 The lands of the Middle East, ancient structures bear witness to the proud cultural and intellectual heritage of the people. Treasures of the past speak eloquently of a civilization that spawned the most significant developments in the mind of man. The arts flourished, poets and philosophers, mathematicians and statesmen made immortal contributions to the grandeur of antiquity. In an age of science, the people of the Middle East devote their efforts to education. While the proper facilities are becoming available, they dedicate themselves to the minds of youth. Fine schools are helping them to revive the great traditions of the past. Students of today are the professional men and women of tomorrow, bringing health and the hope of a better life to their own lands. The value of old customs, old ways of doing things remains. But the advent of modern equipment signifies rapid progress, movement forward, economic growth. Ancient paths have been transformed into new roads. A bridge spans a deep gorge affording rapid transportation between village and city. Tools of the farmer are being added implements developed by the technology of a mechanized age. Major programs give new life to the land and the land gives life to the people. Hard work is yielding a rich harvest, a better life for everyone. Men turn their labors to the building of dams. Large development programs with far reaching effects for the people of the area. Many of the rivers have run as shallow streams in one season, raging torrents in another. Now the waters are being tamed, farmlands will be irrigated. Lives will change as electricity comes to farms and power is generated for the new industry of a Middle East that is proud of its progress. The Vice President of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, visited the Middle East in the fall of 1962. The people were eager to welcome him, eager to show him the achievements which their labors are bringing about. The welcome which we have received here this week leaves no doubt as to the strength of the bonds of common purpose which ties together as free people. It is because those bonds are so strong and so secure and because the differences between us are so rare and so small that I wish to speak with the candor of a friend about the hopes we of the United States have for the future in this broad area of the world. As the Vice President traveled from nation to nation, his greatest desire was to get to know the people. In Lebanon, he was greeted by Foreign Minister Philippe Tacla and other cabinet members. Vice President Johnson's official state visits were a pleasant preliminary to his meetings with the people of the Middle East. In Lebanon, he met with a Shah and Prime Minister Asadullah Alam. President Gamal Gersal of Turkey greeted him. The Vice President conferred with Foreign Minister Gamal Erkin and Prime Minister is met in Onu. On Cyprus, President Makarios welcomed the Vice President's visit. Vazio Kucuk, Vice President of Cyprus, introduced him to the members of the Cypriot Parliament. In Greece, King Paul and Queen Federica extended the greetings of the people. As did Prime Minister Konstantin Karamanlis. Fully aware of the heritage of the lands he visited, the Vice President said, No American can come to this region without realizing proudly and humbly that he has returned to the wellspring of Western civilization. Thousands of years before man set foot upon the shores of our new world, great glories of civilization had been wrought here in the lands of the Middle East. A new elementary school on the island of Crete, the glories of the past are kept alive, enriching the wonders of the present in the schools of the Middle East today. The Vice President found that people were genuinely enthusiastic about education. He saw impressive evidence of the citizens' determination to help themselves and their children to a better life. Some of the teachers had come thousands of miles to share their knowledge with these young people. Aristotle said, those who educate the children well are more to be honored than even their parents. For while the parents give them life, the teachers bestow the art of living well. The library offers the key to vast stores of knowledge from all parts of the world. In every country the Vice President visited, there was an air of excitement and a sense of accomplishment. Education relies on technological advances too. The people here were delighted with the tape recorder demonstrated in Ispia as an aid in mastering languages. These students were well aware of the opportunities afforded them and they take their work seriously. As Vice President Johnson journeyed through the Middle East, he saw men using scientific devices necessary in research. In the hands of men like these Lebanese engineers, science is bringing increased modernization and prosperity. At a heavy equipment maintenance school, American advisors work side by side with Turkish instructors. Together they are developing a new core of technicians. Instructors experience deep satisfaction in working with pupils who will be the teachers of tomorrow. Thus the mastery of skills and trades spreads throughout the land. In Ankara, Mr. Johnson has shown how determination can overcome the problem of illiteracy. First, everyday conversations were recorded. Then a careful analysis was made of a quarter of a million words on tape. Language experts at the Turkish Literacy Center found that only 700 basic words were used in common speech. These basic words were then related to pictures easily understood by people learning to read and write. Using this material, teaching courses were prepared. Once the trainees have learned to identify simple words with pictures, they move on to advanced instruction. This method of learning to read can be used in any country. Through the use of this technique, reading and writing can be mastered in seven weeks. Students demonstrated their language skills with a birthday greeting to Vice President Johnson. The Vice President became familiar with new advances in packaging and distributing food. This expanding industrialization benefits the farmers because more of their produce can be used by more people. Vice President Johnson said, Nowhere is the human potential any greater than it is in these lands. The potential for progress, the potential for planning, the momentum of years past must not now be lost nor allowed to slow down. The need of the present is to