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Remarks
of Welcome to King Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz
al-Saud of
Saudi Arabia
May
27, 1971
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King Faisal
visited President Richard Nixon at the White
House.
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Remarks of
Welcome to King Faisal ibn Abd al-Aziz al-Saud of
Saudi Arabia
May 27, 1971
President Nixon
speaking:
Your Majesty:
You have visited our country many times, but it is a
very great honor for me to welcome you on this
occasion officially as the head of state and the
head of government of the great nation you
represent.
I know that the
talks that we shall have and the talks that your
advisers will have with members of our
Administration will contribute to the already
excellent relations we have between our two
countries.
And I am
particularly looking forward to the opportunity of
having the benefit of your wise council as one of
the senior statesmen of the world on how our two
nations can work together for a just and secure
peace in the Mideast and in all parts of the world.
I know that this
visit will be of great benefit to the
representatives of our Government, and we hope that
you and all the members of your royal party will
enjoy your stay in our Nation's Capital.
Note:
The President spoke at 10:18 a.m. on the South Lawn
at the White House where King Faisal was given a
formal welcome with full military honors.
Later the same day, King Faisal was honored at a
luncheon at the White House. King Faisal
responded to the President's welcome in Arabic.
His remarks were translated simultaneously by an
interpreter, as follows:
King Faisal
speaking:
In the name of God,
the Merciful and the Beneficent, Mr. President, it
is a great pleasure for me to meet with Your
Excellency in this great country. Undoubtedly
I am no stranger to this country. But I do
believe that our meeting under these circumstances
will prove fruitful, particularly as a result of
Your Excellency's contribution to them.
The good relations
between our two countries and the close and friendly
relations between us do not need a great effort for
them to remain the way they are.
We hope that this
good relationship which exists between our countries
will be in the interest of all and in the interest
of the world at large. And I hope that the
friendship of the United States will not be
restricted to only our country, and that relations,
good relations, will not exist only between our two
countries.
We hope that these
good relations and this friendship will exist not
only between this great country and its great
President and its great people and ourselves, but
also between you and the Arab and Islamic countries
of the Middle East.
If certain
factors, powers, and circumstances have succeeded in
disrupting the relations at times between your great
country and ours and between your country and the
Arab and Islamic countries of the world, we hope
that through your efforts, Mr. President, these good
relations will be reestablished and that there will
always be a condition, a situation of good relations
and friendship between your country and ours and the
countries of the Middle East.
The aggression,
which exemplifies itself in the occupancy of parts
of our country [nation] and our holy places and the
subjugation of one of our peoples is one which has
brought about some disagreement, a disruption of the
good relations between your country, your good
country, and ours.
But the qualities
which Your Excellency, Mr. President, and which the
American people are characterized by, the love for
goodness and for justice and for right, make us hope
that we will be able to overcome these difficulties
and that we will eventually be able to establish
justice and peace in that part of the world and
throughout the world.
And I am pleased,
Mr. President, to exchange with you talks of which
will help us to be able to achieve these objectives
for the interest of your country and ours.
I am pleased, Mr.
President, to reiterate my gratitude for the
reception and the warm welcome which I and the
members of my party, of my delegation, have been
accorded by you, Mr. President, and by your
Government, and by your great people.
And I would like to
thank you again for this reception on this occasion.
Source: The
Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace
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