Our farm people expect of us, who have responsibility for their

government, understanding of their problems and the will to help solve

them. Our objective must be to help bring production into balance with

existing and new markets, at prices that yield farmers a return for

their work in line with what other Americans get.

To reach this goal, deep-seated problems must be subjected to a

stepped-up attack. There is no single easy solution. Rather, there must

be a many-sided assault on the stubborn problems of surpluses, prices,

costs, and markets; and a steady, persistent, imaginative advance in the

relationship between farmers and their government.

In a few days, by special message, I shall lay before the Congress my

detailed recommendations for new steps that should be taken promptly to

speed the transition in agriculture and thus assist our farmers to

achieve their fair share of the national income.

Basic to this program will be a new attack on the surplus problem-for

even the best-conceived farm program cannot work under a multi-billion

dollar weight of accumulated stocks.

I shall urge authorization of a soil bank program to alleviate the

problem of diverted acres and an overexpanded agricultural plant. This

will include an acreage reserve to reduce current and accumulated

surpluses of crops in most serious difficulty, and a conservation

reserve to achieve other needed adjustments in the use of agricultural

resources. I shall urge measures to strengthen our surplus disposal

activities.

I shall propose measures to strengthen individual commodity programs, to

remove controls where possible, to reduce carryovers, and to stop

further accumulations of surpluses. I shall ask the Congress to provide

substantial new funds for an expanded drive on the research front, to

develop new markets, new crops, and new uses. The Rural Development

Program to better the lot of low-income farm families deserves full

Congressional support. The Great Plains Program must go forward

vigorously. Advances on these and other fronts will pull down the

pricedepressing surpluses and raise farm income.

In this time of testing in agriculture, we should all together,

regardless of party, carry forward resolutely with a sound and forward

looking program on which farm people may confidently depend, now and for

years to come.

I shall briefly mention four other subjects directly related to the

well-being of the economy, preliminary to their fuller discussion in the

Economic Report and later communications.

Resources Conservation

I wish to re-emphasize the critical importance of the wise use and

conservation of our great natural resources of land, forests, minerals

and water and their long-range development consistent with our

agricultural policy. Water in particular now plays an increasing role in

industrial processes, in the irrigation of land, in electric power, as

well as in domestic uses. At the same time, it has the potential of

damage and disaster.

A comprehensive legislative program for water conservation will be

submitted to the Congress during the Session. The development of our

water resources cannot be accomplished overnight. The need is such that

we must make faster progress and without delay. Therefore, I strongly

recommend that action be taken at this Session on such wholly Federal

projects as the Colorado River Storage Project and the

Fryingpan-Arkansas Project; on the John Day partnership project, and

other projects which provide for cooperative action between the Federal

Government and non-Federal interests; and on legislation, which makes

provision for Federal participation in small projects under the primary

sponsorship of agencies of State and local government.

During the past year the areas of our National Parks have been expanded,

and new wildlife refuges have been created. The visits of our people to

the Parks have increased much more rapidly than have the facilities to

care for them. The Administration will submit recommendations to provide

more adequate facilities to keep abreast of the increasing interest of

our people in the great outdoors.

Disaster Assistance

A modern community is a complex combination of skills, specialized

buildings, machines, communications and homes. Most importantly, it

involves human lives. Disaster in many forms--by flood, frost, high

winds, for instance--can destroy on a massive scale in a few hours the

labor of many years.

Through the past three years the Administration has repeatedly moved

into action wherever disaster struck. The extent of State participation

in relief activities, however, has been far from uniform and, in many

cases, has been either inadequate or nonexistent. Disaster assistance

legislation requires overhauling and an experimental program of

flood-damage indemnities should be undertaken. The Administration will

make detailed recommendations on these subjects.

Area Redevelopment

We must help deal with the pockets of chronic unemployment that here and

there mar the nation’s general industrial prosperity. Economic changes

in recent years have been often so rapid and far-reaching that areas

committed to a single local resource or industrial activity have found

themselves temporarily deprived of their markets and their livelihood.

Such conditions mean severe hardship for thousands of people as the slow

process of adaptation to new circumstances goes on. This process can be

speeded up. Last year I authorized a major study of the problem to find

additional steps to supplement existing programs for the redevelopment

of areas of chronic unemployment. Recommendations will be submitted,

designed to supplement, with Federal technical and loan assistance local

efforts to get on with this vital job. Improving such communities must,

of course, remain the primary responsibility of the people living there

and of their States. But a soundly conceived Federal partnership program

can be of real assistance to them in their efforts.

Highway Legislation.

Legislation to provide a modern, interstate highway system is even more

urgent this year than last, for 12 months have now passed in which we

have fallen further behind in road construction needed for the personal

safety, the general prosperity, the national security of the American

people. During the year, the number of motor vehicles has increased from

58 to 61 million. During the past year over 38,000 persons lost their

lives in highway accidents, while the fearful toll of injuries and

property damage has gone on unabated.

In my message of February 22, 1955, I urged that measures be taken to

complete the vital 40,000 mile interstate system over a period of 10

years at an estimated Federal cost of approximately 25 billion dollars.

No program was adopted.

If we are ever to solve our mounting traffic problem, the whole

interstate system must be authorized as one project, to be completed

approximately within the specified time. Only in this way can industry

efficiently gear itself to the job ahead. Only in this way can the

required planning and engineering be accomplished without the confusion

and waste unavoidable a piecemeal approach. Furthermore, as I pointed

out last year, the pressing nature of this problem must not lead us to

solutions outside the bounds of sound fiscal management. As in the case

of other pressing problems, there must be an adequate plan of financing.

To continue the drastically needed improvement in other national highway

systems, I recommend the continuation of the Federal Aid Highway

Program.

Aside from agriculture and the four subjects specifically mentioned, an

integral part of our efforts to foster a strong and expanding free

economy is keeping open the door of opportunity to new and small

enterprises, checking monopoly, and preserving a competitive

environment. In this past year the steady improvement in the economic

health of small business has reinforced the vitality of our competitive

economy. We shall continue to help small business concerns to obtain

access to adequate financing and to competent counsel on management,

production, and marketing problems.

Through measures already taken, opportunities for smallbusiness

participation in government procurement programs, including military

procurement, are greatly improved. The effectiveness of these measures

will become increasingly apparent. We shall continue to make certain

that small business has a fair opportunity to compete and has an

economic environment in which it may prosper.

In my message last year I referred to the appointment of an advisory

committee to appraise and report to me on the deficiencies as well as

the effectiveness of existing Federal transportation policies. I have

commended the fundamental purposes and objectives of the committee’s

report. I earnestly recommend that the Congress give prompt attention to

the committee’s proposals.

Essential to a prosperous economic environment for all business, small

and large--for agriculture and industry and commerce-is efficiency in

Government. To that end, exhaustive studies of the entire governmental

structure were made by the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations and

the Commission on the Organization of the Executive Branch of the

Government--the reports of these Commissions are now under intensive

review and already in the process of implementation in important areas.

One specific and most vital governmental function merits study and

action by the Congress. As part of our program of promoting efficiency

in Government and getting the fiscal situation in hand, the Post Office

Department in the past three years has been overhauled. Nearly one

thousand new post offices have been provided. Financial practices have

been modernized, and transportation and operating methods are being

constantly improved. A new wage and incentive plan for the half million

postal employees has been established. Never before has the postal

system handled so much mail so quickly and so economically.

The Post Office Department faces two serious problems. First, much of

its physical plant--post offices and other buildings-is obsolete and

inadequate. Many new buildings and the modernization of present ones are

essential if we are to have improved mail service. The second problem is

the Department’s fiscal plight. It now faces an annual deficit of

one-half billion dollars.

Recommendations on postal facilities and on additional postal revenues

will be submitted to the Congress.

A final consideration in our program planning is:

THE RESPONSE TO HUMAN CONCERNS

A fundamental belief shines forth in this Republic. We believe in the

worth and dignity of the individual. We know that if we are to govern

ourselves wisely--in the tradition of America--we must have the

opportunity to develop our individual capacities to the utmost.

To fulfill the individual’s aspirations in the American way of life,

good education is fundamental. Good education is the outgrowth of good

homes, good communities, good churches, and good schools. Today our

schools face pressing problems--problems which will not yield to swift

and easy solutions, or to any single action. They will yield only to a

continuing, active, formed effort by the people toward achieving better

schools.

This kind of effort has been spurred by the thousands of conferences

held in recent months by half a million citizens and educators in all

parts of the country, culminating in the White House Conference on

Education. In that Conference, some two thousand delegates, broadly

representative of the nation, studied together the problems of the

nation’s schools.

They concluded that the people of the United States must make a greater

effort through their local, State, and Federal Governments to improve

the education of our youth. This expression from the people must now be

translated into action at all levels of government.

