<div class="image-500">
<a href="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/eisenhower-welcome.webp" rel="lightbox">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/eisenhower-welcome-t.webp"  alt="President Dwight Eisenhower welcome ceremony at the airport  on June 14, 1960" />
</a>
<div>
(The President Eisenhower welcome ceremony at the airport  on June 14, 1960.  On the left is President Carlos Garcia (Photo credit:  Philippine 
Presidential Museum and Library flickr account))
</div>
</div>
<p>
President Eisenhower came as an old friend.  He was in the country for some 4 years from 1936 to the end of 1939 as senior assistant to the Military 

Adviser to the Commonwealth, General Douglas MacArthur.  It was he who principally drafted Commonwealth Act No. 1 which created the Philippine Army.  Upon his leaving the Philippines in 1939, President Quezon bestowed on him the Distinguished Service Star of the Philippines <i>"for services of extraordinary value to the Commonwealth".</i>  Within the next few years he became <i>"the single most 

important military figure of World War II"</i> as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces.  In May 1946, as successor to General Marshall as Chief of 

Staff of the US Army, he visited the Philippines briefly while on his way to Tokyo, Japan.
</p>
<p>
After the ceremonies at the airport, President Eisenhower was conducted to Malacañang by a motorcade which proceeded  through the streets of Pasay and 

Manila thronged with people who had been gathering there all day, many of them even from the provinces. The crowds especially along the Escolta and Rizal 

Avenue, were so dense that the planned security measures had practically to be abandoned.  The President was hailed with cheers and friendly cries. The 

newspapers commented on the fact that on no previous occasion, for any dignitary, Filipino or foreign, had such vast crowds gathered in welcome. 
</p>

<p>
On Wednesday morning, June 15, President Eisenhower motored to the Luneta where he laid a wreath at the foot of the Rizal Monument.  In the afternoon he 

addressed a joint session of Congress convened in special session to hear him.  After his appearance before the Congress he visited the American Chancery 

on Dewey Boulevard and spoke briefly to the staff members there.  In the evening,  a state reception dinner was given in Malacañang in his honor.
</p>
<div class="image-500">
<a href="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/eisenhower-at-up.webp" rel="lightbox">
<img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.kahimyang.com/resources/eisenhower-at-up-t.webp"  alt="President Dwight Eisenhower at the University of the Philippines" />
</a>
<div>
(President Eisenhower at the University of the Philippines (Photo credit:  Philippine Presidential Museum and Library flickr account))
</div>
</div>
<p>
Thursday morning, June 16, the US President was lifted by helicopter to the University of the Philippines at Diliman where the degree of Doctor of Laws, 

<i>honoris causa</i> was conferred on him.  In his address, he alluded to his own short experience as President of Columbia University and congratulated 

his audience on the <i>"wonderful University you have here"</i>, and spoke of the noble human endeavor,  the search for 

truth, and the teaching of it, and the preservation of it for ages ahead. 
</p>

<div class="article-comment">
<i>
<p>
"In the long future before us, command of technical skills, knowledge, understanding of the past and a vision of what free men can accomplish, integrity in 

every public trust and in every personal responsibility, faith in ourselves and in our fellows and in the guiding hand of our Creator, all these qualities 

of mind and spirit are essential if our accomplishments are to match our hopes and dreams." 
</p>
</i>
</div>
<p>
Later in the afternoon, before a huge, cheering crowd on the Luneta, following a military parade, President Garcia conferred on President Eisenhower the 

Order of Sikatuna, Raja rank, the highest Philippine decoration, conferred  only on heads of state.  President Eisenhower gave a state dinner at the 

American Chancery in honor of President and Mrs. Garcia.  At around midnight, at the Presidential Landing, off the Luneta, he boarded a launch which took 

him to the heavy cruiser, the U.S.S. St. Paul, flagship of the U. S. Seventh Fleet, which lifted anchor to take him to Formosa where he held conferences 

with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.  Eisenhower also visted Korea and Okinawa, Japan.  His planned visit to Tokyo was cancelled over concerns of the his 

safety.
</p>

<p>
President Garcia had invited President Eisenhower to visit the Philippines when he visited the United States in June 1958.
</p>

<p>
<i>
<b>Sources</b><br/>
<small>
<ol style="margin-top:-9px;margin-left:-20px;">
<li>
American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, Volume 36, Number 6, June 1960
</li>
</ol>
</small>
</i>
</p>


June 14, 1960: Dwight Eisenhower arrived in Manila for state visit