Our world policy and our actions are dedicated to the achievement of peace
with justice for all nations.
With this purpose, we move in a wide variety of ways and through many
agencies to remove the pall of fear; to strengthen the ties with our
partners and to improve the cooperative cohesion of the free world; to
reduce the burden of armaments, and to stimulate and inspire action among
all nations for a world of justice and prosperity and peace. These national
objectives are fully supported by both our political parties.
In the past year, our search for a more stable and just peace has taken
varied forms. Among the most important were the two Conferences at Geneva,
in July and in the fall of last year. We explored the possibilities of
agreement on critical issues that jeopardize the peace.
The July meeting of Heads of Government held out promise to the world of
moderation in the bitterness, of word and action, which tends to generate
conflict and war. All were in agreement that a nuclear war would be an
intolerable disaster which must not be permitted to occur. But in October,
when the Foreign Ministers met again, the results demonstrated conclusively
that the Soviet leaders are not yet willing to create the indispensable
conditions for a secure and lasting peace.
Nevertheless, it is clear that the conflict between international communism
and freedom has taken on a new complexion.
We know the Communist leaders have often practiced the tactics of retreat
and zigzag. We know that Soviet and Chinese communism still poses a serious
threat to the free world. And in the Middle East recent Soviet moves are
hardly compatible with the reduction of international tension.
Yet Communist tactics against the free nations have shifted in emphasis
from reliance on violence and the threat of violence to reliance on
division, enticement and duplicity. We must be well prepared to meet the
current tactics which pose a dangerous though less obvious threat. At the
same time, our policy must be dynamic as well as flexible, designed
primarily to forward the achievement of our own objectives rather than to
meet each shift and change on the Communist front. We must act in the firm
assurance that the fruits of freedom are more attractive and desirable to
mankind in the pursuit of happiness than the record of Communism.
In the face of Communist military power, we must, of course, continue to
maintain an effective system of collective security. This involves two
things--a system which gives clear warning that armed aggression will be
met by joint action of the free nations, and deterrent military power to
make that warning effective. Moreover, the awesome power of the atom must
be made to serve as a guardian of the free community and of the peace.
In the last year, the free world has seen major gains for the system of
collective security: the accession to the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization and Western European Union of the sovereign Federal German
Republic; the developing cooperation under the Southeast Asia Collective
Defense Treaty; and the formation in the Middle East of the Baghdad Pact
among Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and the United Kingdom. In our own
hemisphere, the inter-American system has continued to show its vitality in
maintaining peace and a common approach to world problems. We now have
security pacts with more than 40 other nations.
In the pursuit of our national purposes, we have been steadfast in our
support of the United Nations, now entering its second decade with a wider
membership and ever-increasing influence and usefulness. In the release of
our fifteen fliers from Communist China, an essential prelude was the world
opinion mobilized by the General Assembly, which condemned their
imprisonment and demanded their liberation. The successful Atomic Energy
Conference held in Geneva under United Nations auspices and our Atoms for
Peace program have been practical steps toward the world-wide use of this
new energy source. Our sponsorship of such use has benefited our relations
with other countries. Active negotiations are now in progress to create an
International Agency to foster peaceful uses of atomic energy.
During the past year the crucial problem of disarmament has moved to the
forefront of practical political endeavor. At Geneva, I declared the
readiness of the United States to exchange blueprints of the military
establishments of our nation and the USSR, to be confirmed by reciprocal
aerial reconnaissance. By this means, I felt mutual suspicions could be
allayed and an atmosphere developed in which negotiations looking toward
limitation of arms would have improved chances of success.
In the United Nations Subcommittee on Disarmament last fall, this proposal
was explored and the United States also declared itself willing to include
reciprocal ground inspection of key points. By the overwhelming vote of 56
to 7, the United Nations on December 16 endorsed these proposals and gave
them a top priority. Thereby, the issue is placed squarely before the bar
of world opinion. We shall persevere in seeking a general reduction of
armaments under effective inspection and control which are essential
safeguards to ensure reciprocity and protect the security of all.
