Press Release, Remarks of President Harry S. Truman at the Commissioned Officers' Mess, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

2621a. REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT At The Commissioned Officers Mess Pearl Harbor, I. H. Your October 13, 1950 TRUMAN 1.18 P.M., Local Time "NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE* ROVERING Governor Stainback, Admiral Radford, gentlemen of this great Territory of Hawaii: It is certainly a pleasure to have this short visit in Honolulu. I sincerely wish I could stay longer. In fact, I made a suggestion to my advisers this morning that we might take a vote on whether we should just let the situation drift and stay here. But, of course we can't do that, you know we can't do that. I am very much interested in this part of the world. I was highly appreciative of the fact that these young ladies appeared in their native costumes, That was an accommodation to us. They looked very beautiful, and I know that all of you enjoyed the luncheon much better on that account. I know also that this Territory has furnished some very able assistance in Korea, and that your casualties have been very great. I am sincerely sorry about the casualties, but somebody has to meet these situations, they can't be met with sticks and stones -- somebody is bound to get hurt. Last night, before I left San Francisco, I visited the hospital at Fairfield Base, and called on those wounded who had just come in from Korea. Those young men have mag- nificent morale. Secretary Pace, General Bradley, and sev- eral others of the party went with me to that hospital ward. There was not a single complaint. There was not a single man there who did not feel that he was making the proper sacrifice for his country. If all of us in the whole country had that same brand of morale, we would never get into trouble. I think we are slowly and gradually attaining that situation. It is difficult for us -- for this Republic of ours -- to realize the responsibilities of the Government of the United States. In one generation we have come from an isolated Republic, which considered itself entirely safe with an ocean on each side of it, to the position of leader- ship of the world -- the most powerful nation in the world. And as the most powerful nation in the world, we have to assume world responsibilities, One of the principal reasons why I am anxious to see the Territory of Hawaii, and the Territory of Alaska, become States is because of their vital importance to the defense and to the welfare of the United States of America. They are both key positions in the national défense of the United States on its western borders. It is necessary that they have representation in the legislative bodies of the United States, in order to bring that lesson home to the Congress. There are men in the Congress who do not yet realize that we are an international nation now, and not just a Republic bounded on the east by the Atlantic and on the west by the Pacific. I hope that lesson can go home to the whole country in such a way that we can maintain the peace of the world. I am not one of those who thinks that another world war is inevitable. I am just as sure as I stand here that the people behind the iron curtain are just as anxious for peace as I am. I am just as sure as I stand here that if the truth could be gotten to these people, there would be peace in the world. And we are going to get the truth to