A State Dinner was held in Nixon’s honour at Rideau Hall and the 37^th President offered a humourous toast. You can read his remarks below.

President Nixon: Could I say just a few words now that will not be in the formal sense in which I will be speaking tomorrow, when I will be privileged to address the Parliament, but which I will try to let those here in this company, and those who may be hearing what we say over this electronic device, provided the unions are not boycotting it (that is another thing we have in common) but in any event, may I tell you what one American and his wife, what we have in common with Canada and why we feel especially close to Canadians?

My secretary, many years ago when I was a young, practicing lawyer, was then an American, but she was very proud that she had been born in Canada. And as a result, after my wife and I were married, about 30 years ago (you wouldn’t know it, but it was that long ago) but in any event, the year that we were married, we, with another couple, drove on a vacation to Canada. We were in Victoria and British Columbia, and brought back many pleasant memories of our first visit to Canada. It was because my secretary recommended that we go there, and we had no regrets.

Then I recall in the year 1941, just before World War II came along … and before going overseas, we had saved a little money and we had some time for a vacation, and we took the train to Quebec, and I shall never forget those three days that we had, and my wife will never forget, in Quebec: The [Chateau] Frontenac, that magnificent view from the promenade down over the river, but more, the warmth and friendship of the people that we met on that occasion.

Then there have been other occasions through the years. When we first came to Congress in 1946, and the next year, 1947, we had a few days off and we drove up the eastern part of the United States through the beauty of New England in the summertime, and we learned to know Nova Scotia and St. John, that side of Canada.

Then, during the years out of office, I, of course, had the opportunity to visit Ottawa on one occasion, Toronto on another occasion, and Montreal.

But there was one particular occasion that I think stays in my mind more than all the others. I have been to Picton. Now, most Americans will not know what Picton is, but you Canadians will know. Or maybe you don’t. But in the year 1957, the Secretary of State and I—I was then vice president and he was attorney general of the United States—were invited by the publisher of the Rochester paper, Mr. Paul Miller, to sail across Lake Ontario, and to go over to the Canadian side and see the beauties of Canada. It was to be a wonderful trip. I didn’t realize that even on Lake Ontario one could get seasick, but finally when I saw Canadian soil, believe me, it was the most welcome soil I ever stepped on.

But the incident which I would like to leave on this occasion with our friends from Canada was what happened in Picton that day. It was a Saturday night. We had played golf earlier in the day. We were still in sports clothes in sports jackets, and we decided to go to one of the local pubs, just as we were. We went in and sat down. At the time, we had no Secret Service with us, and the waiter looked us all over, and in some way, he seemed to think he recognized me, but he wasn’t sure. We noted, or Secretary Rogers at least noted (he was then attorney general and is supposed to note such things), that the waiter was talking to the bartender after serving us. The bartender was looking over and saying, “No, it can’t be, it can’t be.”

After we had finished (he was a very polite waiter), after we had finished and were ready to leave, the waiter came up and said, “Sir, if you don’t mind, I have a bet with the bartender, and you can help me win it or I might lose it.” I said, “What is the bet?” He said, “I bet him five dollars that you are Vice President Nixon.” I said, “Well, call him over and we will confirm it.”

So the bartender came over and said, “Is it true?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “I would never have believed it.” He gave him the five dollars, and as we started to move on, I heard him mumble to the waiter, “You know, he doesn’t look near as bad in person as he does in his pictures.”

Now, that little story tells us something about why this trip is important and why it is quite necessary.

Maybe none of us look quite as bad in person as we may in our pictures, and we Canadians and Americans, because we are only an hour and ten minutes apart by air, must never miss the opportunity to see each other in person, to discuss our differences, maybe to continue them but at least to discuss them, and to maintain the individual dignity, the parallel courses to which the governor general has referred so eloquently just a few moments ago.

I said, when I arrived at the airport, that the example that we in Canada and the United States have set is one which all the world could well look to and perhaps in years ahead might well follow: two nations, very much alike but also very different, and very proud; proud of what we are like and proud of how we are different but two nations living together in peace, discussing differences, not fighting about them.

And as I thought tonight of how I could relate that particular thought to this occasion, I looked at this room (in this respect I must admit I am a bit old fashioned; I like a room like this: the high ceilings, the sense of history, all that has happened here) and I think of other great rooms around the world where this same sense of history fills us.

I had the privilege in 1958 of speaking in Guild Hall in London, and I remembered tonight some of the great speeches that have been made there: one by President Eisenhower at the end of World War II, and many others. Perhaps the most eloquent speech, and the briefest speech ever made in Guild Hall was one made by a British prime minister 150 years ago. After Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar, William Pitt was toasted as the saviour of Europe. He rose to respond. He answered in these words: “For the honour you have done me, I return you many thanks. But Europe will not be saved by any single man. England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, I trust, serve Europe by her example.”

Tonight, I think we could well say the world will not be saved by any single nation, but Canada and the United States, by their example, can contribute enormously to a new world in which nations can live together in peace, friendship, and understanding, maintaining their dignity, maintaining their individuality. This is the example which Canadian-American friendship stands for, and it is one of which all of us can be very proud.

Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.