So far as the Federal share of responsibility is concerned, I urge that

the Congress move promptly to enact an effective program of Federal

assistance to help erase the existing deficit of school classrooms. Such

a program, which should be limited to a five-year period, must operate

to increase rather than decrease local and State support of schools and

to give the greatest help to the States and localities with the least

financial resources. Federal aid should in no way jeopardize the freedom

of local school systems. There will be presented to the Congress a

recommended program of Federal assistance for school construction.

Such a program should be accompanied by action to increase services to

the nation’s schools by the Office of Education and by legislation to

provide continuation of payments to school districts where Federal

activities have impaired the ability of those districts to provide

adequate schools.

Under the 1954 Amendments to the old-age and survivors’ insurance

program, protection was extended to some 10 million additional workers

and benefits were increased. The system now helps protect 9 out of 10

American workers and their families against loss of income in old age or

on the death of the breadwinner. The system is sound. It must be kept

so. In developing improvements in the system, we must give the most

careful consideration to population and social trends, and to fiscal

requirements. With these considerations in mind, the Administration will

present its recommendations for further expansion of coverage and other

steps which can be taken wisely at this time.

Other needs in the area of social welfare include increased child

welfare services, extension of the program of aid to dependent children,

intensified attack on juvenile delinquency, and special attention to the

problems of mentally retarded children. The training of more skilled

workers for these fields and the quest for new knowledge through

research in social welfare are essential. Similarly the problems of our

aged people need our attention.

The nation has made dramatic progress in conquering disease--progress of

profound human significance which can be greatly accelerated by an

intensified effort in medical research. A well-supported, well-balanced

program of research, including basic research, can open new frontiers of

knowledge, prevent and relieve suffering, and prolong life. Accordingly

I shall recommend a substantial increase in Federal funds for the

support of such a program. As an integral part of this effort, I shall

recommend a new plan to aid construction of non-Federal medical research

and teaching facilities and to help provide more adequate support for

the training of medical research manpower.

Finally, we must aid in cushioning the heavy and rising costs of illness

and hospitalization to individuals and families. Provision should be

made, by Federal reinsurance or otherwise, to foster extension of

voluntary health insurance coverage to many more persons, especially

older persons and those in rural areas. Plans should be evolved to

improve protection against the costs of prolonged or severe illness.

These measures will help reduce the dollar barrier between many

Americans and the benefits of modern medical care.

The Administration health program will be submitted to the Congress in

detail.

The response of government to human concerns embraces, of course, other

measures of broad public interest, and of special interest to our

working men and women. The need still exists for improvement of the

Labor Management Relations Act. The recommendations I submitted to the

Congress last year take into account not only the interests of labor and

management but also the public welfare. The needed amendments should be

enacted without further delay.

We must also carry forward the job of improving the wagehour law. Last

year I requested the Congress to broaden the coverage of the minimum

wage. I repeat that recommendation, and I pledge the full resources of

the Executive Branch to assist the Congress in finding ways to attain

this goal. Moreover, as requested last year, legislation should be

passed to clarify and strengthen the eight-hour laws for the benefit of

workers who are subject to Federal wage standards on Federal and

Federally assisted construction and other public works.

The Administration will shortly propose legislation to assure adequate

disclosure of the financial affairs of each employee pension and welfare

plan and to afford substantial protection to their beneficiaries in

accordance with the objectives outlined in my message of January 11,

1954. Occupational safety still demands attention, as I pointed out last

year, and legislation to improve the Longshoremen’s and Harbor Workers’

Compensation Act is still needed. The improvement of the District of

Columbia Unemployment Insurance Law and legislation to provide employees

in the District with non-occupational disability insurance are no less

necessary now than 12 months ago. Legislation to apply the principle of

equal pay for equal work without discrimination because of sex is a

matter of simple justice. I earnestly urge the Congress to move swiftly

to implement these needed labor measures.

In the field of human needs, we must carry forward the housing program,

which is contributing so greatly to the well-being of our people and the

prosperity of our economy. Home ownership is now advanced to the point

where almost three of every five families in our cities, towns, and

suburbs own the houses they live in.

For the housing program, most of the legislative authority already

exists. However, a firm program of public housing is essential until the

private building industry has found ways to provide more adequate

housing for low-income families. The Administration will propose

authority to contract for 35 thousand additional public housing units in

each of the next 2 fiscal years for communities which will participate

in an integrated attack on slums and blight.

To meet the needs of the growing number of older people, several

amendments to the National Housing Act will be proposed to assist the

private homebuilding industry as well as charitable and non-profit

organizations.

With so large a number of the American people desiring to modernize and

improve existing dwellings, I recommend that the Title 1 program for

permanent improvements in the home be liberalized.

I recommend increases in the general FHA mortgage insurance authority;

the extension of the FHA military housing program; an increase in the

authorization for Urban Planning grants; in the special assistance

authority of the Federal National Mortgage Association; and continued

support of the college housing program in a way that will not discourage

private capital from helping to meet the needs of our colleges.

The legislation I have recommended for workers in private industry

should be accompanied by a parallel effort for the welfare of Government

employees. We have accomplished much in this field, including a

contributory life insurance program; equitable pay increases and a

fringe benefits program, covering many needed personnel policy changes,

from improved premium pay to a meaningful incentive award program.

Additional personnel management legislation is needed in this Session.

As I stated last year, an executive pay increase is essential to

efficient governmental management. Such an increase, together with

needed adjustments in the pay for the top career positions, is also

necessary to the equitable completion of the Federal pay program

initiated last year. Other legislation will be proposed, including

legislation for prepaid group health insurance for employees and their

dependents and to effect major improvements in the Civil Service

retirement system.

All of us share a continuing concern for those who have served this

nation in the Armed Forces. The Commission on Veterans Pensions is at

this time conducting a study of the entire field of veterans’ benefits

and will soon submit proposed improvements.

We are proud of the progress our people have made in the field of civil

rights. In Executive Branch operations throughout the nation,

elimination of discrimination and segregation is all but completed.

Progress is also being made among contractors engaged in furnishing

Government services and requirements. Every citizen now has the

opportunity to fit himself for and to hold a position of responsibility

in the service of his country. In the District of Columbia, through the

voluntary cooperation of the people, discrimination and segregation are

disappearing from hotels, theaters, restaurants and other facilities.

It is disturbing that in some localities allegations persist that Negro

citizens are being deprived of their right to vote and are likewise

being subjected to unwarranted economic pressures. I recommend that the

substance of these charges be thoroughly examined by a Bipartisan

Commission created by the Congress. It is hoped that such a commission

will be established promptly so that it may arrive at findings which can

receive early consideration.

The stature of our leadership in the free world has increased through

the past three years because we have made more progress than ever before

in a similar period to assure our citizens equality in justice, in

opportunity and in civil rights. We must expand this effort on every

front. We must strive to have every person judged and measured by what

he is, rather than by his color, race or religion. There will soon be

recommended to the Congress a program further to advance the efforts of

the Government, within the area of Federal responsibility, to accomplish

these objectives.

One particular challenge confronts us. In the Hawaiian Islands, East

meets West. To the Islands, Asia and Europe and the Western Hemisphere,

all the continents, have contributed their peoples and their cultures to

display a unique example of a community that is a successful laboratory

in human brotherhood.

Statehood, supported by the repeatedly expressed desire of the Islands’

people and by our traditions, would be a shining example of the American

way to the entire earth. Consequently, I urgently request this Congress

to grant statehood for Hawaii. Also, in harmony with the provisions I

last year communicated to the Senate and House Committees on Interior

and Insular Affairs, I trust that progress toward statehood for Alaska

can be made in this Session.

Progress is constant toward full integration of our Indian citizens into

normal community life. During the past two years the Administration has

provided school facilities for thousands of Indian children previously

denied this opportunity. We must continue to meet the needs of increased

numbers of Indian children. Provision should also be made for the

education of adult Indians whose schooling in earlier years was

neglected.

In keeping with our responsibility of world leadership and in our own

self interest, I again point out to the Congress the urgent need for

revision of the immigration and nationality laws. Our nation has always

welcomed immigrants to our shores. The wisdom of such a policy is

clearly shown by the fact that America has been built by immigrants and

the descendants of immigrants. That policy must be continued

realistically with present day conditions in mind.

I recommend that the number of persons admitted to this country annually

be based not on the 1920 census but on the latest, the 1950 census.

Provision should be made to allow for greater flexibility in the use of

quotas so if one country does not use its share, the vacancies may be

made available for the use of qualified individuals from other

countries.

The law should be amended to permit the Secretary of State and the

Attorney General to waive the requirements of fingerprinting on a

reciprocal basis for persons coming to this country for temporary

visits. This and other changes in the law are long overdue and should be

taken care of promptly. Detailed recommendations for revision of the

immigration laws will be submitted to the Congress.

