For the first time in our nation's history we have consistently maintained
in peacetime, military forces of a magnitude sufficient to deter and if
need be to destroy predatory forces in the world.
Tremendous advances in strategic weapons systems have been made in the past
eight years. Not until 1953 were expenditures on long-range ballistic
missile programs even as much as a million dollars a year; today we spend
ten times as much each day on these programs as was spent in all of 1952.
No guided ballistic missiles were operational at the beginning of 1953.
Today many types give our armed forces unprecedented effectiveness. The
explosive power of our weapons systems for all purposes is almost
inconceivable.
Today the United States has operational ATLAS missiles which can strike a
target 5000 miles away in a half-hour. The POLARIS weapons system became
operational last fall and the TITAN is scheduled to become so this year.
Next year, more than a year ahead of schedule, a vastly improved ICBM, the
solid propellant MINUTEMAN, is expected to be ready.
Squadrons of accurate Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles are now
operational. The THOR and JUPITER IRBMs based in forward areas can hit
targets 1500 miles away in 18 minutes.
Aircraft which fly at speeds faster than sound were still in a
developmental stage eight years ago. Today American fighting planes go
twice the speed of sound. And either our B-58 Medium Range Jet Bomber or
our B-52 Long Range Jet Bomber can carry more explosive power than was used
by all combatants in World War II--Allies and Axis combined.
Eight years ago we had no nuclear-powered ships. Today 49 nuclear warships
have been authorized. Of these, 14 have been commissioned, including three
of the revolutionary POLARIS submarines. Our nuclear submarines have
cruised under the North Pole and circumnavigated the earth while submerged.
Sea warfare has been revolutionized, and the United States is far and away
the leader.
Our tactical air units overseas and our aircraft carriers are alert; Army
units, guarding the frontiers of freedom in Europe and the Far East, are in
the highest state of readiness in peacetime history; our Marines, a third
of whom are deployed in the Far East, are constantly prepared for action;
our Reserve establishment has maintained high standards of proficiency, and
the Ready Reserve now numbers over 2 1/2 million citizen-soldiers.
The Department of Defense, a young and still evolving organization, has
twice been improved and the line of command has been shortened in order to
meet the demands of modern warfare. These major reorganizations have
provided a more effective structure for unified planning and direction of
the vast defense establishment. Gradual improvements in its structure and
procedures are to be expected.
United States civil defense and nonmilitary defense capacity has been
greatly strengthened and these activities have been consolidated in one
Federal agency.
The defense forces of our Allies now number five million men, several
thousand combatant ships, and over 25,000 aircraft. Programs to strengthen
these allies have been consistently supported by the Administration. U.S.
military assistance goes almost exclusively to friendly nations on the rim
of the communist world. This American contribution to nations who have the
will to defend their freedom, but insufficient means, should be vigorously
continued. Combined with our Allies, the free world now has a far stronger
shield than we could provide alone.
Since 1953, our defense policy has been based on the assumption that the
international situation would require heavy defense expenditures for an
indefinite period to come, probably for years. In this protracted struggle,
good management dictates that we resist overspending as resolutely as we
oppose under-spending. Every dollar uselessly spent on military mechanisms
decreases our total strength and, therefore, our security. We must not
return to the "crash-program" psychology of the past when each new feint by
the Communists was responded to in panic. The "bomber gap" of several years
ago was always a fiction, and the "missile gap" shows every sign of being
the same.
The nation can ill afford to abandon a national policy which provides for a
fully adequate and steady level of effort, designed for the long pull; a
fast adjustment to new scientific and technological advances; a balanced
force of such strength as to deter general war, to effectively meet local
situations and to retaliate to attack and destroy the attacker; and a
strengthened system of free world collective security.