freshen that momentum and to give it new impotence to carry forward economic development. A young Iranian engineer with the help of an American friend set up his own spindle manufacturing plant. As the result of initiative by a man willing and able to work for himself, new enterprise is benefiting the nation's textile industry. The Vice President assured his hosts that their friends in the United States share their aspirations and watch their progress with delight. As he traveled over fine streets and highways, he marveled at the scenic splendors of these ancient lands. In Cyprus, better highways are being built to make many regions more accessible. But only the dedication and labors of men and women served by the road could complete the task. The people made the decision to build. Their hands made the dream come true. The Vice President visited construction projects like this one in Lebanon. Signs of increasing prosperity and economic growth were immediately apparent. The drive to build a better life strengthens the bond of common interest among men and nations. Like women everywhere, Mrs. Johnson and her daughter, Linda Bird, are deeply concerned with the welfare of children. They were impressed with the large hospitals and clinics, where the people of the Middle East are bringing the advances of modern medicine to their children and their neighbors. The practice of medicine knows no borders, no passports. This doctor had come from abroad to offer his knowledge and skills to those who needed them. Turkish physicians were trained in foreign countries. Now they practice medicine among their countrymen. Elaborate equipment and new medicines help combat disease in Turkish villages. A teacher on a scholarship from another country offers rehabilitation guidance. She is welcomed because she offers new hope. The blind are being given special training for work that they are well qualified to do, work that requires sensitive hands and fingers. The visitors saw clinics like this one where the children of today and of tomorrow have every hope of avoiding sickness and disease. On Cyprus, Vice President and Mrs. Johnson were invited to take part in the opening of a new care school milk program. Today's children will hold in their hands the destiny of their country. Their well-being is a solemn trust. Their good health and childhood is the responsibility of the entire nation. The people he met, their determination and their great heritage made a deep impression on the visitor. Our cultures, our philosophies, our religions trace their origins to these areas. We know how great is the death of the West to the East, which actually cradled our civilization. Our feeling is based on no mere sentiment of the past. Our feeling is based on the solid evidences of the strong potential which exists throughout these lands, the potential for a new millennium of greatness and progress. Our market center in Athens benefits consumers in the Greek capital and provides farmers with a faster and more economical way of getting the produce from the land to the people. The Vice President well understands the significance of such a project. While my country has been one of the world's greatest trading nations, yours has been one of the oldest. It was the trading from your bazaars and your caravans and your ships that set off the age of exploration, which actually led to the discovery of Ireland. It was the concept of the marketplace, which originated here, which still forms the pattern of commerce for the Western world. It's vitally important in the life of a man, the economy of a nation, to produce good food. There must also be good land. The Turkish conservation program is an example of the terracing, seeding and reforesting of barren hills. I come to say to the free peoples of the Middle East that we of the United States still believe in them. And we have even greater faith in their ability to undertake and to succeed at the laborers necessary to bring this area the full realization of the promise and the abundance of the 20th century. No area so rich in history need ever hear the future. The greatness that once was in these ports and plains can be and must be made to return again. At an experimental agricultural station in Iran, the vice president saw how science is helping to make the best use of land and water. At Varamine, he found that new strains of wheat and cotton have been developed which flourish on Iranian soil. New means to combat plant diseases and pests are being perfected. Advanced equipment provides job experience for Iranian technicians. At the American Farm School in Greece, vice president Johnson was welcomed by more than 500 students. These farmers of the future preserve their traditions while they gain knowledge that will help make them independent self-reliant men. Masters of many skills acquainted with a variety of crafts and trades, graduates of the school know how to do things for themselves and their neighbors will learn from them. How to work with electricity is important in an area where electric power is becoming more widely available. Graduates of the school become a valuable part of the skilled manpower of the country. But the lifeblood of a farm is its animals. The vice president saw that this aspect received the emphasis it deserved. The American visitor was told about one man who raises chickens. When he left the school and returned home, the people in his village did not believe that a man could make a living that way. He used enterprise and initiative in starting his business. Already his one chicken house has grown to three. Business is good. Another man observed and learned from his example. These are the fertile fields of another man who went to the farm school. He is enjoying the benefits of his own innovations. Where for centuries all water for this village was raised by hand, he has installed an electric pump to irrigate his land. Another graduate mastered the art of welding. Now he farms part of the day and runs a repair shop to help other farmers who live near him. The vice president saw all the signs of individual initiative and self-reliance. And he spoke for the people of his country. It is our hope that in this reason free peoples and their free government will begin searching and seeking more diligently for those common values and common hopes and common goals on which we can together build a stronger community of human dignity and human progress and universal freedom.