I am happy to report substantial progress in the flow of immigrants

under the Refugee Relief Act of 1953; however, I again request this

Congress to approve without further delay the urgently needed amendments

to that act which I submitted in the last Session. Because of the high

prosperity in Germany and Austria, the number of immigrants from those

countries will be reduced. This will make available thousands of

unfilled openings which I recommend be distributed to Greece and Italy

and to escapees from behind the Iron Curtain.

Once again I ask the Congress to join with me in demonstrating our

belief in the right of suffrage. I renew my request that the principle

of self-government be extended and the right of suffrage granted to the

citizens of the District of Columbia.

To conclude: the vista before us is bright. The march of science, the

expanding economy, the advance in collective security toward a just

peace--in this threefold movement our people are creating new standards

by which the future of the Republic may be judged.

Progress, however, will be realized only as it is more than matched by a

continuing growth in the spiritual strength of the nation. Our

dedication to moral values must be complete in our dealings abroad and

in our relationships among ourselves. We have single-minded devotion to

the common good of America. Never must we forget that this means the

well-being, the prosperity, the security of all Americans in every walk

of life.

To the attainment of these objectives, I pledge full energies of the

Administration, as in the Session ahead, it works on a program for

submission to you, the Congress of the United States.

***

State of the Union Address

Dwight D. Eisenhower

January 10, 1957

To the Congress of the United States:

I appear before the Congress today to report on the State of the Union

and the relationships of the Union to the other nations of the world. I

come here, firmly convinced that at no time in the history of the

Republic have circumstances more emphatically underscored the need, in

all echelons of government, for vision and wisdom and resolution.

You meet in a season of stress that is testing the fitness of political

systems and the validity of political philosophies. Each stress stems in

part from causes peculiar to itself. But every stress is a reflection of

a universal phenomenon.

In the world today, the surging and understandable tide of nationalism

is marked by widespread revulsion and revolt against tyranny, injustice,

inequality and poverty. As individuals, joined in a common hunger for

freedom, men and women and even children pit their spirit against guns

and tanks. On a larger scale, in an ever more persistent search for the

self-respect of authentic sovereignty and the economic base on which

national independence must rest, peoples sever old ties; seek new

alliances; experiment--sometimes dangerously--in their struggle to

satisfy these human aspirations.

Particularly, in the past year, this tide has changed the pattern of

attitudes and thinking among millions. The changes already accomplished

foreshadow a world transformed by the spirit of freedom. This is no

faint and pious hope. The forces now at work in the minds and hearts of

men will not be spent through many years. In the main, today’s

expressions of nationalism are, in spirit, echoes of our forefathers’

struggle for independence.

This Republic cannot be aloof to these events heralding a new epoch in

the affairs of mankind.

Our pledged word, our enlightened self-interest, our character as a

Nation commit us to a high role in world affairs: a role of vigorous

leadership, ready strength, sympathetic understanding.

The State of the Union, at the opening of the 85th Congress continues to

vindicate the wisdom of the principles on which this Republic is

rounded. Proclaimed in the Constitution of the Nation and in many of our

historic documents, and rounded in devout religious convictions, these

principles enunciate:

A vigilant regard for human liberty.

A wise concern for human welfare.

A ceaseless effort for human progress.

Fidelity to these principles, in our relations with other peoples, has

won us new friendships and has increased our opportunity for service

within the family of nations. The appeal of these principles is

universal, lighting fires in the souls of men everywhere. We shall

continue to uphold them, against those who deny them and in counselling

with our friends.

At home, the application of these principles to the complex problems of

our national life has brought us to an unprecedented peak in our

economic prosperity and has exemplified in our way of life the enduring

human values of mind and spirit.

Through the past four years these principles have guided the legislative

programs submitted by the Administration to the Congress. As we attempt

to apply them to current events, domestic and foreign, we must take into

account the complex entity that is the United States of America; what

endangers it; what can improve it.

The visible structure is our American economy itself. After more than a

century and a half of constant expansion, it is still rich in a wide

variety of natural resources. It is first among nations in its people’s

mastery of industrial skills. It is productive beyond our own needs of

many foodstuffs and industrial products. It is rewarding to all our

citizens in opportunity to earn and to advance in self-realization and

in self-expression. It is fortunate in its wealth of educational and

cultural and religious centers. It is vigorously dynamic in the

limitless initiative and willingness to venture that characterize free

enterprise. It is productive of a widely shared prosperity.

Our economy is strong, expanding, and fundamentally sound. But in any

realistic appraisal, even the optimistic analyst will realize that in a

prosperous period the principal threat to efficient functioning of a

free enterprise system is inflation. We look back on four years of

prosperous activities during which prices, the cost of living, have been

relatively stable--that is, inflation has been held in check. But it is

clear that the danger is always present, particularly if the government

might become profligate in its expenditures or private groups might

ignore all the possible results on our economy of unwise struggles for

immediate gain.

This danger requires a firm resolution that the Federal Government shall

utilize only a prudent share of the Nation’s resources, that it shall

live within its means, carefully measuring against need alternative

proposals for expenditures.

Through the next four years, I shall continue to insist that the

executive departments and agencies of Government search out additional

ways to save money and manpower. I urge that the Congress be equally

watchful in this matter.

We pledge the Government’s share in guarding the integrity of the

dollar. But the Government’s efforts cannot be the entire campaign

against inflation, the thief that can rob the individual of the value of

the pension and social security he has earned during his productive

life. For success, Government’s efforts must be paralleled by the

attitudes and actions of individual citizens.

I have often spoken of the purpose of this Administration to serve the

national interest of 170 million people. The national interest must take

precedence over temporary advantages which may be secured by particular

groups at the expense of all the people.

In this regard I call on leaders in business and in labor to think well

on their responsibility to the American people. With all elements of our

society, they owe the Nation a vigilant guard against the inflationary

tendencies that are always at work in a dynamic economy operating at

today’s high levels. They can powerfully help counteract or accentuate

such tendencies by their wage and price policies.

Business in its pricing policies should avoid unnecessary price

increases especially at a time like the present when demand in so many

areas presses hard on short supplies. A reasonable profit is essential

to the new investments that provide more jobs in an expanding economy.

But business leaders must, in the national interest, studiously avoid

those price rises that are possible only because of vital or unusual

needs of the whole nation.

If our economy is to remain healthy, increases in wages and other labor

benefits, negotiated by labor and management, must be reasonably related

to improvements in productivity. Such increases are beneficial, for they

provide wage earners with greater purchasing power. Except where

necessary to correct obvious injustices, wage increases that outrun

productivity, however, are an inflationary factor. They make for higher

prices for the public generally and impose a particular hardship on

those whose welfare depends on the purchasing power of retirement income

and savings. Wage negotiations should also take cognizance of the right

of the public generally to share in the benefits of improvements in

technology.

Freedom has been defined as the opportunity for self-discipline. This

definition has a special application to the areas of wage and price

policy in a free economy. Should we persistently fail to discipline

ourselves, eventually there will be increasing pressure on government to

redress the failure. By that process freedom will step by step

disappear. No subject on the domestic scene should more attract the

concern of the friends of American working men and women and of free

business enterprise than the forces that threaten a steady depreciation

of the value of our money.

Concerning developments in another vital sector of our

economy--agriculture--I am gratified that the long slide in farm income

has been halted and that further improvement is in prospect. This is

heartening progress. Three tools that we have developed--improved

surplus disposal, improved price support laws, and the soil bank--are

working to reduce price-depressing government stocks of farm products.

Our concern for the well-being of farm families demands that we

constantly search for new ways by which they can share more fully in our

unprecedented prosperity. Legislative recommendations in the field of

agriculture are contained in the Budget Message.

Our soil, water, mineral, forest, fish, and wildlife resources are being

conserved and improved more effectively. Their conservation and

development are vital to the present and future strength of the Nation.

But they must not be the concern of the Federal Government alone. State

and local entities, and private enterprise should be encouraged to

participate in such projects.

I would like to make special mention of programs for making the best

uses of water, rapidly becoming our most precious natural resource, just

as it can be, when neglected, a destroyer of both life and wealth. There

has been prepared and published a comprehensive water report developed

by a Cabinet Committee and relating to all phases of this particular

problem.

In the light of this report, there are two things I believe we should

keep constantly in mind. The first is that each of our great river

valleys should be considered as a whole. Piecemeal operations within

each lesser drainage area can be self-defeating or, at the very least,

needlessly expensive. The second is that the domestic and industrial

demands for water grow far more rapidly than does our population.

The whole matter of making the best use of each drop of water from the

moment it touches our soil until it reaches the oceans, for such

purposes as irrigation, flood control, power production, and domestic

and industrial uses clearly demands the closest kind of cooperation and

partnership between municipalities, States and the Federal Government.

