Letter to Myron M. Cowen Concerning the Philippine Elections.

Dear Mr. Cowen:

Your letter of October twenty-seventh has been read with great interest, and I wish to inform you that I too regard the forthcoming Philippine elections as a vital test of democracy for the Philippine Republic. However, I am confident that the people of the Philippines will meet this test, as they have met others, in a manner which will fully justify the esteem in which they are held throughout the free world.

I know that I speak for the American people when I say that all of us are indeed interested in what is happening in the Philippines. We rejoice in the upright manner in which the Republic of the Philippines is meeting the problems of a sovereign nation, for it is with some pride that Americans remember that Philippine independence is something that we long worked for and are pledged to respect and help guard.

The Philippine people, whom I know well, are a proud people. This justifiable pride derives in great part from their independence and their democratic political processes. I know that they will wish to stand before the world on their election day as having made full use of their political freedom and enlightened laws to elect a representative government of their own free choosing and dedicated to their service.

Sincerely,

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER