I accept this award with gratitude and with renewed commitment to the cause it represents.
The members of the 8th Armored Division Association have been tempered by the flames of war. They all bear the memories of battle, and many bear the scars. So to them, peace has a very special meaning.
They know that peace is not merely the absence of shooting. Such peace would be commonplace if half the world would accept the chains of tyranny.
Peace--real peace--is meaningful only, as your Association's history states, if it is achieved "without compromising the principles of America."
Thus, there is a compelling reason for your President to receive your peace award in a year that Americans are fighting and dying in another land, halfway around the globe. You recognize that those brave men are not instruments of war, but guardians of peace.
You know that, ultimately, there can be no peace by yielding to aggression. Where aggression starts, there it must be stopped. Or else it will spread malignantly and consume us all.
It has been my greatest desire, since assuming this office, to be a President of peace. There is so much to be done throughout the world;
--So many children to be educated.
--So many sick to be cured.
--So many hungry to be fed.
--So many hopeless people to be given a helping hand.
This is the destiny of our generation. We have no greater ambition than to be a partner to all those throughout the world who aspire for a better way of life.
I hope that some day the leaders in Hanoi and Peking will understand that desire. Let us tell them again--here and now: So long as aggression continues in South Vietnam, we will turn it back.
But when they are ready to put away the weapons of war and take up the tools of peace and .progress--when they decide to stop molesting their neighbors--they will find this Nation ready and willing to assist in these larger and more fruitful endeavors.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. in his at the White House following presentation of the award by officials of the Eighth Armored Division Association. The citation accompanying the award reads as follows:
"The Eighth Armored Division Association composed of Veterans of World War II, men who know the realities of war and the blessings of peace, desiring to recognize and encourage those who in the American way, without compromising the principles and traditions of our great country, spend their efforts and energies in pursuit of Peace, each year in convention assembled, selects the American who has contributed the most toward the cause of Peace during the preceding year.
"By resolution unanimously adopted at New York City on 3 July, 1966, the Eighth Armored Division Association chose Lyndon B. Johnson as the American who, during the past year, has contributed the most toward the cause of Peace. The members of the Association by this citation, do hereby record their recognition and gratitude for the leadership, guidance, foresight and integrity of principles exhibited by Lyndon B. Johnson, often in the face of extremely adverse conditions, first as a Senator from the State of Texas, then as Vice-President, and currently as President of the United States in his great work in behalf of Peace."
Lyndon B. Johnson, Remarks Upon Receiving the Eighth Armored Division Association Peace Award Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/239213
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