Your Majesties:
 
      In the life of a nation, as in that of an individual, there are 
      occasions that stand out in high relief. Such an occasion is 
      the present one, when the entire United States is welcoming on 
      its soil the King and Queen of Great Britain, of our neighbor 
      Canada, and of all the far-flung British Commonwealth of Nations. 
      It is an occasion for festivities, but it is also fitting that 
      we give thanks for the bonds of friendship that link our two 
      peoples.
 
      I am persuaded that the greatest single contribution our two 
      countries have been enabled to make to civilization, and to the 
      welfare of peoples throughout the world, is the example we have 
      jointly set by our manner of conducting relations between our 
      two nations.
 
      It is because each nation is lacking in fear of the other that 
      we have unfortified borders between us. It is because neither 
      of us fears aggression on the part of the other that we have 
      entered no race of armaments, the one against the other. 
 
      The King and I are aware of a recent episode. Two small uninhabited 
      Islands in the center of the Pacific