Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7337011
label
Remarks of the President to the Japan Press Club [Ford Speech or Statement]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7337011
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Remarks of the President to the Japan Press Club [Ford Speech or Statement]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
subjects
Japan
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7337011
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
20
logicalDate
1974-11-20
month
11
year
1974
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
618ea611b9c51d0f
ocrText
Digitized from Box 5 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 20, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Tokyo, Japan)
THE WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
TO THE
JAPAN PRESS CLUB
IMPERIAL HOTEL
12:05 P.M. JAPAN TIME
Mr. Watanabe, ladies and gentlemen:
As the first American President to visit
Japan while in office, I greet you on this unprecedented
occasion. I thank the Japanese Press Club for inviting
me and the National Television Network of Japan for
the opportunity to speak directly to the people of Japan.
I deeply appreciate the excellent coverage
of my visit by the exceptional news media of Japan. I
have always sought a good working relationship with the
American journalists and have the same feeling toward
their Japanese colleagues. It has been my objective
at all times to treat journalists and all other people
in the same manner that I would like to be treated.
I bring the warmest greetings of the American
people. Our bipartisan political leadership in the
American Congress sends its very best wishes.
The distinguished leaders of both of America's
national political parties have asked me to tell you of
the very high value that all Americans attach to our
partnership with Japan.
It is the American custom for the President to
make a report every year to the Congress on our
state of the Union. In the same spirit, I thought the
people of Japan might welcome a report on the state
of another union -- the unity of American and Japanese
mutual aspirations for friendship as Americans see that
relationship.
In my hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan,
a Japanese company is now assembling musical instruments.
Not only are the instruments harmonious in the melodies
they produce, but the labor-management relationship
followed by the Japanese created a model of harmony
between workers and business.
MORE
Page 2
In a nearby community, Edmore, another Japanese
firm is manufacturing small electrical motors. This is
yet another Japanese enterprise that has injected new
energy, new good will, in our industrial life. There
are similar examples throughout America and we welcome
them.
The time has long passed when Americans
speak only of what we contributed to your society. Today
traffic flows in both directions. We are both learning
from each other.
To signify the value the United States attaches
to partnership with Japan, I chose this to make my
first overseas trip. I also met with your Ambassador to
the United States on the first day that I assumed office,
August 9.
I have long admired the richness and the
diversity of Japan's culture, the products of your industry,
the ingenuity, creativity, and the energy of your people,
your courage as a fountain of resourcefulness in a
troubled world.
My only regret is that Mrs. Ford could not
join me on this visit in response to your very kind
invitation. We both hope that she can come at some
later date.
MORE
Page 3
Americans are very proud of the way that we
and the Japanese have worked together during the post-war
period. We have had some disagreements. But we have
remained friends and we have remained partners. Together,
we created conditions under which both nations could
prosper. Together we expanded our relations in trade
and travel.
The reality of America's economic, political
and strategic inter-dependence with Japan is very obvious.
America is Japan's greatest customer and supplier.
Japan is America's greatest overseas trading partner.
Japan is the best foreign customer for America's agricul-
tural products.
The total trade between our two nations has
doubled since 1970. It will surpass $20 billion in 1974.
American investments in Japan are the largest of any
foreign state. Japan's investments in America is growing
rapidly and accounts for one-fifth of all Japanese
investment abroad.
The flow of Japanese visitors to the United States
has grown from some 50,000 in 1966 to over 700,000 in 1974.
This is also a two-way street.
Over 350,000 Americans visited Japan last year,
accounting for nearly one-half of all foreign visitors.
Together, we removed the legacies of World War II.
The reversion of Okinawa eliminated the last vestige of that
war from our agenda. We have made independent but
mutually compatible efforts to improve our relations with
the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China. We
have devised better channels for open consultation. I
particularly want you to know that I understand the dangers
of taking each other for granted.
As we talk to each other, we must ask each other
what we regard as the central needs of our times.
First, of course, is peace. Americans and
Japanese know the value of peace. We want to devote
our resources and ourselves to building things, not
tearing them down. We do not want to send our sons into
battle again.
The alliance between Japan and the United
States has helped to secure peace and can continue to help
secure it. That alliance is not directed against any
other country. It does not prevent us from improving
our relations with other countries.
MORE
Page 4
Our alliance does not signify that both nations
subscribe fully to identical attitudes or identical
styles. It does signify, however, that we clearly
share a common resolve to maintain stability in East
Asia, to help in the developments of other countries
that need our help and to work together to encourage
diplomatic and political rather than military solutions
to world problems.
Our alliance was forged by peoples who saw
their national interest in friendship and in cooperation.
I am confident that our relations will remain solid
and very substantial. I pledge that we shall work to
make it so.
Peace, however, cannot be our sole concern.
We have learned that there are many international threats
and dangers that can affect the lives of our citizens. We
face dwindling supplies of raw materials and food. We
face international economic problems of great complexity.
We must be more stringent in conservation than ever before.
We have worked together to solve the problems of
the cold war. We succeeded because we worked together.
Now we confront these new and even more complicated
problems.
