Richard Nixon photo

Remarks on Departure From Guam.

July 26, 1969

BEFORE we take off for Manila I wanted to just say a very few words to tell you how greatly we appreciated the very warm welcome we received on this brief visit to Guam. I know that many of you who live here, and perhaps even some of you who are stationed here, perhaps consider that those who stop at Guam do so only as a fuel stop on the way to someplace else. But for us it was a stop that meant a great deal in itself. It meant a great deal because we realized it was 25 years ago that the liberation of Guam took place and that the festivities had just concluded. And also because we had the opportunity to see so many thousands of people at the airport, on the roads, as we went through the cities and realized that where the day begins for America there is a lot of feeling as citizens of the United States for all the people that are here and we appreciate that very much.

Also I'd like to say I heard that there was a great storm ,the day before we arrived and that then there was a massive cleanup campaign before the arrival. We thank you for that and we hope that the weather will be good, that you'll have some smooth sailing and smooth flying, and above all, a good life in the time ahead.

And as I leave I think of an inscription that I saw on the photograph that Admiral Nimitz left in his quarters where we stayed last night: an inscription in his own handwriting, in the year 1945, when he returned from Guam to the United States mainland. It goes like this:

He says, "To my successor who may live in these quarters, I hope you may find the calm, peaceful rest and relaxation which will enable you to face your problems with confidence."

And I can say that our stay in Guam this one day and that fine evening last night and this wonderful welcome gave us the calm, peaceful rest and relaxation which will enable us to face the problems of this great Nation with confidence.

Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:15 p.m. at the Naval Air Station in Agana, Guam. Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz was Commander in Chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and Pacific Ocean Area in World War II from June 1944 to August 1945.

Richard Nixon, Remarks on Departure From Guam. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239679

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