Remarks to the Staff of the U.S. Embassy in Rome.

GOOD MORNING--good to see you.

It's almost unpardonable in war for an old soldier to be surprised. I am not only surprised this morning, I was astonished. I was invited here to see the Ambassador at his office. I didn't know I was going to meet so many of you good people.

I do congratulate you about one thing, immediately, and that is the beauty of the building in which you have to work. As I came in I noticed the halls and people in it, and I felt it's the kind of office I would like, if I could get it.

I am, as you know, on a visit to try to interpret America to other peoples a little bit more emphatically, a little bit more accurately than sometimes it is done. We do know that the United States is not always admired, we are sometimes suspicioned; and my task is really to try to make them see that America wants nothing but to live in peace, in a just peace. And while I know that this is the task of all of you people-your Ambassador, and everybody down to the last chore boy in this Embassy--I feel that by making the rather dramatic tour of some thousands of miles, that possibly I can support your efforts, to emphasize them, and by going and making this trip, reinforcing the work that you are doing all the time to make certain that the motives of the United States are understood.

We not only want to live with a just peace, we want to help other peoples to raise their standards, to be as content with their lot as humans can be. That is the chore we have set for ourselves.

I think that each of you feels that he has a real mission in trying to do that job, and certainly I have a very great lift when I get a chance to get out and do this kind of thing myself. Because I believe unless the people of the world have confidence that all the nations want peace, we are not going to live the kind of life that we deserve to live.

And since I have four grandchildren, I am very concerned that they get a chance to live, the same kind of opportunity, the same kind of life, at least a better life than I had.

So, to all of you engaged in that same kind of work, my thanks, my felicitations--and thanks very much for your warm welcome.

Goodbye.