The Japanese reformer, Sakuma Shozan, wrote some
lines in 1854 that provide an insight for 1974. Sakuma
said, and I quote, "When I was 20, I knew that men were
linked together in one province; when I was 30, I knew
that they were linked together in one nation; when I was
40, I knew they were linked together in one world of
five continents."
Now, 120 years later, the links between nations
are closer than ever. Modern technology has made the
world one. What each man or each nation does, or fails
to do, affects every other.
Some Americans wondered why I decided to accept
your invitation to come to Japan at a time when we have
unsolved problems at home. I replied to those Americans
that many of the problems we have at home are not just
American problems but the problems of the world as a whole.
Like others, we suffer from inflation. Like others, we
face recession. Like others, we have to deal with rising
prices and potential shortages of fuels and raw materials.
America cannot solve those problems alone. Nations can
only solve those problems by working together.
Just as we worked together to maintain peace,
we can work together to solve tomorrow's problems.
MORE
Page 5
Our two nations provide the world with a model
of what can be achieved by international cooperation. We
can alos provide a model for dealing with the new difficulties.
We both have great technological skills and human resources,
great energy and great imagination.
We both acknowledge the responsibility to developing
States. We envisage the orderly and peaceful sharing of
essential national resources. We can work together to
meet the global economic issues. We believe that we are not
just temporary allies. We are permanent friends.
We share the same goals--- peace, development, sta-
bility and prosperity. These are not only praiseworthy and
essential goals, but common goals.
The problems of peace and economic well-being
are inextricably linked. We believe peace cannot exist
without prosperity, prosperity cannot exist without peace,
and neither can exist if the great States of the world do
not work together to achieve it. We owe this to ourselves,
to each other and to all of the Japanese and the American
peoples.
American and Japan share the same national pastime
--- baseball. In the game of baseball, two teams compete.
But neither can play without the other, nor without
common respect for each other and for the rules of the
game.
I have taken the liberty of giving you my views
on the world we live in. Now let me tell you, the Japanese
people, a little bit about the American people. The
American people have faced some difficult times in our
history. They know they will face others in the future.
Their burdens are enormous, both at home and abroad. Some
observers, including American observers, say that Americans
have lost their confidence, their sense of responsibility
and their creativity. It is not true.
I have traveled over much of my country during :
the past year. Each time I return to Washington refreshed.
Our people are determined and realistic. Our people are
vigorous. They are solving their problems in countless
towns and cities across the country. They continue to
understand that history has placed great responsibilities
on American shoulders. Americans are ready and willing
to play their part with the same strength and the same will
that they have always shown in the past.
Americans also know that no nation, however strong,
can hope to dictate the course of history by itself. But
the ability to understand the basic issue, to define our
national interest, and to make common cause with others.
to achieve common purposes makes it possible to influence
events. And Americans are determined to do that for
constructive purposes and in the true spirit of interdependence.
MORE
Page 6
In that spirit, let me make a pledge to you
today. As we face the problems of the future, the
United States will remain faithful in our commitments
and firm in the pursuit of our common goals. We
intend not only to remain a trustworthy ally, but a
reliable trading partner.
We will continue to be suppliers of goods
you need. If shortages occur, we will take special
account of the needs of our traditional trading partners.
We will not compete with our friends for their markets
or for their resources.
We want to work with them.
The basic concepts of our foreign policy
remain unchanged. Those concepts have a solid
bipartisan and popular support. The American people
remain strong, confident, and faithful. We may sometimes
falter, but we will not fail.
Let me, if I might, end on a personal note.
It is a privilege to be the first American President
to visit Japan while in office. It is also a very
great pleasure. I look forward to seeing Kyoto, the
ancient capital of Japan. Japan has preserved her
cultural integrity in the face of rapid modernization.
I have never believed all change is necessarily good.
We must try to apply the enduring values of the
past to the challenges and to the pressures of our
times. Americans can learn from Japan to respect
traditions even as we, like you, plunge ahead in the
last quarter of the twentieth century.
I also look forward to another deep privilege.
Yesterday during my call upon His Imperial Majesty, the
Emperor of Japan, I renewed our invitation for the
Emperor to visit the United States. It would be a
great pleasure to be the first American President to
welcome the Emperor of Japan to Washington and to
show His Imperial Majesty our national shrines and
treasures, including the graceful Japanese cherry trees
whose blossoms provide a setting for the monuments to the
great heroes of our own past.
I hope that my visit shall be the first of
many by American Presidents. I hope that the leaders
of our two countries will follow the example that our
peoples have already set, to visit each other frequently
and freely as our nations move together to deal with the
many common problems and concerns that will affect the
lives of all our citizens and all humanity.
MORE
Page 7
I said in my first Presidential address to
the Congress that my Administration was based on
communication, conciliation, compromise and cooperation.
This concept also guides my view of American policy
towards Japan.
We both have much work to do. Let us do it
together. Let us also continue the quest for peace.
I would rather walk a thousand miles for peace than
take a single step toward war.
I thank you.
END
(12:25 P.M. JAPAN TIME)