a German state visited this land. So it is with unusual warmth that I welcome you this morning to this Capital City and to this country.

In your lifetime and mine, Mr. President, the power of your nation and the power of this nation have been tragically plunged into war on opposite sides. The wounds of those wars seem to be, I think, almost wholly cured.

So today I think that the feeling of a friendship between the American people and the German people of the federal German Republic is the stronger, the more intense, because of the tribulations that we have been through and because of the way our two countries have met in peaceful conference, peaceful arrangements, to overcome those old memories and disasters.

And so I am sure that as you visit this country, you will discover that the American people reflect the same sentiments as I now give to you, which are: welcome here, very, very heartily.