Through partnership of Federal, state and local authorities in these

vast projects we can obtain the economy and efficiency of development

and operation that springs from a lively sense of local responsibility.

Until such partnership is established on a proper and logical basis of

sharing authority, responsibility and costs, our country will never have

both the fully productive use of water that it so obviously needs and

protection against disastrous flood.

If we fail in this, all the many tasks that need to be done in America

could be accomplished only at an excessive cost, by the growth of a

stifling bureaucracy, and eventually with a dangerous degree of

centralized control over our national life.

In all domestic matters, I believe that the people of the United States

will expect of us effective action to remedy past failure in meeting

critical needs.

High priority should be given the school construction bill. This will

benefit children of all races throughout the country-and children of all

races need schools now. A program designed to meet emergency needs for

more classrooms should be enacted without delay. I am hopeful that this

program can be enacted on its own merits, uncomplicated by provisions

dealing with the complex problems of integration. I urge the people in

all sections of the country to approach these problems with calm and

reason, with mutual understanding and good will, and in the American

tradition of deep respect for the orderly processes of law and justice.

I should say here that we have much reason to be proud of the progress

our people are making in mutual understanding--the chief buttress of

human and civil rights. Steadily we are moving closer to the goal of

fair and equal treatment of citizens without regard to race or color.

But unhappily much remains to be done.

Last year the Administration recommended to the Congress a four-point

program to reinforce civil rights. That program included:

(1) creation of a bipartisan commission to investigate asserted

violations of civil rights and to make recommendations;

(2) creation of a civil rights division in the Department of Justice in

charge of an Assistant Attorney General;

(3) enactment by the Congress of new laws to aid in the enforcement of

voting rights; and

(4) amendment of the laws so as to permit the Federal Government to seek

from the civil courts preventive relief in civil rights cases.

I urge that the Congress enact this legislation.

Essential to the stable economic growth we seek is a system of

well-adapted and efficient financial institutions. I believe the time

has come to conduct a broad national inquiry into the nature,

performance and adequacy of our financial system, both in terms of its

direct service to the whole economy and in terms of its function as the

mechanism through which monetary and credit policy takes effect. I

believe the Congress should authorize the creation of a commission of

able and qualified citizens to undertake this vital inquiry. Out of

their findings and recommendations the Administration would develop and

present to the Congress any legislative proposals that might be

indicated for the purpose of improving our financial machinery.

In this message it seems unnecessary that I should repeat

recommendations involving our domestic affairs that have been urged upon

the Congress during the past four years, but which, in some instances,

did not reach the stage of completely satisfactory legislation.

The Administration will, through future messages either directly from me

or from heads of the departments and agencies, transmit to the Congress

specific recommendations. These will involve our financial and fiscal

affairs, our military and civil defenses; the administration of justice;

our agricultural economy; our domestic and foreign commerce; the

urgently needed increase in our postal rates; the development of our

natural resources; our labor laws, including our labor-management

relations legislation, and vital aspects of the health, education and

welfare of our people. There will be special recommendations dealing

with such subjects as atomic energy, the furthering of public works, the

continued efforts to eliminate government competition with the

businesses of tax-paying citizens.

A number of legislative recommendations will be mentioned specifically

in my forthcoming Budget Message, which will reach you within the week.

That message will also recommend such sums as are needed to implement

the proposed action.

Turning to the international scene:

The existence of a strongly armed imperialistic dictatorship poses a

continuing threat to the free world’s and thus to our own Nation’s

security and peace. There are certain truths to be remembered here.

First, America alone and isolated cannot assure even its own security.

We must be joined by the capability and resolution of nations that have

proved themselves dependable defenders of freedom. Isolation from them

invites war. Our security is also enhanced by the immeasurable interest

that joins us with all peoples who believe that peace with justice must

be preserved, that wars of aggression are crimes against humanity.

Another truth is that our survival in today’s world requires modern,

adequate, dependable military strength. Our Nation has made great

strides in assuring a modern defense, so armed in new weapons, so

deployed, so equipped, that today our security force is the most

powerful in our peacetime history. It can punish heavily any enemy who

undertakes to attack us. It is a major deterrent to war.

By our research and development more efficient weapons-some of amazing

capabilities--are being constantly created. These vital efforts we shall

continue. Yet we must not delude ourselves that safety necessarily

increases as expenditures for military research or forces in being go

up. Indeed, beyond a wise and reasonable level, which is always changing

and is under constant study, money spent on arms may be money wasted on

sterile metal or inflated costs, thereby weakening the very security and

strength we seek.

National security requires far more than military power. Economic and

moral factors play indispensable roles. Any program that endangers our

economy could defeat us. Any weakening of our national will and

resolution, any diminution of the vigor and initiative of our individual

citizens, would strike a blow at the heart of our defenses.

The finest military establishment we can produce must work closely in

cooperation with the forces of our friends. Our system of regional

pacts, developed within the Charter of the United Nations, serves to

increase both our own security and the security of other nations.

This system is still a recent introduction on the world scene. Its

problems are many and difficult, because it insists on equality among

its members and brings into association some nations traditionally

divided. Repeatedly in recent months, the collapse of these regional

alliances has been predicted. The strains upon them have been at times

indeed severe. Despite these strains our regional alliances have proved

durable and strong, and dire predictions of their disintegration have

proved completely false.

With other free nations, we should vigorously prosecute measures that

will promote mutual strength, prosperity and welfare within the free

world. Strength is essentially a product of economic health and social

well-being. Consequently, even as we continue our programs of military

assistance, we must emphasize aid to our friends in building more

productive economies and in better satisfying the natural demands of

their people for progress. Thereby we shall move a long way toward a

peaceful world.

A sound and safeguarded agreement for open skies, unarmed aerial

sentinels, and reduced armament would provide a valuable contribution

toward a durable peace in the years ahead. And we have been persistent

in our effort to reach such an agreement. We are willing to enter any

reliable agreement which would reverse the trend toward ever more

devastating nuclear weapons; reciprocally provide against the

possibility of surprise attack; mutually control the outer space missile

and satellite development; and make feasible a lower level of armaments

and armed forces and an easier burden of military expenditures. Our

continuing negotiations in this field are a major part of our quest for

a confident peace in this atomic age.

This quest requires as well a constructive attitude among all the

nations of the free world toward expansion of trade and investment, that

can give all of us opportunity to work out economic betterment.

An essential step in this field is the provision of an administrative

agency to insure the orderly and proper operation of existing

arrangements trader which multilateral trade is now carried on. To that

end I urge Congressional authorization for United States membership in

the proposed Organization for Trade Cooperation, an action which will

speed removal of discrimination against our export trade.

We welcome the efforts of a number of our European friends to achieve an

integrated community to develop a common market. We likewise welcome

their cooperative effort in the field of atomic energy.

To demonstrate once again our unalterable purpose to make of the atom a

peaceful servant of humanity, I shortly shall ask the Congress to

authorize full United States participation in the International Atomic

Energy Agency.

World events have magnified both the responsibilities and the

opportunities of the United States Information Agency. Just as, in

recent months, the voice of communism has become more shaken and

confused, the voice of truth must be more clearly heard. To enable our

Information Agency to cope with these new responsibilities and

opportunities, I am asking the Congress to increase appreciably the

appropriations for this program and for legislation establishing a

career service for the Agency’s overseas foreign service officers.

The recent historic events in Hungary demand that all free nations share

to the extent of their capabilities in the responsibility of granting

asylum to victims of Communist persecution. I request the Congress

promptly to enact legislation to regularize the status in the United

States of Hungarian refugees brought here as parolees. I shall shortly

recommend to the Congress by special message the changes in our

immigration laws that I deem necessary in the light of our world

responsibilities.

The cost of peace is something we must face boldly, fearlessly. Beyond

money, it involves changes in attitudes, the renunciation of old

prejudices, even the sacrifice of some seeming self-interest.

Only five days ago I expressed to you the grave concern of your

Government over the threat of Soviet aggression in the Middle East. I

asked for Congressional authorization to help counter this threat. I say

again that this matter is of vital and immediate importance to the

Nation’s and the free world’s security and peace. By our proposed

programs in the Middle East, we hope to assist in establishing a climate

in which constructive and long-term solutions to basic problems of the

area may be sought.

From time to time, there will be presented to the Congress requests for

other legislation in the broad field of international affairs. All

requests will reflect the steadfast purpose of this Administration to

pursue peace, based on justice. Although in some cases details will be

new, the underlying purpose and objectives will remain the same.

All proposals made by the Administration in this field are based on the

free world’s unity. This unity may not be immediately obvious unless we

examine link by link the chain of relationships that binds us to every

area and to every nation. In spirit the free world is one because its

people uphold the right of independent existence for all nations. I have

already alluded to their economic interdependence. But their

interdependence extends also into the field of security.

