Turning to the world outside, it was only a few years ago--in Southeast
Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, even outer space--that
communism sought to convey the image of a unified, confident, and expanding
empire, closing in on a sluggish America and a free world in disarray. But
few people would hold to that picture today.
In these past months we have reaffirmed the scientific and military
superiority of freedom. We have doubled our efforts in space, to assure us
of being first in the future. We have undertaken the most far-reaching
defense improvements in the peacetime history of this country. And we have
maintained the frontiers of freedom from Viet-Nam to West Berlin.
But complacency or self-congratulation can imperil our security as much as
the weapons of tyranny. A moment of pause is not a promise of peace.
Dangerous problems remain from Cuba to the South China Sea. The world's
prognosis prescribes, in short, not a year's vacation for us, but a year of
obligation and opportunity.
Four special avenues of opportunity stand out: the Atlantic Alliance, the
developing nations, the new Sino-Soviet difficulties, and the search for
worldwide peace.