Speech #870015730

The ignorance and misconceptions of the United States which prevail in many parts of the world. including even nations with whom we have close political and cultural ties. are a major asset to our Communist adversaries. This situation can be substantially ameliorated by encouraging a largescale flow of foreign visitors to see for themselves the true character of the American people and their democratic institutions. The extremely small proportions of foreign travel in the United States are amply illustrated by statistics compiled by the Department of State and the Immigration and Naturalization Service. During the fiscal year 1960. 670.833 visitors visas were issued to persons desiring to enter the United States for business. pleasure. education. and other temporary purposes. This figure. an alltime record. was a mere fraction of the number of Americans who traveled abroad during the same period. The country to whose nationals the highest number of visitors visas were issued was Mexico. with 127.868. The British Empire was second. with 84.809. Nationals of the U.S.S.R. received 3.053 visitors visas. The number of nonimmigrant visas issued has increased more or less consistently but only very modestly over the years since World War I1. The 1960 figure of 670.833 compares. for instance. with 252.978 in 1946. 339.889 in 1952. 496.087 in 1956. and 612.824 In 1958. The total dropped to 595.079 in 1959. so that the increase of 13 percent which occurred in fiscal 1960 is in fact less impressive than it appears.