First of all, no reasonable man will question the absolute need for our

American neighbors to be prosperous and secure. Their security and

prosperity are inextricably bound to our own. And we are, of course,

already joined with these neighbors by historic pledges.

Again, no reasonable man will deny that the freedom and prosperity and

security of Western Europe are vital to our own prosperity and security.

If the institutions, the skills, the manpower of its peoples were to

fall under the domination of an aggressive imperialism, the violent

change in the balance of world power and in the pattern of world

commerce could not be fully compensated for by any American measures,

military or economic.

But these people, whose economic strength is largely dependent on free

and uninterrupted movement of oil from the Middle East, cannot

prosper--indeed, their economies would be severely impaired--should that

area be controlled by an enemy and the movement of oil be subject to its

decisions.

Next, to the Eastward, are Asiatic and Far Eastern peoples, recently

returned to independent control of their own affairs or now emerging

into sovereign statehood. Their potential strength constitutes new

assurance for stability and peace in the world--if they can retain their

independence. Should they lose freedom and be dominated by an aggressor,

the world-wide effects would imperil the security of the free world.

In short, the world has so shrunk that all free nations are our

neighbors. Without cooperative neighbors, the United States cannot

maintain its own security and welfare, because:

First, America’s vital interests are world-wide, embracing both

hemispheres and every continent.

Second, we have community of interest with every nation in the free

world.

Third, interdependence of interests requires a decent respect for the

rights and the peace of all peoples.

These principles motivate our actions within the United Nations. There,

before all the world, by our loyalty to them, by our practice of them,

let us strive to set a standard to which all who seek justice and who

hunger for peace can rally.

May we at home, here at the Seat of Government, in all the cities and

towns and farmlands of America, support these principles in a personal

effort of dedication. Thereby each of us can help establish a secure

world order in which opportunity for freedom and justice will be more

widespread, and in which the resources now dissipated on the armaments

of war can be released for the life and growth of all humanity.

When our forefathers prepared the immortal document that proclaimed our

independence, they asserted that every individual is endowed by his

Creator with certain inalienable rights. As we gaze back through history

to that date, it is clear that our nation has striven to live up to this

declaration, applying it to nations as well as to individuals.

Today we proudly assert that the government of the United States is

still committed to this concept, both in its activities at home and

abroad.

The purpose is Divine; the implementation is human.

Our country and its government have made mistakes--human mistakes. They

have been of the head--not of the heart. And it is still true that the

great concept of the dignity of all men, alike created in the image of

the Almighty, has been the compass by which we have tried and are trying

to steer our course.

So long as we continue by its guidance, there will be true progress in

human affairs, both among ourselves and among those with whom we deal.

To achieve a more perfect fidelity to it, I submit, is a worthy ambition

as we meet together in these first days of this, the first session of

the 85th Congress.

The Address as reported from the floor appears in the Congressional

Record (vol. 103, p. 387).

***

State of the Union Address

Dwight D. Eisenhower

January 9, 1958

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the 85th Congress:

It is again my high privilege to extend personal greetings to the

members of the 85th Congress.

All of us realize that, as this new session begins, many Americans are

troubled about recent world developments which they believe may threaten

our nation’s safety. Honest men differ in their appraisal of America’s

material and intellectual strength, and the dangers that confront us.

But all know these dangers are real.

The purpose of this message is to outline the measures that can give the

American people a confidence--just as real--in their own security.

I am not here to justify the past, gloss over the problems of the

present, or propose easy solutions for the future.

I am here to state what I believe to be right and what I believe to be

wrong; and to propose action for correcting what I think wrong! I.

There are two tasks confronting us that so far outweigh all other that I

shall devote this year’s message entirely to them. The first is to

ensure our safety through strength.

As to our strength, I have repeatedly voiced this conviction: We now

have a broadly based and efficient defensive strength, including a great

deterrent power, which is, for the present, our main guarantee against

war; but, unless we act wisely and promptly, we could lose that capacity

to deter attack or defend ourselves.

My profoundest conviction is that the American people will say, as one

man: No matter what the exertions or sacrifices, we shall maintain that

necessary strength!

But we could make no more tragic mistake than merely to concentrate on

military strength.

For if we did only this, the future would hold nothing for the world but

an Age of Terror.

And so our second task is to do the constructive work of building a

genuine peace. We must never become so preoccupied with our desire for

military strength that we neglect those areas of economic development,

trade, diplomacy, education, ideas and principles where the foundations

of real peace must be laid. II.

The threat to our safety, and to the hope of a peaceful world, can be

simply stated. It is communist imperialism.

This threat is not something imagined by critics of the Soviets. Soviet

spokesmen, from the beginning, have publicly and frequently declared

their aim to expand their power, one way or another, throughout the

world.

The threat has become increasingly serious as this expansionist aim has

been reinforced by an advancing industrial, military and scientific

establishment.

But what makes the Soviet threat unique in history is its

all--inclusiveness. Every human activity is pressed into service as a

weapon of expansion. Trade, economic development, military power, arts,

science, education, the whole world of ideas--all are harnessed to this

same chariot of expansion.

The Soviets are, in short, waging total cold war.

The only answer to a regime that wages total cold war is to wage total

peace.

This means bringing to bear every asset of our personal and national

lives upon the task of building the conditions in which security and

peace can grow. III.

Among our assets, let us first briefly glance at our military power.

Military power serves the cause of security by making prohibitive the

cost of any aggressive attack.

It serves the cause of peace by holding up a shield behind which the

patient constructive work of peace can go on.

But it can serve neither cause if we make either of two mistakes. The

one would be to overestimate our strength, and thus neglect crucially

important actions in the period just ahead. The other would be to

underestimate our strength. Thereby we might be tempted to become

irresolute in our foreign relations, to dishearten our friends, and to

lose our national poise and perspective in approaching the complex

problems ahead.

Any orderly balance-sheet of military strength must be in two parts. The

first is the position as of today. The second is the position in the

period ahead.

As of today: our defensive shield comprehends a vast complex of ground,

sea, and air units, superbly equipped and strategically deployed around

the world. The most powerful deterrent to war in the world today lies in

the retaliatory power of our Strategic Air Command and the aircraft of

our Navy. They present to any potential attacker who would unleash war

upon the world the prospect of virtual annihilation of his own country.

Even if we assume a surprise attack on our bases, with a marked

reduction in our striking power, our bombers would immediately be on

their way in sufficient strength to accomplish this mission of

retaliation. Every informed government knows this. It is no secret.

Since the Korean Armistice, the American people have spent $225 billion

in maintaining and strengthening this overall defensive shield. This is

the position as of today.

Now as to the period ahead: Every part of our military establishment

must and will be equipped to do its defensive job with the most modern

weapons and methods. But it is particularly important to our planning

that we make a candid estimate of the effect of long-range ballistic

missiles on the present deterrent power I have described.

At this moment, the consensus of opinion is that we are probably

somewhat behind the Soviets in some areas of long-range ballistic

missile development. But it is my conviction, based on close study of

all relevant intelligence, that if we make the necessary effort, we will

have the missiles, in the needed quantity and in time, to sustain and

strengthen the deterrent power of our increasingly efficient bombers.

One encouraging fact evidencing this ability is the rate of progress we

have achieved since we began to concentrate on these missiles.

The intermediate ballistic missiles, Thor and Jupiter, have already been

ordered into production. The parallel progress in the intercontinental

ballistic missile effort will be advanced by our plans for acceleration.

The development of the submarine-based Polaris missile system has

progressed so well that its future procurement schedules are being moved

forward markedly.

When it is remembered that our country has concentrated on the

development of ballistic missiles for only about a third as long as the

Soviets, these achievements show a rate of progress that speaks for

itself. Only a brief time back, we were spending at the rate of only

about one million dollars a year on long range ballistic missiles. In

1957 we spent more than one billion dollars on the Arias, Titan, Thor,

Jupiter, and Polaris programs alone.

But I repeat, gratifying though this rate of progress is, we must still

do more!

Our real problem, then, is not our strength today; it is rather the

vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow.

What I have just said applies to our strength as a single country. But

we are not alone. I have returned from the recent NATO meeting with

renewed conviction that, because we are a part of a world-wide community

of free and peaceful nations, our own security is immeasurably

increased.

By contrast, the Soviet Union has surrounded itself with captive and

sullen nations. Like a crack in the crust of an uneasily sleeping

volcano, the Hungarian uprising revealed the depth and intensity of the

patriotic longing for liberty that still burns within these countries.

The world thinks of us as a country which is strong, but which will

never start a war. The world also thinks of us as a land which has never

enslaved anyone and which is animated by humane ideals. This friendship,

based on common ideals, is one of our greatest sources of strength.

