Remarks at a Banquet Given by the St. Augustine Board of Trade in St. Augustine, Florida
I shall say but one word of thanks to you tonight. I have a very deep appreciation of the courtesies you have shown me. I do indeed appreciate the reception you have given me in this, the oldest historic city in the United States, and the hospitality with which you have followed it. I thank the gentlemen who have spoken tonight for their kind personal allusions. And I do want to say one thing in conclusion; if I have ever been able to accomplish anything at all in regard to peace or whatever else it may be, it has been done only to this end, to give fit expression to the thoughts and aspirations of the mighty people whose representative I, at the present time, happen to be. Good night.
Theodore Roosevelt, Remarks at a Banquet Given by the St. Augustine Board of Trade in St. Augustine, Florida Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/343620