Remarks at the Citizens' Welcome for President Eisenhower, the Polo Field, Karachi

Mr. President, the officials of the City of Karachi, Your Excellencies and Ladies and Gentlemen of Pakistan:

It is a high honor indeed and a personal privilege for me to be a part of this great gathering in your city. And this meeting gives to me an opportunity that I have sought every moment since I first arrived at the outskirts of Karachi. I have never received in the world a warmer, more hospitable greeting than was given to me by the throngs in Karachi. For this greeting, ladies and gentlemen, I am profoundly grateful and I assure you my party, those attending me, feel exactly the same way. And indeed I am sure the people of America will understand that you are trying, through me, to say to them that you are their friend.

I have long desired to visit your magnificent country, and at first hand to learn something of this nation. I bring to you the friendly greetings and heartfelt salutations of the people of the United States for the people of Pakistan.

In the deepest values of life, we feel with you a very close kinship. We have always admired the courage and independent spirit of the Pakistan people, and have respected them because of their religious and spiritual devotion.

Our two countries both believe in human dignity and the brotherhood of man under God. And both of us are determined to be strong--spiritually, materially, militarily--not merely to ensure present security but also that we may be in a better position confidently and effectively to search out the paths to world peace with justice.

Our two countries are staunch allies, each to the other. To strengthen this partnership we must lose no opportunity to increase our mutual understanding.

It is certain that the fuller our knowledge of each other, the more effective will be our alliance for peace.

The many educational and cultural exchanges which have taken place between Pakistan and the United States have already helped greatly. I hope they will be continuously expanded. They will bring about a broader understanding of our common ideals, goals, and purposes. From this both nations will benefit.

Another thing is certain: friends such as Pakistan and the United States must cooperate in many fields, not only for their common security but so that their peoples may be enabled to enjoy more fully the advantages and blessings that modern science can open for mankind.

We are now in the nuclear age. No scientific discovery is of itself evil. It becomes evil only when devoted by unworthy men to wicked purposes. The atom can be used either for the benefit or for the destruction of man. Six years ago this very day, in an address before the United Nations General Assembly, I proposed a study and development of a worldwide program for the peaceful use of atomic energy. Since then, much has been learned in nuclear science, about the production of power and its application to medicine, agriculture, metallurgy, and the like. Very much more remains to be learned as to ways this colossal force can best be utilized to serve mankind.

In order that Pakistan may more rapidly develop its peaceful uses of the atom, the United States has given, in our country, specialized training to a number of your scientists, and has provided various types of equipment for research and medical uses here in your country. American consultants have come here to work with your own scientists. Many other nations are likewise cooperating to find ways by which the miraculous inventiveness of man may be consecrated solely to his progress and welfare.

Another certainty is this: by helping each other in many other ways, the free nations can vastly increase their combined productivity and thus provide both a fuller life and better material advantages for all their peoples.

On its part, the United States, in order to help develop this cooperation, has adopted and prosecuted programs of economic and military assistance to those free countries needing them. Your own country is one of those involved. Military assistance is provided to help you build and participate in the collective security of the free world, while your economy is developing and expanding to promote progress in your nation.

I assure you that the United States will continue to review and give sympathetic consideration to this kind of need in Pakistan. A final certainty is that discoveries of science in the production of military power increasingly demand that some system of progressive and enforceable disarmament be agreed to among the nations. There is no reason to hesitate in this great undertaking. There can be no winner in any future global war. The world, the entire world, must insist that the conference table, rather than force, be used for the settlement of international disputes. Every national leader worthy of the name must participate in this effort.

The American people especially hope that Pakistan and the other nations in South Asia will succeed in their efforts to improve relations among themselves. Thus they will enhance and practice economic cooperation for the more efficient use and benefit of the resources available to them. Cooperation means prosperity for all--in food, in health, in knowledge, in wealth, in every shape and form of national well being.

The United States urges that good will and patience continue to be exercised, and that the governments concerned here persistently strive to reach mutually satisfactory understandings between themselves. The cause of peace and justice will thereby prosper.

I should like to say at this moment that President Ayub has told me of his very great ambitions and purposes in this very line. And he has, I assure you, the plaudits of America in so doing.

Since my arrival here I have become fortified in a personal certainty: it is my fixed conviction that Pakistan-American friendship is a lasting one, built firmly. Through it we shall have a safer, brighter, happier future together.

My conversations with President Ayub and some of his associates are on the basis that we are two nations with many common interests, two nations which share common goals and which cooperate for mutual security.

Our fruitful talks give me a better appreciation of your problems, and of the courageous manner in which you are attacking them. And when I return home, I shall tell my fellow Americans that the Pakistani are a courageous people, an energetic people, a loyal people who love peace, but who put justice and freedom--as do we--before all else.

All of us know that there is more than one kind of courage. Any courageous man will of course fight for the protection of his home, his family, and his rights. But there is also a patient kind of courage, the kind that in spite of disappointment and discouragement enables a man to persist in working tirelessly to improve the lot of himself, his family, and his community. Pakistani leaders are pointing out the work that needs to be done--America believes that Pakistan has also the kind of courage needed to bring these programs of improvement to fulfillment.

And I shall tell my fellow Americans that in Pakistan are leaders, chief among whom is President Ayub, who are dedicated to the welfare of all their citizens, to the furtherance of universal education, and to the creation of a free republic. In building a truly representative government, they and he are demonstrating themselves to be men of vision, of courage, and of decisive action.

May God prosper their noble purpose.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.