President Hoover, Mr. Vice President, my very dear friends:
I am deeply honored that so many of you should come down to welcome Mrs. Eisenhower and me back to Washington. It has been a little longer stay than we had planned, but the circumstances you will understand.
I am happy that the doctors have given me at least a parole if not a pardon, and I expect to be back at my accustomed duties, although they say I must ease my way into them and not bulldoze my way into them.
To each of you who have come down, of course, we would like to speak personally and thank you for the honor you have done us.
That is impossible, and so, possibly in just saying thank you, we are grateful, you will understand what we would like to do and you will let the wish take the place of the deed.
Thank you very much.
Note: The President spoke at 4:03 p.m. The Vice President's remarks of welcome follow: Mr. President:
The members of the Cabinet, the members of the Diplomatic Corps and Members of Congress, and the residents of the Washington area that you see before you, are just a small indication of the joy and inspiration your return to Washington has brought to the people of the
United States and the people throughout the world.
I know that I express the sentiments in their hearts when I say welcome back and Godspeed in the days ahead.
Dwight D. Eisenhower, Remarks Upon Arrival at the Washington National Airport. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/233715
