Mr. Mayor, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen:
Mrs. Ford and I have been very deeply touched by the friendliness and the warmth which have marked our arrival in Spain. The hospitality was evident in the gracious welcome of the Chief of State and the Spanish people as we entered this beautiful city.
Many Americans are familiar with a phrase bespeaking Spanish hospitality: "My home is your home." In accepting this key to the city of Madrid, I have already been made to feel completely welcome and at home.
To me, this key represents more than hospitality. It signifies the opening of doors, new doors to greater achievements in bringing the Spanish and the American people closer, closer together, and building upon the friendship that we have already shared. It is in this spirit, Mr. Mayor, that I accept this key to your great capital city, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Note: The President spoke at 12:09 p.m. at the Plaza Cibeles in response to remarks by Mayor Miguel Angel Garcia-Lomas.
Following his remarks, the President departed for El Pardo Palace for meetings with Generalissimo Franco and President of Government Carlos Arias Navarro.
Gerald R. Ford, Remarks on Receiving the Key to the City of Madrid Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/256840
