John F. Kennedy photo

Message to a Meeting on the Foreign Student in the United States.

October 30, 1961

I WOULD LIKE to take this opportunity to express my personal interest in the purpose and plan of your meeting on "The Foreign Student in the United States." The need for greater effort, to promote international understanding both through the Government and through non-Governmental organizations, becomes ever more evident as the number of foreign students increases and the attendant responsibilities and opportunities rise. The object of your meeting--to enable the Government to advise and consult with representatives of many of the vital action groups which have long been concerned with providing a better experience for foreign students--emphasizes the essential basis of our total effort.

Government has its role to play: the Department of State has recently indicated a broadened concern for improving the experience of all foreign students regardless of whether they came here under Government programs. But it is on individuals such as you and the voluntary groups you represent, that the Government must depend primarily for the character and quality of the relationships we form with foreign students. This responsibility gives all of you and your organizations a first-hand role in this increasingly important part of our foreign relations. I hope your meeting is a most productive one in outlining ways by which we can, jointly, meet this great and growing opportunity more effectively.

JOHN F. KENNEDY

Note: The 2-day meeting was held at the Department of State October 30-31, 1961. The President's message was read by Philip H. Coombs, Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, who addressed the opening meeting.

John F. Kennedy, Message to a Meeting on the Foreign Student in the United States. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235308

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