Lyndon B. Johnson photo

Message to the Delegates to the Fourth Meeting of the Inter-American Cultural Council.

January 18, 1966

I HAVE a special pleasure in welcoming to Washington the delegates to the fourth meeting of the Inter-American Cultural Council.

Your Council--as the agency through which the Organization of American States directs its efforts in educational, scientific, and cultural fields--symbolizes the patient and painstaking pursuit of the conditions of durable peace which we all seek. This search for peace is no less significant by being relatively unseen and unheard in a world in which men talk more loudly of issues that seem to divide them than they do of common interests that can unite them.

I am confident your meeting can have a significance beyond the days of your deliberations. Though you build quietly, you build no less firmly the sure foundations of societies in which free men can truly know and enjoy the possibilities of cultural interchange in this hemisphere.

We in our country stand in need of greater knowledge and understanding of the old and honored cultures to the south of us; and we likewise stand in readiness to help those in the other American Republics who wish to understand us better by learning more about our cultural growth and aspirations. In efforts our governments are making to realize the goals of the Alliance for Progress, the United States seeks to encourage greater emphasis on bringing about better social and educational opportunities for all our growing populations.

I wish for your deliberations the full success they deserve in planning ways to closer intercultural understanding among the Americas.

Note: The President's message was read by Daniel Arango, former Minister of Education of Colombia, who served as the presiding chairman at the first session of the Council.

Lyndon B. Johnson, Message to the Delegates to the Fourth Meeting of the Inter-American Cultural Council. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239443

Filed Under

Categories

Simple Search of Our Archives