It cements into a cohesive security arrangement the aggregate of the

spiritual, military and economic strength of all those nations which,

with us, are allied by treaties and agreements.

Up to this point, I have talked solely about our military strength to

deter a possible future war.

I now want to talk about the strength we need to win a different kind of

war--one that has already been launched against us.

It is the massive economic offensive that has been mounted by the

communist imperialists against free nations.

The communist imperialist regimes have for some time been largely

frustrated in their attempts at expansion based directly on force. As a

result, they have begun to concentrate heavily on economic penetration,

particularly of newly-developing countries, as a preliminary to

political domination.

This non-military drive, if underestimated, could defeat the free world

regardless of our military strength. This danger is all the greater

precisely because many of us fail or refuse to recognize it. Thus, some

people may be tempted to finance our extra military effort by cutting

economic assistance. But at the very time when the economic threat is

assuming menacing proportions, to fail to strengthen our own effort

would be nothing less than reckless folly!

Admittedly, most of us did not anticipate the psychological impact upon

the world of the launching of the first earth satellite. Let us not make

the same kind of mistake in another field, by failing to anticipate the

much more serious impact of the Soviet economic offensive.

As with our military potential, our economic assets are more than equal

to the task. Our independent farmers produce an abundance of food and

fibre. Our free workers are versatile, intelligent, and hardworking. Our

businessmen are imaginative and resourceful. The productivity, the

adaptability of the American economy is the solid foundation-stone of

our security structure.

We have just concluded another prosperous year. Our output was once more

the greatest in the nation’s history. In the latter part of the year,

some decline in employment and output occurred, following the

exceptionally rapid expansion of recent years. In a free economy,

reflecting as it does the independent judgments of millions of people,

growth typically moves forward unevenly. But the basic forces of growth

remain unimpaired. There are solid grounds for confidence that economic

growth will be resumed without an extended interruption. Moreover, the

Federal government, constantly alert to signs of weakening in any part

of our economy, always stands ready, with its full power, to take any

appropriate further action to promote renewed business expansion.

If our history teaches us anything, it is this lesson: so far as the

economic potential of our nation is concerned, the believers in the

future of America have always been the realists. I count myself as one

of this company.

Our long-range problem, then, is not the stamina of our enormous engine

of production. Our problem is to make sure that we use these vast

economic forces confidently and creatively, not only in direct military

defense efforts, but likewise in our foreign policy, through such

activities as mutual economic aid and foreign trade.

In much the same way, we have tremendous potential resources on other

non-military fronts to help in countering the Soviet threat: education,

science, research, and, not least, the ideas and principles by which we

live. And in all these cases the task ahead is to bring these resources

more sharply to bear upon the new tasks of security and peace in a

swiftly-changing world. IV.

There are many items in the Administration’s program, of a kind

frequently included in a State of the Union Message, with which I am not

dealing today. They are important to us and to our prosperity. But I am

reserving them for treatment in separate communications because of my

purpose today of speaking only about matters bearing directly upon our

security and peace.

I now place before you an outline of action designed to focus our

resources upon the two tasks of security and peace.

In this special category I list eight items requiring action. They are

not merely desirable. They are imperative.

1. DEFENSE REORGANIZATION

The first need is to assure ourselves that military organization

facilitates rather than hinders the functioning of the military

establishment in maintaining the security of the nation.

Since World War II, the purpose of achieving maximum organizational

efficiency in a modern defense establishment has several times

occasioned action by the Congress and by the Executive.

The advent of revolutionary new devices, bringing with them the problem

of overall continental defense, creates new difficulties, reminiscent of

those attending the advent of the airplane half a century ago.

Some of the important new weapons which technology has produced do not

fit into any existing service pattern. They cut across all services,

involve all services, and transcend all services, at every stage from

development to operation. In some instances they defy classification

according to branch of service.

Unfortunately, the uncertainties resulting from such a situation, and

the jurisdictional disputes attending upon it, tend to bewilder and

confuse the public and create the impression that service differences

are damaging the national interest.

Let us proudly remember that the members of the Armed Forces give their

basic allegiance solely to the United States. Of that fact all of us are

certain. But pride of service and mistaken zeal in promoting particular

doctrine has more than once occasioned the kind of difficulty of which I

have just spoken.

I am not attempting today to pass judgment on the charge of harmful

service rivalries. But one thing is sure. Whatever they are, America

wants them stopped.

Recently I have had under special study the never-ending problem of

efficient organization, complicated as it is by new weapons. Soon my

conclusions will be finalized. I shall promptly take such Executive

action as is necessary and, in a separate message, I shall present

appropriate recommendations to the Congress.

Meanwhile, without anticipating the detailed form that a reorganization

should take, I can state its main lines in terms of objectives:

A major purpose of military organization is to achieve real unity in the

Defense establishment in all the principal features of military

activities. Of all these, one of the most important to our nation’s

security is strategic planning and control. This work must be done under

unified direction.

The defense structure must be one which, as a whole, can assume, with

top efficiency and without friction, the defense of America. The Defense

establishment must therefore plan for a better integration of its

defensive resources, particularly with respect to the newer weapons now

building and under development. These obviously require full

coordination in their development, production and use. Good organization

can help assure this coordination.

In recognition of the need for single control in some of our most

advanced development projects, the Secretary of Defense has already

decided to concentrate into one organization all the anti-missile and

satellite technology undertaken within the Department of Defense.

Another requirement of military organization is a clear subordination of

the military services to duly constituted civilian authority. This

control must be real; not merely on the surface.

Next there must be assurance that an excessive number of compartments in

organization will not create costly and confusing compartments in our

scientific and industrial effort.

Finally, to end inter-service disputes requires clear organization and

decisive central direction, supported by the unstinted cooperation of

every individual in the defense establishment, civilian and military.

2. ACCELERATED DEFENSE EFFORT

The second major action item is the acceleration of the defense effort

in particular areas affected by the fast pace of scientific and

technological advance.

Some of the points at which improved and increased effort are most

essential are these:

We must have sure warning in case of attack. The improvement of warning

equipment is becoming increasingly important as we approach the period

when long-range missiles will come into use.

We must protect and disperse our striking forces and increase their

readiness for instant reaction. This means more base facilities and

standby crews.

We must maintain deterrent retaliatory power. This means, among other

things, stepped-up long range missile programs; accelerated programs for

other effective missile systems; and, for some years, more advanced

aircraft.

We must maintain freedom of the seas. This means nuclear submarines and

cruisers; improved anti-submarine weapons; missile ships; and the like.

We must maintain all necessary types of mobile forces to deal with local

conflicts, should there be need. This means further improvements in

equipment, mobility, tactics and fire power.

Through increases in pay and incentive, we must maintain in the armed

forces the skilled manpower modern military forces require.

We must be forward-looking in our research and development to anticipate

and achieve the unimagined weapons of the future.

With these and other improvements, we intend to assure that our

vigilance, power, and technical excellence keep abreast of any realistic

threat we face.

3. MUTUAL AID

Third: We must continue to strengthen our mutual security efforts. Most

people now realize that our programs of military aid and defense support

are an integral part of our own defense effort. If the foundations of

the Free World structure were progressively allowed to crumble under the

pressure of communist imperialism, the entire house of freedom would be

in danger of collapse.

As for the mutual economic assistance program, the benefit to us is

threefold. First, the countries receiving this aid become bulwarks

against communist encroachment as their military defenses and economies

are strengthened. Nations that are conscious of a steady improvement in

their industry, education, health and standard of living are not apt to

fall prey to the blandishments of communist imperialists.

Second, these countries are helped to reach the point where mutually

profitable trade can expand between them and us.

Third, the mutual confidence that comes from working together on

constructive projects creates an atmosphere in which real understanding

and peace can flourish.

To help bring these multiple benefits, our economic aid effort should be

made more effective.

In proposals for future economic aid, I am stressing a greater use of

repayable loans, through the Development Loan Fund, through funds

generated by sale of surplus farm products, and through the

Export-Import Bank.

While some increase in Government funds will be required, it remains our

objective to encourage shifting to the use of private capital sources as

rapidly as possible.

One great obstacle to the economic aid program in the past has been, not

a rational argument against it on the merits, but a catchword:

“give-away program.”

The real fact is that no investment we make in our own security and

peace can pay us greater dividends than necessary amounts of economic

aid to friendly nations.

This is no “give-away.”

Let’s stick to facts!

We cannot afford to have one of our most essential security programs

shot down with a slogan!

4. MUTUAL TRADE

Fourth: Both in our national interest, and in the interest of world

peace, we must have a five-year extension of the Trade Agreements Act

with broadened authority to negotiate.

