We are very fortunate today to have as our guest the President-elect of Uruguay, our good friend. We appreciate very much his being here today. We want him to enjoy his visit in the United States. We want to contribute to that enjoyment all we can. I have always been curious to see his country. I hope some time that I shall have a chance to do it.
The President brought me a booklet today, with pictures of his farm, and his son and his grandson; and he has grapes just like these. He says they are even better than California grapes ever pretend to be. I should like to go some time and sample them.
But I am sure that he does just what he says he does. We are indeed glad to have him in the United States, and I should like to propose a toast to the President-elect of our neighboring Republic.
Note: The President proposed the toast at a luncheon at the White House. President-elect Berreta's response, as translated directly afterward, follows:
Mr. President, President-elect Tomas Berreta expresses his profound thanks for being present here as a guest of the President of the United States. He feels particularly moved because his country has made a cult of democracy, a cult of the principle of government of, by and for the people. When he comes into this house with the pictures of Lincoln and Washington--leaders who brought democracy to the entire hemisphere--and he sits alongside the President of the United States, surrounded by his advisers, he is indeed grateful for this opportunity.
Moreover, he says that the fine touch of having grapes on the table he takes as a symbol of the fact that the President of the United States, like himself, comes from an agricultural region as a worker--a worker of the ground. Therefore, he expresses profound thanks to be in this country.
Harry S Truman, Toasts of the President and the President-Elect of Uruguay Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/232671
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