THE WHITE HOUSE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT AT THE MEDAL PRESENTATION CEREMONIES OF ALLEN W. DULLES AT THE CIA BUILDING IN LANGLEY, VA.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84-00161R000100170008-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 6
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2002
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: November 28, 1961
• Content Type: SPEECH

Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
~CS (cu)
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL EMPLOYES:
4 December 1961
Attached are copies of the following papers:
a. President Kennedy's remarks at the 28 November 1961
ceremony at which the President awarded Mr. Dulles the National
Security Medal.
b. Mr. Dulles' remarks following receipt of the medal, ',S JL/
c. An exchange of letters between the President and Mr.
Dulles,,'
A statement by Mr. Dulles, 'v
fT~(
e. A copy of the press release.covering the swearing-in
ceremony of Mr. McCone as Director)
This is a TEMPORARY DOCUMENT
only, for the use of DCIIHS.
The record copy has teen
released to National Archives
under the HlS t`O'HlCAL REVIEW PROGRAM.
Dale
L. K. wHITE
Deputy Director
(Support
This document has been
approved for release through
the HISTORICAL REVIEW PROGRAM Of.
the Central Intelligence Agency.
Date ex
ERP
For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
 Approved For Release 2002/06/18: CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
IMMEDIATE RELEASE, NOYEMBER 28, 1961
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
me WHITE HOUSE
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE MEDAL PRESENTATION CEREMONIES
OF ALLEN W. DULLES
AT THE CIA BUILDING IN LANGLEY, VA.
Mr. Dulles, Mr. McCone, General Cabell, Members of the Central
,Intelligence Agency..
I want, first of all, to express my appreciation to you,all
for the opportunity that this ceremony gives to tell you how grateful
we are in the government and in the country for the services that
the personnel of this Agency render to the country.
.It is not always easy. Your successes are unheralded -- your
failures are trumpeted. I sometimes have that feeling myself. But
I am sure you realize how important is your work, how essential it
is -- and how in the long sweep of history how significant your
efforts will be judged.
So I do want to express my appreciation to you now, and, I am
confident that in the future you will continue to merit the apprecia-
tion of our country, as you have in the past.
I am also particularly grateful because this ceremony gives
us all an opportunity to pay tribute to an outstanding public servant.
Allen Dulles' career as a citizen of this country -- and as you know
who has made his vast personal resources available to the country --
stretches all the way back to the administration of Woodrow Wilson.
I know of no other American in the history of this country who has
served in seven administrations of seven Presidents -- varying from
party to-party, from point of view to point of view, from problem to
problem, and yet at the end of each administration each President of
the United States has paid tribute to his service -- and also'has counted
Allen Dulles as their friend.
This is an extraordinary record, and I know that all of
you who have worked with him understand why this record has been
made. I regard Allen Dulles as an almost unique figure in the
country. I know of no man who brings a greater sense of personal
commitment to his work -- who has less pride in office -- than he
has. And therefore I was most gratified when we were permitted today
to come out to the Agency to present this award to him in your
presence.
(then the President read the Citation).
Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
 Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : -CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
November 28, 1961
Mr. President, distinguished guests, and members of the Central
Intelligence Agency:
I am deeply touched and deeply grateful for the words of the
President and for the honor he has bestowed upon me. It is almost
eleven years ago to a day that I came down to Washington at the behest,
I might almost say the order, of Walter Bedell Smith, a very great
general and a very great man and my predecessor. I was then practicing
the law. Bedell called me up and said, "tYou have written a report on
how this Agency should be run, you and a few others, and you had better
come down here." Mr. President, that was eleven years ago and I am
still here. It was in part. the fascination of the work, the opportunities
for service, and the indulgence and kindness of three Presidents, in-
cluding President Kennedy, that have kept me on.
The Agency was then young, in its infancy. It is still fairly young,
but, Mr. President, I feel that I can assure you that we have here today
a corps of well trained men and women devoted to their country, to their
service, and, Mr. President, to you as their Commander in Chief. I
feel proud of them and I have been proud to have served with them, and
to visit them in all the corners of the earth where they are working in
the national interest. They are now looking forward to serving their
new chief, John McCone, my old friend. To the Agency personnel here a
word of thanks. We have known good times and bad, and as the President
has just said, our successes are unsung and our failures are advertised.
