Remarks at a Civic Reception for President Kennedy at the Hotel de Ville.

President Tardieu, members of the Council, members of the City Government of Paris, Mr. Minister, Mr. Ambassador, President of the Assembly, ladies and gentlemen:

I want to express in behalf of my wife and myself our appreciation for your generous welcome today. I am a descendant, on both sides, of two grandparents who served in the City Council of Boston, and I'm sure they regarded that as a more significant service than any of their descendants have yet rendered. You are closest to the people. Their judgment of the efficacy of government comes in large part because of their contacts with you. And it is a source, I know, of satisfaction to you that you should bear a position of responsibility in this ancient City of Light.

There are many in the West who, taking the long view of Mr. Spengler and others, talk of the decline, and they search, hither and yon, in order to document their case. I believe the events of recent years have proved them wrong. I do not believe the West is in decline. I believe the West is in the ascendancy. And what has happened in this country and the other communities of Western Europe, I believe reinforces that view. Even in the last 15 years, the strongest tides in the direction of the affairs of the world have been the rise of independent states, the desire of people to be independent. And it is a felicitous fact that the slogans which have governed your country in the past and at present, in the future, of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, and the ideals by which my country has been directed from its earliest days, are in accordance with the basic aspirations of people all around the globe.

As President of the United States, I said at the airport, I have received in recent weeks ambassadors from many countries who are associated with France by language and culture and who represent countries who are independent. This desire for freedom, this desire for liberty, wherever it may be on' the globe, in my opinion is the strongest tide of the 20th century, and it is a happy fact that the interests and policies of France and the United States are directed towards encouraging this growth.

I come to this ancient city which was a community when omnia Gallia est divisa in tres partes. This city stands today and I think it is evidence of the continuity of history.

This city is no stranger to me. A Parisian designed the City of Washington, Pierre L'Enfant, who laid out our broad boulevards after living here in this community. When he had finished his generous designs he presented a bill to the Congress for $90,000, and the Congress of the United States in one of those bursts of economic fervor for which they are justifiably famous awarded him the munificent sum of $3000. Some people have been so unkind as to suggest that your clothes designers have been collecting his bill ever since!

I am delighted to he here today. You have been extremely generous, and the people of Paris, to my wife and myself. I was in Canada 2 weeks ago. France has not been in military possession of Canada for more than two centuries, and yet the debate in the Parliament of Canada is bilingual. Thirty percent of the people of Canada speak French. More people speak French in my own section of New England than any other language except English. These descendants of Frenchmen who have been separated from this country for more than two centuries maintain in their lives the faith, the tradition, the culture, the understanding, which that language and that background give them. And they send their sons to Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts, which teaches in French. That is why I said at the American Embassy this morning that France is more than the sum of its parts. This long influence which stretches around the globe, which is a part of your tradition, is a source of strength to us today, and that great interest in common, more than any of the ties of the past, that great hope for the future is what makes inevitable the intimate and constant association of France and the United States.

I salute this city and I salute your country, and I salute your distinguished President. And I express in behalf of the American people our thanks to you all.