TRIBUTES PAID TO MAGSAYSAY

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28231, 20 March 1957, Page 15

TRIBUTES PAID TO MAGSAYSAY

“Outstanding Leader”

Rec. 10 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 17.

United States officials were shocked today by the death of the Philippine President, Mr Ramon Magsaysay, who was regarded as an outstanding leader of the Philippines and a bulwark against communism in Asia.

The White Houes press secretary, Mr James Hagerty, accompanying President Eisenhower aboard the United States cruiser Canberra, said Mr. Eisenhower was deeply concerned over reports of President Magsaysay’s death. The President had planned to have Mr Magsaysay as his guest in Washington in late May or early June. General Douglas MacArthur, a war-time friend of Mr Magsaysay, in a cablegram to Mrs Magsaysay, expressed ‘‘great shock at the immeasurable tragedy in the loss of your illustrious husband.” The general fought alongside Mr Magsaysay against Japan during the Second World War.

Mr Dulles, the Secretary of State, said on his return from Australia: “My return has been troubled by the news of the tragic accident to President Magsaysay’s plane. He was a great leader, and one who could not be spared.” “True Friend of U.S.” The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr Sam Rayburn, commented: “I am deeply sorry to hear this. I thought President Magsaysay was an outstanding statesman and a true friend of the United States.”

Senator Mike Mansfield (Democrat, Montana), chairman of the asian sub-committee of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Mr Magsaysay’s death was “a greaty tragedy. He was one of the outsanding leaders of the free world, and one of America’s greatest friends, and he will be sorely missed,” Senator Mansfeld added. In Darwin, the President-elect of the Philippines, Dr. Carlos C. Garcia, said Mr Magsaysay had no equal in his dedication to the service of his country. Dr. Garcia said President Magsaysay had been a close personal friend for many years before either of them had executive rank in the Government.

“I feel a great sense of personal loss, but I know that my country will suffer most. It is a tragic blow that the young nation should not have had to face at this time,” he said.

The Australian External Affairs Minister (Mr R. G. Casey) expressed his greatest possible' sympathy with the Philippine Government and people in the “great disaster of President Magsaysay’s death.”