[Released December 20, 1947. Dated December 19, 1947]
I AM GRATEFUL for your message on the occasion of the departure from Italy of Allied troops. I know that the Italian Government and people are dedicated to the preservation and protection of the freedoms which they have regained, and I am confident that I speak for the American people when I say that we are heartened by the knowledge that Italy stands with the other freedom loving nations of the world in the defense of liberty and democracy everywhere.
HARRY S. TRUMAN
[His Excellency, Alcide de Gasperi, President of the Council of Ministers, Rome]
Note: Prime Minister de Gasperi's message, dated December 16, follows: The President The White House
At the moment when all Allied troops have left our soil I wish to assure you that the Italians will forever retain the memory of their liberating action and the brotherhood of arms which united them afterwards with our regular and voluntary forces. Your troops fought in Italy for the cause of liberty and democracy. I shall be grateful to you if you will inform them that the common ideals for which they shed so much noble blood remain the supreme law of the Italian Republic.
DE GASPERI
Harry S Truman, Exchange of Messages With Prime Minister de Gasperi of Italy. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232616