Remarks Upon Arrival at the Philadelphia International Airport.

Mr. Mayor, Senator Clark, Senator Scott, city officials, my fellow Americans:

I am very happy to be here with you in Philadelphia this morning. This city was built as a refuge for persecuted people-and after 32 years in Washington I feel that this is where I belong.

I want to say thank you for coming out here to welcome us to your city. This is the best way I know to start off a new week, by seeing an inspiring crowd like this.

I am proud of Philadelphia--not just because you are the fourth largest city in America. Ever since the weavers, and the knitters, and the wheelwrights, and the glassblowers came from Europe in colonial days, you have been a leader in America's industrial progress. Philadelphia today is playing one of our major roles in space and missile development, in electronics and in transportation. And you have just begun on that role which will grow bigger and better with the years ahead.

But there is another very important reason that I am impressed with your city. Philadelphia is a center of learning and culture and in the building of a Great Society in America, where we Americans stress the quality of our life as well as the quantity of our goods.

I expect Philadelphia to always be in the forefront in that respect. This city has come a long way since Charles II gave William Penn a grant in 1681. So has America come a long way. In the bright future that we are building here in these United States, a future in which we make this a more prosperous and a more peaceful life, not only for the people of Pennsylvania but for the whole world, I know Philadelphia will set an example for all of us in the days to come.

It is good of you to give us this welcome. I appreciate seeing you. I hope to have a chance to shake a few hands before I leave. Thank you very much.