But arms alone are not enough to keep the peace--it must be kept by men.
Our instrument and our hope is the United Nations--and I see little merit
in the impatience of those who would abandon this imperfect world
instrument because they dislike our imperfect world. For the troubles of
a world organization merely reflect the troubles of the world itself. And
if the organization is weakened, these troubles can only increase. We may
not always agree with every detailed action taken by every officer of the
United Nations, or with every voting majority. But as an institution, it
should have in the future, as it has had in the past since its inception,
no stronger or more faithful member than the United States of America.
In 1961 the peace-keeping strength of the United Nations was reinforced.
And those who preferred or predicted its demise, envisioning a troika in
the seat of Hammarskjold--or Red China inside the Assembly--have seen
instead a new vigor, under a new Secretary General and a fully independent
Secretariat. In making plans for a new forum and principles on disarmament
--for peace-keeping in outer space--for a decade of development effort--the
UN fulfilled its Charter's lofty aim.
Eighteen months ago the tangled and turbulent Congo presented the UN with
its gravest challenge. The prospect was one of chaos--or certain big-power
confrontation, with all of its hazards and all of its risks, to us and to
others. Today the hopes have improved for peaceful conciliation within a
united Congo. This is the objective of our policy in this important area.
No policeman is universally popular--particularly when he uses his stick to
restore law and order on his beat. Those members who are willing to
contribute their votes and their views--but very little else--have created
a serious deficit by refusing to pay their share of special UN assessments.
Yet they do pay their annual assessments to retain their votes--and a new
UN Bond issue, financing special operations for the next 18 months, is to
be repaid with interest from these regular assessments. This is clearly in
our interest. It will not only keep the UN solvent, but require all voting
members to pay their fair share of its activities. Our share of special
operations has long been much higher than our share of the annual
assessment--and the bond issue will in effect reduce our disproportionate
obligation, and for these reasons, I am urging Congress to approve our
participation.
With the approval of this Congress, we have undertaken in the past year a
great new effort in outer space. Our aim is not simply to be first on the
moon, any more than Charles Lindbergh's real aim was to be the first to
Paris. His aim was to develop the techniques of our own country and other
countries in the field of air and the atmosphere, and our objective in
making this effort, which we hope will place one of our citizens on the
moon, is to develop in a new frontier of science, commerce and cooperation,
the position of the United States and the Free World.
This Nation belongs among the first to explore it, and among the first--if
not the first--we shall be. We are offering our know-how and our
cooperation to the United Nations. Our satellites will soon be providing
other nations with improved weather observations. And I shall soon send to
the Congress a measure to govern the financing and operation of an
International Communications Satellite system, in a manner consistent with
the public interest and our foreign policy.
But peace in space will help us naught once peace on earth is gone. World
order will be secured only when the whole world has laid down these weapons
which seem to offer us present security but threaten the future survival of
the human race. That armistice day seems very far away. The vast resources
of this planet are being devoted more and more to the means of destroying,
instead of enriching, human life.
But the world was not meant to be a prison in which man awaits his
execution. Nor has mankind survived the tests and trials of thousands of
years to surrender everything--including its existence--now. This Nation
has the will and the faith to make a supreme effort to break the log jam
on disarmament and nuclear tests--and we will persist until we prevail,
until the rule of law has replaced the ever dangerous use of force.