April 19, 1961 - President John F. Kennedy's Remarks to Jacques Yves Cousteau in the Rose Garden

President John F. Kennedy presents the National Geographic Society’s Gold Medal to Captain Jacques Cousteau, Director General of the Oceanarium of Monaco on the steps of the West Wing Colonnade, White House, Washington, D.C. President and editor of National Geographic Melville Bell Grosvenor looks on. Among those standing on the steps are French Ambassador to the United States Hervé Alphand and his wife Nicole Merenda Alphand; Cousteau’s wife Simone Melchior Cousteau.
Remarks Upon Awarding the National Geographic Society Gold Medal to Jacques-Yves Cousteau.
''I WANT TO SAY that it is a great pleasure and honor to participate in this event sponsored by the National Geographic, which has been a great American institution, and which has advanced our information on a whole variety of horizons in the last years.
And I can think of no more felicitous award than this to the Captain. We have learned in the last 60 years how to fly better than the birds - or at least higher and longer. And the Captain has given us a possibility that some day we may swim as well as the fish - or at least deeper. And he is, therefore, one of the great explorers of an entirely new dimension, and I can imagine his satisfaction in having opened up the ocean floor to man and to science.
And therefore I present the National Geographic Society Gold Medal Award to Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau, undersea pioneer to earth-bound man, who gave the key to the silent world, April 19, 1961.
I congratulate also your wife, the representatives of France, the Ambassador, Mrs. Alphand, and your country, and you, and the Geographic.''
The presentation was made in the Rose Garden at the White House, Washington, D.C. At the conclusion of his remarks the President referred to Hervé Alphand, the French Ambassador, and Mme. Alphand.

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From this man, flawed though he was, to the clown show today 😩