Remarks of Welcome to Prime Minister Nehru of India at the Washington National Airport
Mr. Prime Minister:
I am very happy to welcome you to this country on behalf of the Government and the people of the United States. I greet you not only as the chief minister of your government, but also as the loved and respected leader of a great nation of free people.
Destiny willed it that our country should have been discovered in the search for a new route to yours. I hope your visit, too, will be in a sense a discovery of the United States of America.
I extend to you the hospitality and good will of the people of the United States, with the hope that your visit among us will leave you with the firm conviction that we are indeed your warm friends.
Note: Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru arrived at Washington National Airport at 4:30 p.m. and was received with a 19-gun salute and a formal military reception. Prime Minister Nehru responded as follows:
Mr. President:
I am deeply grateful to you for your warm words of welcome.
At this moment, when for the first time I am setting foot on the soil of this great country, it is of great significance for me, because it brings about the fulfillment of a long-felt desire.
I come to you, Mr. President, bringing to you and to this great Republic the cordial greetings of my government and my people of the new republic-to-be of India; and I trust that these two republics of the Western World and the Eastern World will find many ways of working together in friendly and fruitful cooperation to our mutual advantage, and for the good of humanity.
I thank you again, Mr. President, for your welcome.
Harry S Truman, Remarks of Welcome to Prime Minister Nehru of India at the Washington National Airport Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/230143
