Toasts of the President and Prime Minister Barrow of Barbados

Mr. Prime Minister, Mrs. Barrow, Secretary Rusk, Senator Mansfield, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen:

Mrs. Johnson and I are so pleased that the Barrows could come and bring this good Barbados weather to Washington for a delightful evening here.

The Prime Minister reminded us this morning that George Washington traveled to Barbados in 1751 and he was returning his visit. George Washington was so delighted by what he found in Barbados in 1751 that he wrote a journal about his visit.

I am not making any suggestions, Mr. Prime Minister, and I hope you don't have your pen and pencil with you, but that little book did great things for our two nations.

In fact, Mr. Prime Minister, we may say that the Father of our Country was really the father of your tourist trade. Barbados has become the favorite island under the sun for many Americans. They are called by beauty and tranquility. They go there to seek a rest with you, to refresh their spirits with the joys of nature, and perhaps to recover what they may have lost in the scramble of modern life in the United States.

Mr. Prime Minister, we are very grateful to you and your people for never failing us in our human needs, for always sending us home happier and wiser from even the briefest visit with you.

As I have told your lady this evening, I look forward with pleasurable anticipation to accepting the kind invitation you tendered us earlier today.

But this, my friends, is still only the Barbados of the travel folder. I should like to remind you all that there is still another Barbados.

There are other reasons for gratitude and friendship between our two countries.

There is the Barbados that our fathers turned to when they were framing our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of our country.

Barbados had its own Declaration of Rights as early as the year 1651 and we Americans were very grateful and very proud then to have drawn upon it in our own documents.

There is the Barbados that sent a message across the seas in the first dark hours of World War II--"Go ahead Britain"--that message said, "Barbados is behind you."

It was a mighty big statement from a mighty little country. But in those days no one laughed. Great Britain was a very little island, too, then. The British people were cheered to know that Barbados stood with them in that trying period against the ugly head of aggression that had reared itself.

They cheered again when the message was followed by a man from Barbados who came to fight with them in the Royal Air Force. That man has been a great champion of freedom ever since. He is our very special guest this evening, the distinguished Prime Minister of Barbados.

There is the Barbados, too, that President John F. Kennedy must have had in mind when once he spoke of the role and the duties of small nations in the world in which we live.

President Kennedy said, "No nation, large or small, can be indifferent to the fate of others, near or far."

He recalled the testimony of history and went on to say, "All the world owes much to the little 'five feet high' nations. The greatest art of the world was the work of little nations. The most enduring literature of the world came from little nations. The heroic deeds that thrill humanity through generations were the deeds of little nations fighting for their freedom. And, oh, yes, the salvation of mankind came through a little nation."

I thought of those words last night, Mr. Prime Minister, when I went across the street to speak to some of my dear friends of the B'nai B'rith, who are the people and the friends of another little nation, Israel.

I also thought of you and your people, sir, because I am proud to know that you share my hopes in this Nation's purpose.

You share our urgent and genuine desire to work with every nation--every nation large or small--for just one thing: the peace and the security of human beings.

It is just as I said last night, we seek a world, we in America seek a world where neighbors are at each other's side and not at each other's throat.

We act in the belief that no nation, large or small, can or should turn its back on another nation that may be the victim or may be unfortunate enough to be assaulted by aggression.

We do not believe from all that we have learned through the years, at such painful cost, that there is ever any such thing, Mr. Prime Minister, as harmless aggression, anywhere or any time.

At all times, we Americans believe that the smallest and the most distant of nations, without ever thinking for a moment that we are the world's policeman--we still believe that all nations have a claim on American concern and American conscience.

Our concern as Americans throughout the years is a long and honored one. It is just as your visitor, George Washington, said, more than 2 centuries ago, "It is mankind's cause."

We are concerned only that mankind lives free and mankind lives without fear, governed only by the independent human spirit. And we want to help all mankind in that quest, although in helping them we are frequently misunderstood at home and abroad.

Barbados is helping us find the way. Your people, sir, have preserved the traditions of a parliamentary democracy and justice now for 3 centuries. Within a few days of winning independence, you, sir, declared your intention to work unsparingly for peace by joining the United Nations and doing your bit in that great forum.

You have become, in a very short time, a very valued member of the Organization of American States.

Next year the ties between our two nations will be strengthened again when we join as partners in one of the most ambitious studies ever undertaken of our air and our ocean environment.

Secretary Rusk tells me that the United States will assign at least eight research ships and a fleet of scientific aircraft numbering more than 20, that will have its survey headquarters where George Washington went to enjoy the sun.

Other nations are being invited to join in that daring and important project. We expect it to contribute greatly to the World Weather Watch program and to the world's knowledge of the waters and the atmosphere, especially of the Caribbean area.

Finally, sir, we have all heard the old saying, "Behind every great man stands a woman." I am sure you will excuse me if I point out that the lovely lady with the Prime Minister tonight, whose company I enjoy, is a native of our own great State, the State of New Jersey.

Mr. Prime Minister, we consider her to be one of America's most talented and most precious gifts to Barbados. We sent to your lovely country our first President and your First Lady.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in a toast to Her Majesty the Queen.