Instead of My talking about the Fair, I’d rather cite from the prepared pamphlet being distributed during the Opening of the Fair. These are excerpts of General Eisenhower’s Opening remarks.
“I am signally honored by the invitation to join President Prasad at the opening of the World Agriculture Fair--the first such fair as this ever held. And it is entirely right that it be held here in India. For this nation recognizes in agriculture the fundamental occupation of man and the chief assurance of better living for its citizens.
My own country was quick to accept when invited to participate in this historic event. And today I am particularly honored that India's Chief of State will be with me when, in a few minutes, I officially open the United States exhibit at the Fair. Indeed, the occasion of this Fair gave me the very finest reason I could think of to make this the time of the visit to India that I had long determined upon.
At this American exhibit, all visitors can see how we Americans have managed the soil of our land so that our people might live well for themselves; and have enough food left over to help others. Our way is not necessarily the best, even for us, but here we depict in the American exhibit, American agriculture as it is. We do have a natural pride in what we have accomplished by a creative union of human spirit, fertile earth, and inventive science. But, beyond this, we see in modern agriculture a most effective instrument for a better life among all men.
For a moment, I hope you will indulge me as I suggest some thoughts on how food can help all of us achieve better lives in a world of justice and peace.
Today, we have the scientific capacity to abolish from the world at least this one evil, we can eliminate the hunger that emaciates the bodies of children; that scars the souls of their parents; that stirs the passions of those who toil endlessly and earn only scraps.
Men, right now, possess the knowledge and the resources for a successful worldwide war against hunger--the sort of war that dignifies and exalts human beings. The different exhibits in this whole Fair are clear proof of that statement.
The call to that genuinely noble war is enunciated in the theme of the American exhibit:
"Food--Family--Friendship--
Into these four words are compressed the daily needs, the high purposes, the deep feelings, the ageless aspirations that unite Indians and Americans under one banner--the banner of human dignity.
Here are four words that are mightier than arms and bombs; mightier than machines and money; mightier than any empire that ruled the past or threatens the future.
Here are four words that can lift the souls of men to a high plane of mutual effort, sustained effort, the most rewarding effort that can be proposed to mankind.
First, Food-food that our bodies may be fit for every task and duty and service; our minds free from the fear of hunger; our eyes undimmed by the tragedies of famine, searching out new horizons; our aspirations not frustrated by failure of crop or catastrophe of weather.
Family--family that in our homes there may be decent living and bright hope; children no longer doomed to misery in peace and sudden death in war; their elders no longer broken by want and sorrow beyond their control to mend or cure.
Friendship--that among all the peoples of earth the darkness of ignorance and fear and distrust will dissolve in the light of knowledge and understanding. The time has come when we must all live together for our mutual betterment or we shall all suffer harsh, possibly the final, penalty.
Freedom--that on all continents and islands of the earth every man and woman of good will and good life may make the proudest of human boasts: "I am free; slave to no tyranny imposed by other men, by the accident of birth, by the whims of circumstance."
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