Remarks on the White House Lawn at a Reception for Foreign Students.

Ladies and gentlemen--students:

I want to express on behalf of Mrs. Kennedy and myself our great appreciation to you for coming and joining us today on this old lawn before this old house, and to also tell you what a pleasure it is and honor it is for us that you have chosen to come and study in the United States.

You represent, really, the seed for your country. In every case all of you represent a sacrifice not only on behalf of yourselves but in behalf of your country and the people within your country who were responsible for sending you here to study.

When you go back you will become among the future leaders of your country. In the last 2 months I have been honored by a visit from two visitors who are leaders of their country, both of whom studied as young men here in the United States-President Nkrumah and Dr. Banda, both from Africa--and I am confident that in other days other Presidents of the United States will be visited by Presidents and other leaders of their country, who will be you who will have studied here and who will, I hope, have gotten a better understanding not only of our country and its aspirations but also of the meanings of a free society.

We are an open and free society. All of our strengths and all of our weaknesses are on display. They are a matter of discussion. Those of us who hold high office and high responsibilities are subject to all of the scrutiny--the careful scrutiny--which comes from a free press and a free people, operating within an open society.

That is the way this country was planned, and I hope that those of you who study here will come to realize that this diversity, this division, in some cases this dissension, is not a source of weakness but is a source of strength.

Upon it rests the security of each individual in this country, so that when you come here and when you study and when you teach us, I hope that you will go away not merely expressing doubts because we have been unable to reach our high aspirations, but also recognizing that those high aspirations represent the ultimate goals of our society. And where we fall short, we know it--and we mean to do better.

The Chinese have an old proverb that to begin a voyage of a thousand miles requires the first step. I believe that we've taken more than the first step in this country, that we are moving ahead. But I realize we have a long way to go to build a free and open country here, and free and open societies around the world.

We want you to enlist yourselves in that great effort for your own people. That is what we hope you will go from here back home understanding what we are trying to do, and getting a better understanding of what your countries themselves must do.

We want for you freedom--we want for you a better life--we want for you friendship with our people. So today we welcome you here. You are going to teach us a good deal more in the time you are here than you will learn. You are our guests, and you benefit us--and you are welcome among us today.

The last great visit we had was--this house has, I suppose, had many invasions, including that of the British when they burned it down. Today we seek to build.

We want you to know that we are proud to have you here.