In the coming year much remains to be done.
While maintaining our military deterrent, we must intensify our efforts to
achieve a just peace. In Asia we shall continue to give help to nations
struggling to maintain their freedom against the threat of Communist
coercion or subversion. In Europe we shall endeavor to increase not only
the military strength of the North Atlantic Alliance but also its political
cohesion and unity of purpose. We shall give such assistance as is feasible
to the recently renewed effort of Western European nations to achieve a
greater measure of integration, such as in the field of peaceful uses of
atomic energy.
In the Near East we shall spare no effort in seeking to promote a fair
solution of the tragic dispute between the Arab States and Israel, all of
whom we want as our friends. The United States is ready to do its part to
assure enduring peace in that area. We hope that both sides will make the
contributions necessary to achieve that purpose. In Latin America, we shall
continue to cooperate vigorously in trade and other measures designed to
assist economic progress in the area.
Strong economic ties are an essential element in our free world
partnership. Increasing trade and investment help all of us prosper
together. Gratifying progress has been made in this direction, most
recently by the three-year extension of our trade agreements legislation.
I most earnestly request that the Congress approve our membership in the
Organization for Trade Cooperation, which would assist the carrying out of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade to which we have been a party
since 1948. Our membership in the OTC will provide the most effective and
expeditious means for removing discriminations and restrictions against
American exports and in making our trade agreements truly reciprocal.
United States membership in the Organization will evidence our continuing
desire to cooperate in promoting an expanded trade among the free nations.
Thus the Organization, as proposed, is admirably suited to our own
interests and to those of like-minded nations in working for steady
expansion of trade and closer economic cooperation. Being strictly an
administrative entity, the Organization for Trade Cooperation cannot, of
course, alter the control by Congress of the tariff, import, and customs
policies of the United States.
We need to encourage investment overseas by avoiding unfair tax
duplications, and to foster foreign trade by further simplification and
improvement of our customs legislation.
We must sustain and fortify our Mutual Security Program. Because the
conditions of poverty and unrest in less developed areas make their people
a special target of international communism, there is a need to help them
achieve the economic growth and stability necessary to preserve their
independence against communist threats and enticements.
In order that our friends may better achieve the greater strength that is
our common goal, they need assurance of continuity in economic assistance
for development projects and programs which we approve and which require a
period of years for planning and completion. Accordingly, I ask Congress to
grant limited authority to make longer-term commitments for assistance to
such projects, to be fulfilled from appropriations to be made in future
fiscal years.
These various steps will powerfully strengthen the economic foundation of
our foreign policy. Together with constructive action abroad, they will
maintain the present momentum toward general economic progress and vitality
of the free world.
In all things, change is the inexorable law of life. In much of the world
the ferment of change is working strongly; but grave injustices are still
uncorrected. We must not, by any sanction of ours, help to perpetuate these
wrongs. I have particularly in mind the oppressive division of the German
people, the bondage of millions elsewhere, and the exclusion of Japan from
United Nations membership.
We shall keep these injustices in the forefront of human consciousness and
seek to maintain the pressure of world opinion to fight these vast wrongs
in the interest both of justice and secure peace.
Injustice thrives on ignorance. Because an understanding of the truth about
America is one of our most powerful forces, I am recommending a substantial
increase in budgetary support of the United States Information Agency.
The sum of our international effort should be this: the waging of peace,
with as much resourcefulness, with as great a sense of dedication and
urgency, as we have ever mustered in defense of our country in time of war.
In this effort, our weapon is not force. Our weapons are the principles and
ideas embodied in our historic traditions, applied with the same vigor that
in the past made America a living promise of freedom for all mankind.
To accomplish these vital tasks, all of us should be concerned with the
strength, effectiveness and morale .of our State Department and our Foreign
Service.
Another guide in the preparation of the Administration's program is: