Exchange of Messages With the Prime Minister of Japan Following an Attack on Ambassador Reischauer.
ON BEHALF of the people and Government of the United States, let me thank you most warmly for your message of sympathy and regret for the act of one individual against Ambassador Reischauer. We have been happy here to learn that he is expected to make a full recovery, and you can be assured that all Americans will understand that such an act has nothing to do with the deep friendship and understanding which exist between our two countries, and to which Ambassador Reischauer himself has made so important a contribution.
LYNDON B. JOHNSON
[His Excellency Hayato Ikeda, Prime Minister of Japan]
Note: The exchange of messages was made public by the Press Secretary to the President, George E. Reedy, at his news conference at 12:15 p.m. on March 24, 1964. The text of Prime Minister Ikeda's message follows:
The President
The White House
In the name of the Government and the people of Japan, I want to express to you my very deep regret over the most unfortunate incident involving Ambassador Reischauer. The entire nation is indignant over the dastardly act of violence committed against the representative of a nation with which we have especially close and friendly relations.
We all pray for the Ambassador's earliest recovery.
HAYATO IKEDA
Lyndon B. Johnson, Exchange of Messages With the Prime Minister of Japan Following an Attack on Ambassador Reischauer. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239521