World trade supports a significant segment of American industry and

agriculture. It provides employment for four and one-half million

American workers. It helps supply our ever increasing demand for raw

materials. It provides the opportunity for American free enterprise to

develop on a worldwide scale. It strengthens our friends and increases

their desire to be friends. World trade helps to lay the groundwork for

peace by making all free nations of the world stronger and more

self-reliant.

America is today the world’s greatest trading nation. If we use this

great asset wisely to meet the expanding demands of the world, we shall

not only provide future opportunities for our own business, agriculture,

and labor, but in the process strengthen our security posture and other

prospects for a prosperous, harmonious world.

As President McKinley said, as long ago as 1901: “Isolation is no longer

possible or desirable .... The period of exclusiveness is past.”

5. SCIENTIFIC COOPERATION WITH OUR ALLIES

Fifth: It is of the highest importance that the Congress enact the

necessary legislation to enable us to exchange appropriate scientific

and technical information with friendly countries as part of our effort

to achieve effective scientific cooperation.

It is wasteful in the extreme for friendly allies to consume talent and

money in solving problems that their friends have already solved--all

because of artificial barriers to sharing. We cannot afford to cut

ourselves off from the brilliant talents and minds of scientists in

friendly countries. The task ahead will be hard enough without handcuffs

of our own making.

The groundwork for this kind of cooperation has already been laid in

discussions among NATO countries. Promptness in following through with

legislation will be the best possible evidence of American unity of

purpose in cooperating with our friends.

6. EDUCATION AND RESEARCH

Sixth: In the area of education and research, I recommend a balanced

program to improve our resources, involving an investment of about a

billion dollars over a four year period. This involves new activities by

the Department of Health, Education and Welfare designed principally to

encourage improved teaching quality and student opportunities in the

interests of national security. It also provides a five-fold increase in

sums available to the National Science Foundation for its special

activities in stimulating and improving science education.

Scrupulous attention has been paid to maintaining local control of

educational policy, spurring the maximum amount of local effort, and to

avoiding undue stress on the physical sciences at the expense of other

branches of learning.

In the field of research, I am asking for substantial increases in basic

research funds, including a doubling of the funds available to the

National Science Foundation for this purpose.

But Federal action can do only a part of the job. In both education and

research, redoubled exertions will be necessary on the part of all

Americans if we are to rise to the demands of our times. This means hard

work on the part of state and local governments, private industry,

schools and colleges, private organizations and foundations, teachers,

parents, and--perhaps most important of all--the student himself, with

his bag of books and his homework.

With this kind of all-inclusive campaign, I have no doubt that we can

create the intellectual capital we need for the years ahead, invest it

in the right places--and do all this, not as regimented pawns, but as

free men and women!

7. SPENDING AND SAVING

Seventh: To provide for this extra effort for security, we must apply

stern tests of priority to other expenditures, both military and

civilian. This extra effort involves, most immediately, the need for a

supplemental defense appropriation of $1.3 billion for fiscal year 1958.

In the 1959 budget, increased expenditures for missiles, nuclear ships,

atomic energy, research and development, science and education, a

special contingency fund to deal with possible new technological

discoveries, and increases in pay and incentives to obtain and retain

competent manpower add up to a total increase over the comparable

figures in the 1957 budget of about $4 billion.

I believe that, in spite of these necessary increases, we should strive

to finance the 1959 security effort out of expected revenues. While we

now believe that expected revenues and expenditures will roughly

balance, our real purpose will be to achieve adequate security, but

always with the utmost regard for efficiency and careful management.

This purpose will require the cooperation of Congress in making careful

analysis of estimates presented, reducing expenditure on less essential

military programs and installations, postponing some new civilian

programs, transferring some to the states, and curtailing or eliminating

others.

Such related matters as the national debt ceiling and tax revenues will

be dealt with in later messages.

8. WORKS OF PEACE

My last call for action is not primarily addressed to the Congress and

people of the United States. Rather, it is a message from the people of

the United States to all other peoples, especially those of the Soviet

Union.

This is the spirit of what we would like to say:

“In the last analysis, there is only one solution to the grim problems

that lie ahead. The world must stop the present plunge toward more and

more destructive weapons of war, and turn the corner that will start our

steps firmly on the path toward lasting peace.

“Our greatest hope for success lies in a universal fact: the people of

the world, as people, have always wanted peace and want peace now.

“The problem, then, is to find a way of translating this universal

desire into action.

“This will require more than words of peace. It requires works of

peace.”

Now, may I try to give you some concrete examples of the kind of works

of peace that might make a beginning in the new direction.

For a start our people should learn to know each other better. Recent

negotiations in Washington have provided a basis in principle for

greater freedom of communication and exchange of people. I urge the

Soviet government to cooperate in turning principle into practice by

prompt and tangible actions that will break down the unnatural barriers

that have blocked the flow of thought and understanding between our

people.

Another kind of work of peace is cooperation on projects of human

welfare. For example, we now have it within our power to eradicate from

the face of the earth that age-old scourge of mankind: malaria. We are

embarking with other nations in an all-out five-year campaign to blot

out this curse forever. We invite the Soviets to join with us in this

great work of humanity.

Indeed, we would be willing to pool our efforts with the Soviets in

other campaigns against the diseases that are the common enemy of all

mortals--such as cancer and heart disease.

If people can get together on such projects, is it not possible that we

could then go on to a full-scale cooperative program of Science for

Peace?

We have as a guide and inspiration the success of our Atoms-for-Peace

proposal, which in only a few years, under United Nations auspices,

became a reality in the International Atomic Energy Agency.

A program of Science for Peace might provide a means of funneling into

one place the results of research from scientists everywhere and from

there making it available to all parts of the world.

There is almost no limit to the human betterment that could result from

such cooperation. Hunger and disease could increasingly be driven from

the earth. The age-old dream of a good life for all could, at long last,

be translated into reality.

But of all the works of peace, none is more needed now than a real first

step toward disarmament.

Last August the United Nations General Assembly, by an overwhelming

vote, approved a disarmament plan that we and our allies sincerely

believed to be fair and practical. The Soviets have rejected both the

plan, and the negotiating procedure set up by the United Nations. As a

result, negotiation on this supremely important issue is now at a

stand-still.

But the world cannot afford to stand still on disarmament! We must never

give up the search for a basis of agreement.

Our allies from time to time develop differing ideas on how to proceed.

We must concert these convictions among ourselves. Thereafter, any

reasonable proposal that holds promise for disarmament and reduction of

tension must be heard, discussed, and, if possible, negotiated.

But a disarmament proposal, to hold real promise, must at the minimum

have one feature: reliable means to ensure compliance by all. It takes

actions and demonstrated integrity on both sides to create and sustain

confidence. And confidence in a genuine disarmament agreement is vital,

not only to the signers of the agreement, but also to the millions of

people all over the world who are weary of tensions and armaments.

I say once more, to all peoples, that we will always go the extra mile

with anyone on earth if it will bring us nearer a genuine peace.

CONCLUSION

These, then, are the ways in which we must funnel our energies more

efficiently into the task of advancing security and peace.

These actions demand and expect two things of the American people:

sacrifice, and a high degree of understanding. For sacrifice to be

effective it must be intelligent. Sacrifice must be made for the right

purpose and in the right place--even if that place happens to come close

to home!

After all, it is no good demanding sacrifice in general terms one day,

and the next day, for local reasons, opposing the elimination of some

unneeded Federal facility.

It is pointless to condemn Federal spending in general, and the next

moment condemn just as strongly an effort to reduce the particular

Federal grant that touches one’s own interest.

And it makes no sense whatever to spend additional billions on military

strength to deter a potential danger, and then, by cutting aid and trade

programs, let the world succumb to a present danger in economic guise.

My friends of the Congress: The world is waiting to see how wisely and

decisively a free representative government will now act.

I believe that this Congress possesses and will display the wisdom

promptly to do its part in translating into law the actions demanded by

our nation’s interests. But, to make law effective, our kind of

government needs the full voluntary support of millions of Americans for

these actions.

I am fully confident that the response of the Congress and of the

American people will make this time of test a time of honor. Mankind

then will see more clearly than ever that the future belongs, not to the

concept of the regimented atheistic state, but to the people--the

God-fearing, peace-loving people of all the world.

The Address as reported from the floor appears in the Congressional

Record (vol. 104, p. 171).

***

State of the Union Address

Dwight D. Eisenhower

January 9, 1959

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the 86th Congress, my fellow

citizens:

This is the moment when Congress and the Executive annually begin their

cooperative work to build a better America.

One basic purpose unites us: To promote strength and security, side by

side with liberty and opportunity.

As we meet today, in the 170th year of the Republic, our Nation must

continue to provide--as all other free governments have had to do

throughout time--a satisfactory answer to a question as old as history.

It is: Can Government based upon liberty and the God-given rights of

man, permanently endure when ceaselessly challenged by a dictatorship,

hostile to our mode of life, and controlling an economic and military

power of great and growing strength?

