Presiding HON. RICHARD M. NIXON Vice President of the United States HON. SHERMAN ADAMS The Assistant to the President HON. HOWARD PYLE Administrative Assistant to the President Gov. WALTER J. KOHLER OF WISCONSIN Gov. ROBERT F. KENNON OF LOUISIANA Chairman of the Governors' Conference Hon. John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, also addressed the Conference. Hon. Val Peterson, Federal Civil Defense Administrator, coordinated the program for the Federal Government. Remarks of Richard M. Nixon, Vice President of the United States Gentlemen, two years ago when I first had the opportunity of appearing before this group, I reported on the trip which I had the privilege of taking as the representative of the President to the Far East. Today I am not going to take your time with a detailed report of the trip I recently took to Latin America, but I thought that a few observations with regard to that area might be worth while. The first point I would like to emphasize is with regard to the importance of this area. After we returned several of my friends, in private conversation, bluntly asked the question: "Why should we bother about Latin America? We've got so many troubles in Europe and in Asia that we ought to keep our eyes on those areas. And certainly we needn't have any concern over the republics to the South." And the answer I think can be summarized with three observations: Geographically these countries, of course, are our closest neighbors. Today they are the best friends that we have-tomorrow they could be the most dangerous enemies that we could have. Recently, in the discussions of the National Security Council, a question arose with regard to what we would do in a policy decision regarding the Mexican Government. A question of funds arose. And I recall that the President said: "How much would you pay to have a friendly government which had territory adjoining yours of 1500 miles?" And, of course, what happened in Guatemala recently brought home to all of us in the United States the great potential danger which exists if we do not pay adequate attention to our own neighbors and the friends we have taken for granted through the years. The second point that we must have in mind with regard to Latin American countries is their economic importance to us. Generally, we think of the economic importance of other countries in the world. But looking at Latin America, I think sometimes we forget the fact that they are the best customers the United States has in the world. They buy more from the United States than all of Europe put together. They buy more from the United States than all of Asia, Oceania, and Africa combined. Mexico is our third best customer, Venezuela is our fifth, Cuba is our sixth. And, then, from a political standpoint, consider the United Nations. If we did not have the support of the Latin American countries in the United Nations, the United States would be faced with an almost impossible situation in that body. If you have followed the votes, you will have noted that, in instance after instance in the Assembly, the Latin American countries have stood with the United States; and there have been many votes where, if we had not had that support, decisions would have been made which would have been very detrimental to our interests. And, finally, looking to the future, consider the population of that area. Latin America now has ten million more people than we have in the United States. And as we consider the future we find that the population growth in Latin America is twice that of the world rate. That was brought home to me in a rather amusing way when I was in Puerto Rico. I was riding from the airport with Governor Munoz-Marin to the Governor's Palace. Thousands of schoolchildren lined the streets. The Governor turned to me and said-I thought a bit sadly-"This is our biggest crop." Considering that rate of growth, 600 million people will be living in Central America within 50 years. So we can see that, looking toward the future, Latin America is going to be one of the dominant areas of the world. And, consequently, our policies must have in mind that possible future development. Now, considering for a moment what the situation is at present in Latin America, I think I can bring some rather hopeful notes to this gathering. We all know that Latin America has been cursed for years by revolutions, by wars and rumors of wars, by political instability. I think that it can be said, with fairness and objectivity, that Latin America today is approaching an era of relative political stability. I say "relative stability," because areas still exist in which there are conflicts, potential and otherwise, between countries in Latin America. Instability in some countries may erupt into a revolution at any time. Mexico, I think, is one of the best examples of the point that I have just made. You know Mexican history and today I think that most observers of the Mexican scene would say that, under Ruiz-Cortines, Mexico has achieved a period of political stability. And economic progress is inevitable in that area provided the political stability continues. On the economic front, in the ten years since World War II, Latin America has made the greatest progress it has made in a century. And the possibilities for the future are simply unlimited. I think we can realize those possibilities when we have in mind these figures: While Latin America has ten million more people today than we have in the United States, the gross national product of Latin America is one-ninth of that in the United States! The per capita income in Mexico, for example, is one-tenth of what it is in the United States. And so they have a long way to go. But the ingredients for economic progress are all there. Tremendous untapped resources exist. I remember Secretary Humphrey, in a recent meeting, pointed out that Brazil has undeveloped ironore resources which exceed, by far, all of the iron-ore resources discovered up to this time on the North American continent. That is one example of the possibilities.... In addition to those natural resources, they, of course, have great untapped human resources, because the people of Latin America are essentially a hard-working people. They are an intelligent people who are able to learn and learn fast if given the right kind of instruction. In instance after instance, as I visited their various technical aid projects, I asked questions of instructors as to how their students were learning the various trades which they were being taught. And inevitably I got the same answer. For example, welders who normally would take two weeks to learn a particular operation were learning it in four to five days. And the reason given was (1) they are a basically intelligent people and (2) they have a burning desire to learn and to better themselves. And I, myself, observed this great desire on the part of the people, from the lowest income brackets clear up to the leadership in the countries, to better their economic conditions and to develop their countries. And so, having in mind this fact, that economic progress is inevitable, provided political stability continues, I might make some suggestions with regard to the policies the United States is following toward Latin America. In the first place, from an economic standpoint, the greatest need of Latin America is trade-trade with the United States. I say "with the United States" because this country is their natural market. Now, this is not an altogether unmixed blessing from our standpoint because, while many of the products that Latin America produces and would sell to us are not competitive with the United States-products like bananas, for example-other products are competitive. For instance, we have in this room representatives of various States in which sugar is a very important product. And sugar is the main product of a country like Cuba. Some people have asked: "Why should we be concerned about the Cubans? They want to sell sugar to us, but we have cane and beet sugar growers in the United States who want to grow more sugar. If our cane and beet sugar growers can grow it, why let these foreigners sell it to the United States?" If the problem was as simple as that, we wouldn't have any difficulty in deciding it. But, of course, it isn't as simple as that because, when we analýze the trade balances between Cuba and the United States, we find that the economy of Cuba is tied directly to sugar. And every time the amount of sugar Cuba sells to the United States decreases, the amount of goods which Cuba buys from the United States also decreases. And, when we consider the fact that Cuba today is the best customer of the United States in the world for butter, for canned fruits and vegetables, for bacon, for lard, and for a number of other products, we can see what our problem is. The problem isn't simply whether or not the sugar growers in the United States will be allowed to grow more sugar. The problem is whether we allow growers in the United States to grow more sugar with the consequence that the butter producers and the other producers here sell less butter and the other products to the Cubans. Now, I don't mean by this analogy to say that the subject therefore should |