[San Francisco Mayor George Christopher and Nikita Khrushchev, ca. 1959 - 1960]

we proceed with the meeting ladies and gentlemen I am sure in this atmosphere and spirit our next or first Speaker this evening I have the privilege to say will be the honorable George Christopher mayor of the City and County of San Francisco who brings our greetings to our [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] visitors thank you very much Mr chairman Premier and Madame kushav Ambassador Lodge Governor Brown distinguished visitors ladies and Gentlemen by arrangement with our state department we are gathered here tonight under the offices of two great San Francisco organizations the world affairs Council and the Commonwealth Club to extend our welcome to an eminent figure of of contemporary history Premier kushav does come to us at a very critical moment in our times he is the leader of a powerful state whose social Concepts differ from ours as Mr Rockwell stated a moment ago these ideological and philosophical differences of opinion should not obstruct our mutual efforts for peace America after all emerged from the forge of diverse public opinion and profound public discourse however when decisions were ultimately made they were Decisions by all the people and for all the people out of this very adversity and out of this very diversity we have achieved our American Unity we ask today why should we not reasonably expect as a natural course of human conduct a tranquil happy and fruitful existence peace after all is precious we in America will give everything for it except truth and the Dignity of our nation we respectfully remind our distinguished visitors that the moral and spiritual faith of America is not a passive or meaningless adherence it grows from sturdy Pioneers who came to these Shores from every country in the world they came here ladies and gentlemen to find Freedom of thought freedom of the Soul freedom in its fullest meaning they did not come in vain today we are all busily engaged in developing ingenious creations and reaching for the Moon is no longer a tried saying as the USSR has recently proved all this progress should not and must not overwhelm Us in Genesis chap chap 11 we read nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do it is for this generation to determine whether these events shall be recorded as intelligent progress or as the world's Armageddon today we can boast of our ability to kill 1 million people or more with one explosive no Center of population anywhere is immune we have made progress in every category of endeavor in the Arts The Sciences in travel in production but since man's Advent on this Earth we have made little advance in the most imperative element of all the spiritual and and moral element of human understanding no era in world history has ever been confronted with problems of of such far-reaching magnitude and no era has ever had more urgent need for a solution as we receive his Excellency Premier crev we all pray that almighty God May guide our world leaders to a compassionate understanding of their Monumental responsibilities and that through this understanding will come a just honorable dignified and Lasting peace For All Mankind no no greater glory [Music] yes my friends no greater glory could come to a leader in World History than to have posterity say of him that he was an architect of such a pece San Francisco the Queen City of America extends her very cordial welcome to Premier and Madame kushev thank you and all the more so that uh it has been intimated to me that he too uh regrets the unfortunate incident but after all things happen and uh uh a man can sometimes drop an inadvertent uh phrase for Francis I would gladly extend the same sort of invitation to mayor Christopher to come to Moscow but truly uh I'm a little afraid of doing this because I don't know whether this will serve him well or go against him in the elections this really is a very difficult question for me to solve so I would like to um address all of you uh present here and all the citizens of this wonderful this flourishing and sunny city of San Francisco welcome to the Soviet Union come and see us in Moscow we will be happy to welcome you there