A VERBATIM TRANSCRIPT OF DR. KISSINGER'S RESPONSE ON
RECEIVING AN HONORARY DOCTORATE OF PHILOSOPHY FROM THE
WEIZMANN INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE, MARCH 10th AT THE MADISON
HOTEL, WASHINGTON, D. C.

477

Dr. Sela, Sir Marcus, Mr. Weisgal, Friends.

I'm very moved by this occasion. As the first Jewish Secretary of State my relationship with the State of Israel and sometimes with the Jewish community in the United States has inevitably been complicated and yet none of us who are conscious of the travails and the suffering and the future of the Jewish people can ever forget that the future of the Jewish people is inextricably linked with the future of peace and justice and freedom and security for all people.

It means a great deal to me to receive the congratulations of so many with whom I have been associated in difficult and also exhilarating times. How can I ever forget the beady mis-trustful eye cast on me by Golda Mayer whom I respected more than almost any statesman that I have ever met? - How she, in our discussions, would take me into the kitchen to talk to me with all the anguish of an aunt whose favorite nephew has just failed her? And of course only those of you who have never negotiated with Israeli's would believe that there is the slightest danger of anybody being able to get the better of such a negotiation! Golda who had the fortitude of the pioneer and the courage of a lionness and who once she had determined on a course would defend it with a magnificent spirit; and Prime Minister Rabin with whom I worked closely in his years as an

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ambassador, and then as Prime Minister who would invariably
begin by demonstrating to me the fallibility of my analysis
and who was usually right. We have gone through many
experiences together.

Keeping in mind the view of my friend, Abba Eban, that
objectivity for Israelis is 100% agreement with their point
of view, I would say that our disagreements have been minuscule.
We have had the great good fortune to begin the turning of the
Middle East towards peace, to hopefully plant the seeds of the
reconciliation between peoples who have looked at each other
and have confronted each other only in hostility.

None of us could fail to be deeply touched by the words
of Meyer Weisgal. I did not make a lasting impression on him
when I first met him. I received a letter from him today in
which he said that he had so hoped to meet me for the first
time. But I met him in 1962. And it is characteristic of
him that he used the quote from Weizmann that I had intended
to make. All of us who have followed Meyer Weisgal's career
note that with respect to the Weizmann Institute he followed
the maxim of a well known liberal lawyer in Washington which
was: "If the end doesn't justify the means, what does?"

I have spoken of the themes of Peace and Justice and
Spirit; as themes of Jewish history. But they also exemplify
the life of a man who has done all of us the great honor of

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appearing here tonight -- our dear friend Senator Hubert Humphrey. He has always fought his battles cheerfully and he has always proved that one can be a great politician and still have heart. And so it is appropriate that his dedication and almost inevitably that his dedication to the causes of human progress have also lead him to a commitment to the State of Israel and to the Jewish people.

The biggest problem of all time is the problem of peace. No people have suffered more from its absence than the Jewish people. The biggest challenge of our period is to combine Peace with Justice. It is a process that can never end. It is a process that can only be carried out by those with faith. And so the Weizmann Institute, located initially at the edge of the desert and now in the middle of a cultivated area, can symbolize not only the past of Israel but the future of the Middle East at a time when we must be concerned with security and dare not yet be certain that peace is possible. It symbolizes what must be the future for all the peoples in the Middle East.

Peace is necessary and peace is inevitable but it must be sought with delicacy and with understanding of the fragility of the existence of a state that has had to struggle for every square meter of its territory and for every year of its existence. Peace is necessary but so is reconciliation and so

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the Weizmann Institute stands as a symbol of what has brought Israel so far and what must unite the pepoles of the Middle East in the future, when the area will have achieved peace, security, justice and freedom for all of its peoples.

It is in this spirit that I accept with gratitude and
pride your dedication tonight.

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