IT IS A GREAT PLEASURE, both personally and officially, to extend the sincere good wishes of the Government and the people of the United States to the Meeting of Ministers of Education of Asian Member States convened in Tokyo by UNESCO in association with the Economic Commission for Asia and the far East.
In this period of history, when the complexities of national and international life require that we counsel and act together to a much greater extent than in the past, I know of few meetings more important for the future of all of us than those which deal, as does this one, with educational planning.
Education is indeed the principal means available to society to liberate individuals from hunger, ignorance, and all forms of tyranny; and to give every individual, however humble his birth, the opportunity to develop himself as a free individual in a free society.
There is today an almost universal faith in the elevating and enriching power of education and the pursuit of knowledge. As I recently told an academic gathering at the University of California, "Knowledge, not hate, is the passkey to the future--knowledge transcends national antagonisms--it speaks a universal language--it is the possession, not of a single class, a single nation or a single ideology, but of all mankind."
The U.S. Observer Delegation, which we are honored to send to this Meeting, will put its principal emphasis on the greater development of human resources as an essential foundation for national growth and progress. We are pleased to note that economists and educators alike, throughout the world, are attaching increased importance to such development.
We in America share with you the vision of the revolutionary role which education can play in building strong, free, and independent nations. We have a profound conviction that education is not a secondary asset for a nation's independence and growth, but the very life-stream of its development-political, economic, social, and spiritual. It is in this spirit that I wish to express, on behalf of the American people and myself, our sincere hope that this Meeting attains every possible measure of success.
Note: Members of the U.S. Observer Delegation were Charles B. Fahs, U.S. Information Service, Tokyo, who served as Chairman; Robert H. B. Wade, Special Assistant, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State, who served as Vice Chairman; James H. Faulhaber, Office of financial Support, Agency for International Development; Joseph B. Jarvis, Special Assistant to the Commissioner of Education, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare; and William A. Wolffer, Office of Technical Support, Agency for International Development. The meeting was held in Toyko April 2-11.
John F. Kennedy, Message to the UNESCO Meeting of Asian Ministers of Education in Tokyo. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/236309