I commend yov to your new chief and I can do that with assurance,
and I have commended him to you. Mr. President, as I close my work here
I,turn over my duties to Mr. McCone. I want. to thank you for your con-
stant support, help, and encouragement, for your understanding of the
needs and the problems, and the possibilities of this Agency. I know I am
leaving my work in good hands. I believe the future of this Agency and
service to the country is one that is assured. And as I receive this
medal I receive it, Mr. President, not really in a personal capacity,
but I receive it. for all of you because I know that in.giving it to me
he is giving it in a sense to all of the personnel of the Agency. My
thanks, Mr. President.
Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
 Approved For Release 2002/06/18 :. CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
MATE RELEASE November 29, 1961
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
FOLLOWING IS AN EXCHANGE OF LET-
TERS BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT AND
THE HONORABLE ALLEN W. DULLS
November 29, 1961
As you leave the office which you have held with such distinction, I
am sure you know that you carry with you the admiration and affection
of all of us who have served with you in the last ten years. I am
glad to be counted among the seven Presidents in whose Administrations
you have worked, and I am glad also that we shall continue to have
your help and counsel as you return to the practice of the law.
You leave behind you, as a witness to your great service, an outstanding
staff of men and women trained to the nation's service in the field of
intelligence. Your own integrity, energy, and understanding will be
a lasting example to them all.
Sincerely,
. (s)
John F. Kennedy
Honorable Allen W. Dulles
Director
Central Intelligence ,Agency
Washington 25, D. C.
November 28, 1961
The President
The White House
Washington, D. C.
In relinquishing my responsibilities as Director of Central Intelligence
on November 29, 1961, I wish to express my appreciation for this opportunity
to serve you and thus carry on an association begun under President
Truman and continued under President Eisenhower.
Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
 Approved For." Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
FOR RELEASE TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1961
STATEMENT BY ALLEN W. DULLES
I am returning to, the practice of the law and will be
"of counsel" to the firm of Sullivan and Cromwell of New
York City. I had been a member of this firm for many
years before joining the Central Intelligence Agency in
November 1950.
This arrangement will permit me to devote time to
writing and speaking on the issues of the day in the field
of foreign affairs and particularly on the problems posed
by the communist threat.
At the request of the President and of Mr. John A.
McCone, I will make myself available as a consultant to-my
successor as he may wish.
Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 R000100170008-4
 Approved For Release 2002/06/18: CIA-RDP84-00161 ROOO1OO170OO8-4
IMMEDIATE RELEASE, NOVEMBER 29, 1961
OFFICE OF THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY
REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT
AT THE SWEARING-IN CEREMONIES
OF
JOHN McCONE AS DIRECTOR
OF THE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
(IN THE CABINET ROOM)
MR. McCONE,: Mr. President, I very deeply appreciate the con-
fidence you have expressed in me by this appointment. I will assure
you that I will discharge this office to the very best of my ability.
I am-not unmindful of the very difficult task it will be, following
in the footsteps of Allen Dulles, whose record in this area you so
correctly and fully outlined yesterday.
However, I am encouraged and given hope by the fact that
within the last few weeks I have come to know a great many people
in the CIA, and I find them men and women of both great dedication and
unusual ability -- and with their support I think that I can meet
your expectations.
Thank you very much.
THE PRESIDENT: I want to say what an honor it is and what a
pleasure it is to have Mr. McCone back in the national service.
This appointment, I think, that he was willing to take it,
indicates how important.it is, and how. important I feel it is,
as well as members of the Government and Members of Congress believe
it to be.
He has not only the responsibility as Director of CIA, but
also coordinating the work of all the Intelligence Community, and I
know that he will give his attention to both these functions upon
which so much of our security depends.
We want to welcome you here and to say that you are now
living on the bull's eye, and x welcome you to that spot.
Approved For Release 2002/06/18 : CIA-RDP84-00161 ROOO1OO17OOO8-4