Second, what of the developing and non-aligned nations? They were shocked
by the Soviets' sudden and secret attempt to transform Cuba into a nuclear
striking base--and by Communist China's arrogant invasion of India. They
have been reassured by our prompt assistance to India, by our support
through the United Nations of the Congo's unification, by our patient
search for disarmament, and by the improvement in our treatment of citizens
and visitors whose skins do not happen to be white. And as the older
colonialism recedes, and the neo-colonialism of the Communist powers stands
out more starkly than ever, they realize more clearly that the issue in the
world struggle is not communism versus capitalism, but coercion versus free
choice.
They are beginning to realize that the longing for independence is the same
the world over, whether it is the independence of West Berlin or Viet-Nam.
They are beginning to realize that such independence runs athwart all
Communist ambitions but is in keeping with our own--and that our approach
to their diverse needs is resilient and resourceful, while the Communists
are still relying on ancient doctrines and dogmas.
Nevertheless it is hard for any nation to focus on an external or
subversive threat to its independence when its energies are drained in
daily combat with the forces of poverty and despair. It makes little sense
for us to assail, in speeches and resolutions, the horrors of communism, to
spend $50 billion a year to prevent its military advance--and then to
begrudge spending, largely on American products, less than one-tenth of
that amount to help other nations strengthen their independence and cure
the social chaos in which communism has always thrived.
I am proud--and I think most Americans are proud--of a mutual defense and
assistance program, evolved with bipartisan support in three
administrations, which has, with all its recognized problems, contributed
to the fact that not a single one of the nearly fifty U.N. members to gain
independence since the Second World War has succumbed to Communist
control.
I am proud of a program that has helped to arm and feed and clothe millions
of people who live on the front lines of freedom.
I am especially proud that this country has put forward for the 60's a vast
cooperative effort to achieve economic growth and social progress
throughout the Americas--the Alliance for Progress.
I do not underestimate the difficulties that we face in this mutual effort
among our close neighbors, but the free states of this hemisphere, working
in close collaboration, have begun to make this alliance a living reality.
Today it is feeding one out of every four school age children in Latin
America an extra food ration from our farm surplus. It has distributed 1.5
million school books and is building 17,000 classrooms. It has helped
resettle tens of thousands of farm families on land they can call their
own. It is stimulating our good neighbors to more self-help and
self-reform--fiscal, social, institutional, and land reforms. It is
bringing new housing and hope, new health and dignity, to millions who were
forgotten. The men and women of this hemisphere know that the alliance
cannot succeed if it is only another name for United States handouts--that
it can succeed only as the Latin American nations themselves devote their
best effort to fulfilling its goals.
This story is the same in Africa, in the Middle East, and in Asia. Wherever
nations are willing to help themselves, we stand ready to help them build
new bulwarks of freedom. We are not purchasing votes for the cold war; we
have gone to the aid of imperiled nations, neutrals and allies alike. What
we do ask--and all that we ask--is that our help be used to best advantage,
and that their own efforts not be diverted by needless quarrels with other
independent nations.
Despite all its past achievements, the continued progress of the Mutual
Assistance Program requires a persistent discontent with present
performance. We have been reorganizing this program to make it a more
effective, efficient instrument--and that process will continue this year.
But free world development will still be an uphill struggle. Government aid
can only supplement the role of private investment, trade expansion,
commodity stabilization, and, above all, internal self-improvement. The
processes of growth are gradual--bearing fruit in a decade, not a day. Our
successes will be neither quick nor dramatic. But if these programs were
ever to be ended, our failures in a dozen countries would be sudden and
certain.
Neither money nor technical assistance, however, can be our only weapon
against poverty. In the end, the crucial effort is one of purpose,
requiring the fuel of finance but also a torch of idealism. And nothing
carries the spirit of this American idealism more effectively to the far
corners of the earth than the American Peace Corps.
A year ago, less than 900 Peace Corps volunteers were on the job. A year
from now they will number more than 9,000--men and women, aged 18 to 79,
willing to give 2 years of their lives to helping people in other lands.
There are, in fact, nearly a million Americans serving their country and
the cause of freedom in overseas posts, a record no other people can match.
Surely those of us who stay at home should be glad to help indirectly; by
supporting our aid programs; .by opening our doors to foreign visitors and
diplomats and students; and by proving, day by day, by deed as well as
word, that we are a just and generous people.