Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Remarks Upon Arrival at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa

June 19, 1960

Chief Executive Ota, General Booth, members of the military services here, citizens of this Island, ladies and gentlemen:

The Ryukyuan people have a vital role for the free world in the circumstances of this era. Consequently, when the opportunity presented itself, I decided to make a stop on Okinawa.

I have come here, as to other areas of free Asia, on a mission of peace, friendship, good will, to learn at first hand more about the region. A fine relationship exists, I am informed, between the Ryukyuans and the Americans stationed in these Islands. I assure you that this feeling of friendship is shared by the American people as a whole. They and their government, conscious of the heavy responsibility they bear to the Ryukyuans, have a deep and an abiding interest in the welfare of all who live on these Islands, and in the steady improvement of their livelihood and economy.

Together we of the Ryukyus and America present to the world a splendid example of the mutual benefits that result when people of good will work toward the common goal of peace and friendship in freedom.

On behalf of the American people, for what you have done, for what you are doing, I thank you with all my heart, and I assure you personally that I am delighted to have these few hours here to visit with you of the Services and with the citizens of this Island.

Note: The President spoke at 11:22 a.m. In his opening remarks he referred to Seisaku Ota, Chief Executive of the Ryukyu Administration, and Lt. Gen. Donald P. Booth, High Commissioner of the Ryukyu Islands and Commanding General of the U.S. Army on the Islands.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks Upon Arrival at Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/234840

Filed Under

Categories

Location

Japan

Simple Search of Our Archives