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Exchange of Toasts Between the President and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, President of the French Republic, Swimming Pool Terrace, Meridien Hotel
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7337363
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Exchange of Toasts Between the President and Valery Giscard d'Estaing, President of the French Republic, Swimming Pool Terrace, Meridien Hotel
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Digitized from Box 6 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 15, 1974
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
(Martinique, F.W.I.)
THE WHITE HOUSE
EXCHANGE OF TOASTS
BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT
AND
VALERY GISCARD 'ESTAING
PRESIDENT OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC
SWIMMING POOL TERRACE
MERIDIEN HOTEL
AT 9:38 P.M. (Martinique Time)
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. President, Madame Giscard
d'Estaing, our distinguished guests:
Let me say with great personal conviction and
strong feelings, we have enjoyed being here in a part of
France. The warmth of the welcome of the people, the superb
atmosphere created by the beauties of nature have made this
trip a wonderful experience for all of us.
Mr. President, the United States within a rela-
tively few months is going to be celebrating our 200th
anniversary. Whenever we think about that anniversary,
we can't help but feel the participation that France
played in the achievement of our independence.
July 4th, 1976, will bring back many, many
memories of the help and assistance that France gave to
our country at a very difficult and controversial period
in our early history in America.
It is my understanding, Mr. President, that one
of your ancestors, Admiral d'Estaing, did have an
interest in and did help us at a period when we, the
United States, were in our formative years. For that we
thank you, and for all of the other great Frenchmen who
were assisting America in our early days.
It is my understanding, Mr. President, that France
is making a very meaningful contribution to our 200th
anniversary with the "Sight and Sound" program that will
be a highlight in Washington for the many, many thousands
who will visit the Nation's Capital.
We thank you for this contribution and we are
grateful for your feeling that France should participate
in this way.
If I might now turn to our own personal relationship
which I say without any hesitancy or qualification, it was
a pleasure to meet you and to have the opportunity of
broadening a relationship and developing a friendship.
MORE
(OVER)
Page 2
It seems to me this can be meaningful in our relations
between France and the United States. But even more
meaningful, on a far broader basis, I am grateful for
your statesmanship; I am most appreciative for your
views that we have exchanged here on this occasion in
a part of France.
And so, Mr. President, may I offer a toast to
you and Madame Giscard d'Estaing and to the Republic of
France. It is a pleasure and a privilege.
MORE
Page 3
PRESIDENT GISCARD:
Mr. President, ladies and
gentlemen:
Mr. President, we have both come into office very re-
cently, only a few months ago, and so -- this is a source of deep
satisfaction -- we are both extremely young. Indeed, one can
say it is a secret of youth, in fact, to be elected President.
Now, we are, however, young Presidents of countries
whose relations are very longstanding, indeed, as you, your-
self just mentioned. And indeed, all you have to do is to
look behind you at Fort-de-France -- Fort-de-France, which
has carried that name for three centuries and two centuries
ago harbored the French fleet that sailed off to the coast of
the young and new United States.
I would add that the relations between France
and the United States are not merely a matter of what
you might call the picturesque site of history or simply
a matter of stories on the subject. No, it is something
which reflects a deep and reciprocal, mutual interest. It
is something which has been born out in enumerous
circumstances. For instance, when at the time of the
First World War the United States came to the defense
of France, the landing of the Americans on French territory
was met with tremendous enthusiasm on the part of the
French population.
And so, when, at the end of the Second World
War, I, myself, was involved in the last stages of the
war, the unit that I served in was a part of the First
French Army which, itself, was under the Seventh United
States Army.
But the great problems of our times -- even
to those of us who, like ourselves, are deeply attached to tra-
dition -- the big problems of our time, I say, are in
fact ahead of us and will call for considerable imagination
and action.
And that is why it was very important for me,
Mr. President, to know whether these new problems and
tasks could in fact be tackled, with the very great country
that you represent, in a spirit of openness and mutual
understanding.
And so, it was important for me to establish
this personal contact with you, yourself, sir, and the dis-
tinguished persons accompanying you. And yesterday morning
when I was meeting you at the airport, it occurred to me
that during these two days, we were in fact going to
perhaps take initiatives and perform actions which would
lead to solutions which could well have a lasting effect,
not only on our own relations, but also, perhaps on
world affairs.
MORE
Page 4
The results of our talks will be embodied in
a communique which will be issued at the end of tomorrow
morning and if I were to divulge right now what the results
of our talks have been, this would deprive the members of
our staff from the pleasures of the late evening and early
morning during which they would engage in the arduous
task of preparing the suitable form of words.
But what I can say something about is the atmos-
phere of our talks and what I would like to mention
is their very cordial nature, the very simple way in which
our talks have proceeded, the great frankness and the
clarity of your positions and the great competence with
which you have had our discussions.
Now, on international gatherings or occasions
such as this, people tend to wonder, in fact, who won,
who came out on top, who gave the concessions, who, in
fact, was the victor. But at the very outset, you will
recall that I said it was my hope that, in fact, there
would be neither a matter of concessions nor victors
in a case like this, but we should both emerge from these
talks with the feeling that we had, in fact, achieved
something useful, realistic and worthwhile in furthering
the solutions of the problems that we are in fact
discussing.
And could I say very sincerely, Mr. President,
how very much Madame Giscard d'Estaing and myself deeply
regret the absence of Mrs. Ford. We had been looking
forward very much to meeting her here on this occasion
and I may say that some of the arrangements that had been
made had been made precisely in anticipation of the pleasure
of, for instance, having her with us today at lunch.
Now, there is one great advantage of this situa-
tion and that is that the rights of international affairs
dictate that one cannot, twice running, invite the same
Head of State. That means, therefore, that despite
the great pleasure that this would afford us, it would not
be possible for us to invite you, sir, again so soon, but
we could, of course, invite Mrs. Ford. And we would very
much hope that she would accept and that you would be kind
enough to accompany her.
Now, people in this world of ours very often
asked themselves all sorts of questions and indeed,
one of the things they often wonder about, apparently,
is why statesmen, in fact, are statesmen and why they
accept to sacrifice many aspects of their existence to the
responsibilities of State.
MORE
Page 5
Now, as far as you are concerned, and I have seen
this during our talks, and as far as I am concerned, the
reason, perhaps, for which we do so is that we feel we
have, perhaps, a contribution to make in furthering the
affairs of the world.
Now, the fact that the responsibilities that
we have to shoulder at this particular time in history are
particularly heavy at the same time means that our contri-
bution will be a significant contribution.
Now, it is clear, however, that the affairs of
mankind and the peace of the world do not depend solely on
the action or the efforts of one country alone, however
big that country may be, but will always depend on the
combination, on the conjunction of the efforts of several,
and I now know that it is quite clear that we will be
able to work together.
Mr. President, when the French Fleet left
these waters two centuries ago for the North American
Continent, there were doubtless, at the time of departure,
great festivities on board and I can well imagine that
my ancestor may well have offered a toast on that occasion
which would probably have had something to do with the
wishes that he would have expressed concerning the
continent that they were about to discover and would
have expressed their hopes and their expectations.
Now, this evening, today, the situation, to
some extent, is the other way around in that it is we who
are hosting you here in Martinique, but the French Martinique
of two centuries ago and the French Martinique of today,
Mr. President, are deeply proud of having here the visit
today of the President of the United States, our friend
the President.
END
(AT 9:55 P.M. Martinique Time