Remarks at the Civic Reception, Ram Lila Grounds, New Delhi

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Prime Minister, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen:

My good friends, your President and Prime Minister told me several days ago that half a million of you would be gathered here today. I could hardly realize then how impressive and moving and inspiring the sight of you would actually be.

I thank you from my heart for the labor you have imposed on yourselves; the miles you have traveled; the hours you have waited in patience. I thank you for all the personal sacrifice and the civic effort that a reception like this requires.

I see in the magnificent spectacle before me a soul-stirring testimonial by half a million of India's people to America, a sister democracy--and to the cause for which both India and America stand;

That cause is: peace and friendship in freedom.

The critical word and the key idea of this cause is: freedom.

We of these two peaceful nations believe there are greater things in the world even than peace. They are the ideals, the hopes, and aspirations of humanity; our loyalty to conscience. They are the integrity of purpose; unswerving devotion to principle; love of truth and decency. People who believe and practice these things are certain to be friends.

Above all, we believe that only in freedom can men enjoy true and full peace; only in freedom can men be genuine and honest friends.

Freedom must come first, we of India and of America believe.

One of the clearest voices of all time, proclaiming the priority and supremacy of freedom, is your own sainted Mahatma Gandhi.

Speaking of freedom for nations, Mahatma Gandhi said: "Freedom is the gift of God--the right of every nation."

And to his words, America replies: so also we believe.

Speaking of freedom for individuals, he said: "Democracy is not a state in which people act like sheep. Under democracy individual liberty of opinion and action is jealously guarded."

And to his words, America answers: so also we hold.

And then speaking of the responsibility that political freedom demands of those who possess it, he said: "Self-government depends entirely upon our own internal strength, upon our ability to fight against the heaviest odds. Indeed, self-government, which does not require continuous striving to attain it and to sustain it, is not worth the name."

And to his words, America can say; so also we teach.

In what I have quoted from Mahatma Ghandi, I know he spoke the convictions of the American people as clearly as he spoke for India.

We, like you, have won freedom and we strive to assure every individual American the fullness of responsible freedoms.

America's right to maintain a respectable establishment for defense-our duty to join in company with like-thinking peoples for mutual self-defense--would, I am sure, be recognized and upheld by the most saintly men.

Being strong and free, confident that we shall remain strong and free, we are prepared to devote ourselves as a nation--our whole energies and our talents--to the cause of peace and friendship.

We believe that freedom ultimately will be won everywhere. The human hunger for freedom is far too deep-seated in human nature to be put off by a contrived definition or a man-made philosophy.

Freedom, as Ghandi said, is the gift of God. And God's gift cannot forever be kept from his children.

But--immediately--we must search out with all free nations more effective and practical ways to strengthen the cause of peace and friendship in freedom; and, so doing, make our negotiations with other people more persuasive.

One reason I came to India is to tell you that America wants to join with all free men in advancing this cause.

Between the first largest democracy on earth, India, and the second largest, America, lie ten thousand miles of land and ocean. But in our fundamental ideas and convictions about democracy we are close neighbors. We ought to be closer.

We who are free--and we who prize our freedom above all other gifts of God and nature--must know each other better; we must trust each other more; we must support each other.

A free India and a free America could not exist if they were isolated from others in the world. A free society of nations can continue to exist only as it meets the rightful demands of people for security, progress, and increasing opportunity for the betterment of themselves and their children.

Such a society, if some of its nations prosper richly and others barely feed their people, cannot survive.

Now when I consider the potential contribution of India to the prosperity of its own people and of the entire free world--say in the next 10 years--my imagination fails me.

Here will be almost a half billion free men and women well embarked on economic expansion. The productivity of your farmers will have increased enormously--I saw clear signs of that on Friday at the World Agriculture Fair. Their standards of living will rise. You will be turning out textiles and metals and manufactured goods to help meet the multiplied demands of a world ever-growing in its economic appetite. You will be building houses and schools and hospitals and places of worship, centers of recreation and culture, on a scale possibly never before dreamed of--even here. And you will be doing this without abandoning your freedom in favor of forced regimentation.

As you prosper, the whole free world will prosper. Americans, Asians, Africans, Europeans will buy goods from India that they must have to meet their own increasing requirements--that they of themselves cannot meet at all or so well. And you will be able to buy more from them. A spiral of prosperity throughout the free world will lift the living standards of all our peoples.

Of course I don't think that India can achieve its full potential without acquisition of more capital than you now possess. The best means for a nation, determined to maintain its independence, are private investment from outside, governmental loans from others, and where necessary, grants from other free and friendly nations.

One thing I assure you, from now on I shall be quick to assert on every possible occasion that India is becoming one of the great investment opportunities of our time--an investment in the strengthening of freedom and in the prosperity of the world.

India, mighty in the number of its people and in their will to build an ever greater Republic, marches--I am confident--to a great destiny.

Goodbye. God bless you.