December 11, 1962 - President John F. Kennedy's Welcoming Remarks to President Alessandri of Chile

The President spoke on the South Lawn at the White House where President Jorge Alessandri Rodriguez was given a formal welcome with full military honors.

Mr. President, Ambassador, and the Ambassadors of the Organization of American States, and the Ambassadors from the other countries of the hemisphere who are with us today:

Mr. President, we are delighted to welcome you as the first President of your country to come to the United States in over a decade.

I think it most appropriate that you come now in the winter of 1962 because the matters which concern Chile and the United States are matters of the greatest concern to this country. Our relations have been happy and harmonious since 1810, when the Chilean revolution, which we like to think in this country took some of its inspiration from the American revolution, as well as the revolutionary movements of Europe--from that first occasion in 1810 when President Madison sent Mr. Poinsett, of South Carolina, as our consul, who had an intimate relation with Mr. O'Higgins and the others who took such a leading part in your country's struggle for freedom, since that date Chile has maintained an effective constitutional democracy and has maintained happy relations with the United States. We hope that those relations will continue and be strengthened.

Chile, and indeed all of the countries of the hemisphere, face in many ways the same problems, and that is a population which is vital, increasingly concerned about a better life, the governments of the hemisphere struggling to provide better opportunity for the people, education, employment, security in older age, a dependence which many of the countries of Latin America share in two or three or four commodities which are exported to the United States and to Western Europe. Some of these commodities have dropped in recent years, facing countries which are already heavily burdened and which are already experiencing a sharp increase in their population with additional economic problems.

The Alliance for Progress, which is an effort to provide a mutual basis of progress, a cooperative basis for progress between the people of Latin America and the people of North America is, I think, an answer to this great struggle but obviously an answer which is not sufficient unless we put more effort into it, unless we put heart and soul into it.

So, Mr. President, we are very glad to have you here. I think your visit indicates the major concern which this administration and Government feels with our relations with Latin America. We are also glad to have you here because we appreciated your strong support and that of your country during the difficult days of the past fall, and your messages on that occasion heartened us greatly.

So, Mr. President, you come at a very opportune time, from a country which we admire, and we are very proud to have you as our guest.