Mr. Prime Minister and ladies and gentlemen:
There are many reasons why we are very honored to welcome the Prime Minister to Washington on this occasion. One of them is that we think of the great debt that we in America owe to Italy and particularly to those of Italian descent. We think of the debt we owe in the field of art, music, religion, but most of all, in terms just of people, the millions of people who are proud of their Italian background, but who are also proud to be Americans.
We have, of course, an example of what those of Italian background have contributed to our Nation in our Ambassador to Italy--businessman, Governor, Cabinet officer, now Ambassador--this indicates how in field after field those of Italian background have enriched America, have added to our leadership, and have helped to make us a great people and a great country.
Mr. Prime Minister, we are also honored to welcome you because of your position of leadership, strong leadership, of one of America's strongest friends and best allies in the world. We have stood together since the end of World War II. We shall stand together in peace in the years ahead, and as I think of the subjects that we will be discussing today, the subjects of security, of trade, areas that will contribute to peace, not only in Europe and the Mediterranean but in the world, but will also contribute to prosperity, a better life for the people of Italy and the people of America, the people of the world, I realize how much our talks can contribute to those goals.
As we meet during these 2 days, I am sure it will some day be recorded that Italy and the United States on this occasion, not only renewed an old friendship and reasserted it, but we began the structure of a new relationship, not only between the United States and Italy but between the United States and the new Europe, a new relationship which can bring a better life to all of our people on both sides of the Atlantic.
So, Mr. Prime Minister, for these and many other reasons, as you come here to the White House, you receive not only a warm welcome here, but every place you go in America, the hearts of America will go out to you and the people you represent.
Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. on the South Lawn of the White House where Prime Minister Andreotti was given a formal welcome with full military honors. See also Item 126.
The Prime Minister responded in Italian. His remarks were translated by an interpreter as follows:
Mr. President:
I am very grateful for the warm welcome which you just gave me and for the repeated invitation which you sent me to come to the United States.
I share with you this deep sense of connection and of ties which we have between our two countries, and I must say that these feelings were strengthened when we received in Rome the new American Ambassador a few weeks ago. That was really an historic moment for us, and it was a kind of moral victory for those millions of Italians who came to America for more than one century to find a job here. Most of them found this job, and thus they contributed to the development of this second homeland. Others were less successful, and we were thinking especially of these latter Italians and Italo-Americans when we received with great joy your new Ambassador, John Volpe, in Rome.
Mr. President, when you were reelected a few months ago for a second term with a great number of votes, we rejoiced on the other side of the Atlantic for your reelection. We are very much convinced by what one of your closest collaborators once said, that is to say, that the union between the United States and Europe is the cornerstone of the peace structure in the world. And when you dedicated this year as the year of peace and the year of Europe, we felt that your political commitment was being met in a faithful manner.
For 25 years now the United States and Europe have defended the peace against the war, against new wars, and they have thus laid the foundations for a world of detente.
Your great prestige, Mr. President, has contributed greatly to this fact, and the great prestige which you have, not only in Western countries but also many Socialist countries, is not in contradiction with the Atlantic security policy. On the contrary, this is the logical development of this policy towards peace in the whole world.
Today we are confronted by new problems as you mentioned, and we are going to discuss these problems during these 2 days. But these problems should be seen in this prospect: We want to create a great era in the world, an era of peace and prosperity where the peoples of Europe and of the United States may raise even more their quality of life and not against the rest of the world, but as pioneers of a universal and integral democracy.
Richard Nixon, Remarks of Welcome to Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti of Italy Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/255336
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