The President's Toast at a Dinner Given by Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn of Thailand

Mr. Prime Minister:

Responding to your very gracious and warm toast, I would like to say that I feel very gratified that on this visit to Thailand we have been received officially in such a warm manner and, also, that we have the opportunity to come to your home and to be received again here.

You all know how deeply grateful I am for the previous visits that I have had to Thailand. I seem to come back year after year. And I hope that will always be the case in the future. I particularly appreciate the fact that you have suggested that our daughters come. I can tell you that I have already recommended to them that they come to Thailand.

We may not be able to come with them, but I can assure you that probably before we return that our older daughter, Patricia, her mother's namesake, and our younger daughter, Julie, and her husband, David Eisenhower, will be visiting Thailand. And we know that they will love it as much as we have.

Speaking from a personal standpoint, I would like to say this: that as I arrived in the city--it seems in a way just a short time ago and in other ways a very long time ago because so many nice things have happened since we arrived--we arrived in the city and saw the wonderful welcome of the crowds, the city all lighted up as I have never seen a city lit up before; we both thought that no welcome could be more outstanding than this one.

But I should like to point out that I will also remember that when I came to this country on several occasions, when I held no office at all, I was not President, I was not Vice President, I was just an American citizen, that I was received by the people around this table, I was received by you, Mr. Prime Minister, and welcomed in your home then just as you welcome me tonight. That is true friendship. I am deeply grateful for that expression of friendship. It is the kind of friendship that we feel for you and all of you around this table.

So to that kind of friendship, which our many good friends in Thailand seem to have in such great abundance, we are particularly pleased to raise our glasses tonight. And in doing so, I suggest that and urge that all of you stand and we raise our glasses to the Prime Minister and Mrs. Thanom.