ADDRESS AT THE SYMPOSIUM BANQUET 



Rear Admiral O. D. Waters, Jr. 



Ooeanographer of the Navy 



Mr, Chairman, distinguished foreign guests , geniuses in 

 residence. Ladies and Gentlemen: 



It is both an honor and a pleasure to be given an opportunity 

 to speak here tonight to the delegates to the 8th Symposium on Naval 

 Hydrodynamics . 



It is obviously an honor for a mere sailor to be invited to 

 talk to so erudite an audience and under such distinguished sponsor- 

 ship as the California Institute of Technology, the Office of Naval 

 Research and the Naval Undersea Research and Development Center, 



It is a particular pleasure since it is not often the wheel of 

 fortune stops right on your number and you get invited to speak just 

 fifty miles from the birthplace of a brand new grandchild, 



I believe it's customary about here for a visiting speaker to 

 tell a condescending joke about California smog but since most of you 

 read the newspapers you know that we on the East Coast are now 

 living in a glass house where that subject is concerned. After all, 

 when it gets to the point where you can no longer see the National 

 Capital from the top of the Washington Monument you can't pass it off 

 any longer as a morning haze. 



In any case I arrived here by way of Alaska where most of 

 the country's current supply of fresh air seems to be stockpiled so 

 my lungs are back in pretty good condition. 



This subject of smog and pollution in general reminds me that 

 an acquaintance recently told me of an opinion poll he claimed had 

 been taken among American Indians. Only 12% of them, he said, 

 felt we should get out of Vietnam, but 88% thought we should get out 

 of North America. 



I originally intended to say a few kind words about the sponsors 

 of this annual event but changed my mind. Anything about the valuable 

 work that has been done in oceanography and many related fields by 

 the Office of Naval Research and the Naval Undersea Research and 



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