EC–3. Letter from President Eisenhower to President Ponce1
The visit of the Vice President of the United States, Richard Nixon, offers me a welcome opportunity to extend to you and to your countrymen the best wishes of the people of the United States for Ecuador’s continued peace and prosperity.
In these tense and troubled times when people throughout the Free World are striving to conserve and protect their precious heritage of freedom and democratic government, I am particularly conscious of the example your country now gives to the Free World of a nation enjoying political stability, freedom and steady economic development. I feel too that it is truly in the self-interest of all nations in this hemisphere that each develop a sturdy self-reliant economy. Steady and rational economic growth is essential to meet the aspirations of future generations for a better standard of living. It is because of this belief that I have been encouraged by your country’s experience over the last decade. Political stability combined with responsible and constructive economic policies have placed Ecuador in an enviable position of financial and economic solidity.
I note also with special pleasure that your country will be host to the Eleventh Inter-American Conference.2 Ecuador offers both an appropriate and attractive setting for this important meeting of the American States. The Organization of American States furnishes a dramatic example for the rest of the world of the feasibility of effective and fruitful international cooperation dedicated to the achievement of peace, justice and well-being. We are, in a true sense, a family of States, seeking common goals along a common path.
In conveying these greetings from my countrymen, may I also extend my personal best wishes to Your Excellency.3
Sincerely,
- Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence, Lot 64 D 174. “Pres Corr. 1958, P-Q-R-S.” Delivered by Vice President Nixon during his visit to Quito, May 9–11. The source text is a carbon copy, bearing a stamped signature.↩
- The Tenth Inter-American Conference, which met at Caracas, March 1–28, 1954, had designated Quito as the site of the Eleventh Inter-American Conference. For documentation on the Tenth Inter-American Conference, see Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, vol. IV, The American Republics, Chapter 4. The OAS Council subsequently scheduled the Eleventh Inter-American Conference to open on February 1, 1960, but postponed it to March 1, 1961, rescheduled it to May 24, 1961, and then postponed it indefinitely.↩
- For the text of President Ponce’s reply of May 13, see the Department of State Bulletin, August 4, 1958, p. 209.↩