Dwight D. Eisenhower photo

Remarks at the AFL-CIO Testimonial Dinner in Honor of Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell.

June 29, 1960

Mr. Chairman and distinguished guests:

I feel that there is something possibly symbolic about my appearance here this evening. I stand in front of you in plain view and for some years I have been the target for some of the sharpest barbs that some of you had to launch in my direction. And I don't know of any time when I have been more exposed than I am this moment.

But there are two specific areas outside of our common patriotism and love of country in which I find myself always in agreement with the AFL-CIO and indeed the other unions here represented. Those two are:

In our recognition that we are but one nation in the world and that our own prosperity, our own progress, and our own peace depend upon our friendship with other nations and our leadership with them in the paths of peace.

And second, our common admiration for your guest of honor, Jim Mitchell.

Now I would like to talk for just a moment about these two subjects. Time and again I have been encouraged in heartwarming fashion by the members of all our unions in efforts to increase the spirit of friendship and the depth of understanding between this nation and other nations who, like us, believe in the dignity of man and his possession of the inalienable fights given to him by his Creator.

There is in the Cabinet a committee that has as its job trying to better markets through the world so that our economy may prosper as we help others to prosper. As their purchasing power rises, our prosperity rises with it. This is the kind of thing that we understand together, and this is the kind of thing in which the AFL-CIO has always been in the forefront in supporting.

I cannot tell you how much this has meant to me, because there are those short-sighted people who believe that by building around ourselves wails--walls of guns and walls of tariff--that we can live in a secure and prosperous isolation.

My friends, you at least--the people of your organizations--have shown that they recognize the falsity of any such belief and, indeed, have been on the positive side, working to destroy such illusions and delusions in this country. fortunately, the number of the people that so believe are diminishing. I am completely sure that part of that result has been because of your enlightened efforts. And for this, on behalf of the entire nation, I must thank you.

Now I get to my second subject, Jim Mitchell. I was once told by a very distinguished soldier that practically every general's reputation as it was recorded in history was the result of his skill in picking a chief of staff.

I rather think that if I am going to live in history, one of the reasons is the wisdom I had in selecting Jim Mitchell as Secretary of Labor.

He and I both have learned this about the leaders of labor. They may not see eye to eye with us always, but they respect a man of courage, of honesty, of integrity and who tries to dig under the facade of slogan, of wisecrack, and to get at the facts--get them out so that peoples looking together at the same problem are not talking about something that is false or distorted but things as they are, the realities of situations.

I have had the great good fortune of having Secretary Mitchell at my side now these 7 years. for that good fortune I thank the Almighty. Secretary Mitchell has constantly championed the cause of labor, as such, and its right to get its proper due. The people who with their hands and their heads and their thinking produce the wealth of this country are entitled to their proper dues and at the same time saying that in a free enterprise country if we are to be preserved as such, we must recognize the needs for profit, because if there are no profits, there will be no investments, and free labor as we know it will not continue to exist.

This is the kind of thing he has taught, the kind of thing he has preached, outside and within the confines of the Cabinet Room.

Each of us--you of labor--we of Government--have got a very deep responsibility to the United States, the Nation that we believe under God is destined to lead the entire earth to better paths--finer paths--toward peace and justice in this world.

And so I think, regardless of the points of difference you have found and discovered and criticized within this administration--which is your right--but I say this: no man has ever been more dedicated to the idea of whatever is good for the United States is good for labor than has Jim Mitchell.

And therefore, as I salute you--all of you--of the labor movement, I salute him and his family who are so fortunate to be here as part of the group that you are honoring along with him this evening.

Thank you and good night.

Note: The President spoke at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Washington. His opening words "Mr. Chairman" referred to George Meany, President of the AFL--CIO.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks at the AFL-CIO Testimonial Dinner in Honor of Secretary of Labor James P. Mitchell. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/235004

Filed Under

Categories

Location

Washington, DC

Simple Search of Our Archives