For us the answer has always been found, and is still found in the

devotion, the vision, the courage and the fortitude of our people.

Moreover, this challenge we face, not as a single powerful nation, but

as one that has in recent decades reached a position of recognized

leadership in the Free World.

We have arrived at this position of leadership in an era of remarkable

productivity and growth. It is also a time when man’s power of mass

destruction has reached fearful proportions.

Possession of such capabilities helps create world suspicion and

tension. We, on our part, know that we seek only a just peace for all,

with aggressive designs against no one. Yet we realize that there is

uneasiness in the world because of a belief on the part of peoples that

through arrogance, miscalculation or fear of attack, catastrophic war

could be launched. Keeping the peace in today’s world more than ever

calls for the utmost in the nation’s resolution, wisdom, steadiness and

unremitting effort.

We cannot build peace through desire alone. Moreover, we have learned

the bitter lesson that international agreements, historically considered

by us as sacred, are regarded in Communist doctrine and in practice to

be mere scraps of paper. The most recent proof of their disdain of

international obligations, solemnly undertaken, is their announced

intention to abandon their responsibilities respecting Berlin.

As a consequence, we can have no confidence in any treaty to which

Communists are a party except where such a treaty provides within itself

for self-enforcing mechanisms. Indeed, the demonstrated disregard of the

Communists of their own pledges is one of the greatest obstacles to

success in substituting the Rule of Law for rule by force.

Yet step by step we must strengthen the institutions of peace--a peace

that rests upon justice--a peace that depends upon a deep knowledge and

dear understanding by all peoples of the cause and consequences of

possible failure in this great purpose.

To achieve this peace we seek to prevent war at any place and in any

dimension. If, despite our best efforts, a local dispute should flare

into armed hostilities, the next problem would be to keep the conflict

from spreading, and so compromising freedom. In support of these

objectives we maintain forces of great power and flexibility.

Our formidable air striking forces are a powerful deterrent to general

war. Large and growing portions of these units can depart from their

bases in a matter of minutes.

Similar forces are included in our naval fleets.

Ground and other tactical formations can move with swiftness and

precision, when requested by friendly and responsible governments, to

help curb threatened aggression. The stabilizing influence of this

capacity has been dramatically demonstrated more than once over the past

year.

Our military and related scientific progress has been highly gratifying.

Great strides have been made in the development of ballistic missiles.

Intermediate range missiles are now being deployed in operational units.

The Arias intercontinental ballistic missile program has been marked by

rapid development as evidenced by recent successful tests. Missile

training units have been established and launching sites are far along

in construction.

New aircraft that fly at twice the speed of sound are entering our

squadrons.

We have successfully placed five satellites in orbit, which have

gathered information of scientific importance never before available.

Our latest satellite illustrates our steady advance in rocketry and

foreshadows new developments in world-wide communications.

Warning systems constantly improve.

Our atomic submarines have shattered endurance records and made historic

voyages under the North Polar Sea.

A major segment of our national scientific and engineering community is

working intensively to achieve new and greater developments. Advance in

military technology requires adequate financing but, of course, even

more, it requires talent and time.

All this is given only as a matter of history; as a record of our

progress in space and ballistic missile fields in no more than four

years of intensive effort. At the same time we clearly recognize that

some of the recent Soviet accomplishments in this particular technology

are indeed brilliant.

Under the law enacted last year the Department of Defense is being

reorganized to give the Secretary of Defense full authority over the

military establishment. Greater efficiency, more cohesive effort and

speedier reaction to emergencies are among the many advantages we are

already noting from these changes.

These few highlights point up our steady military gains. We are

rightfully gratified by the achievements they represent. But we must

remember that these imposing armaments are purchased at great cost.

National Security programs account for nearly sixty percent of the

entire Federal budget for this coming fiscal year.

Modern weapons are exceedingly expensive.

The overall cost of introducing ATLAS into our armed forces will average

$35 million per missile on the firing line.

This year we are investing an aggregate of close to $7 billion in

missile programs alone.

Other billions go for research, development, test and evaluation of new

weapons systems.

Our latest atomic submarines will cost $50 millions each, while some

special types will cost three times as much.

We are now ordering fighter aircraft which are priced at fifty times as

much as the fighters of World War II.

We are buying certain bombers that cost their weight in gold.

These sums are tremendous, even when compared with the marvelous

resiliency and capacity of our economy.

Such expenditures demand both balance and perspective in our planning

for defense. At every turn, we must weigh, judge and select. Needless

duplication of weapons and forces must be avoided.

We must guard against feverish building of vast armaments to meet glibly

predicted moments of so-called “maximum peril.” The threat we face is

not sporadic or dated: It is continuous. Hence we must not be swayed in

our calculations either by groundless fear or by complacency. We must

avoid extremes, for vacillation between extremes is inefficient, costly,

and destructive of morale. In these days of unceasing technological

advance, we must plan our defense expenditures systematically and with

care, fully recognizing that obsolescence compels the never-ending

replacement of older weapons with new ones.

The defense budget for the coming year has been planned on the basis of

these principles and considerations. Over these many months I have

personally participated in its development.

The aim is a sensible posture of defense. The secondary aim is increased

efficiency and avoidance of waste. Both are achieved by this budgetary

plan.

Working by these guide lines I believe with all my heart that America

can be as sure of the strength and efficiency of her armed forces as she

is of their loyalty. I am equally sure that the nation will thus avoid

useless expenditures which, in the name of security, might tend to

undermine the economy and, therefore, the nation’s safety.

Our own vast strength is only a part of that required for dependable

security. Because of this we have joined with nearly 50 other nations in

collective security arrangements. In these common undertakings each

nation is expected to contribute what it can in sharing the heavy load.

Each supplies part of a strategic deployment to protect the forward

boundaries of freedom.

Constantly we seek new ways to make more effective our contribution to

this system of collective security. Recently I have asked a Committee of

eminent Americans of both parties to re-appraise our military assistance

programs and the relative emphasis which should be placed on military

and economic aid.

I am hopeful that preliminary recommendations of this Committee will be

available in time to assist in shaping the Mutual Security program for

the coming fiscal year.

Any survey of the free world’s defense structure cannot fail to impart a

feeling of regret that so much of our effort and resources must be

devoted to armaments. At Geneva and elsewhere we continue to seek

technical and other agreements that may help to open up, with some

promise, the issues of international disarmament. America will never

give up the hope that eventually all nations can, with mutual

confidence, drastically reduce these non-productive expenditures. II.

The material foundation of our national safety is a strong and expanding

economy. This we have--and this we must maintain. Only with such an

economy can we be secure and simultaneously provide for the well-being

of our people.

A year ago the nation was experiencing a decline in employment and

output. Today that recession is fading into history, and this without

gigantic, hastily-improvised public works projects or untimely tax

reductions. A healthy and vigorous recovery has been under way since

last May. New homes are being built at the highest rate in several

years. Retail sales are at peak levels. Personal income is at an

all-time high.

The marked forward thrust of our economy reaffirms our confidence in

competitive enterprise. But--clearly--wisdom and prudence in both the

public and private sectors of the economy are always necessary.

Our outlook is this: 1960 commitments for our armed forces, the Atomic

Energy Commission and Military Assistance exceed 47 billion dollars. In

the foreseeable future they are not likely to be significantly lower.

With an annual population increase of three million, other governmental

costs are bound to mount.

After we have provided wisely for our military strength, we must judge

how to allocate our remaining government resources most effectively to

promote our well-being and economic growth.

Federal programs that will benefit all citizens are moving forward.

Next year we will be spending increased amounts on health programs; on

Federal assistance to science and education; on the development of the

nation’s water resources; on the renewal of urban areas; and on our vast

system of Federal-aid highways.

Each of these additional outlays is being made necessary by the surging

growth of America.

Let me illustrate. Responsive to this growth, Federal grants and long

term loans to assist 14 major types of capital improvements in our

cities will total over 2 billion dollars in 1960--double the expenditure

of two years ago. The major responsibility for development in these

fields rests in the localities, even though the Federal Government will

continue to do its proper part in meeting the genuine needs of a

burgeoning population.

But the progress of our economy can more than match the growth of our

needs. We need only to act wisely and confidently.

Here, I hope you will permit me to digress long enough to express

something that is much on my mind.

The basic question facing us today is more than mere survival--the

military defense of national life and territory. It is the preservation

of a way of life.

We must meet the world challenge and at the same time permit no

stagnation in America.

Unless we progress, we regress.

We can successfully sustain security and remain true to our heritage of

freedom if we clearly visualize the tasks ahead and set out to perform

them with resolution and fervor. We must first define these tasks and

then understand what we must do to perform them.

If progress is to be steady we must have long term guides extending far

ahead, certainly five, possibly even ten years. They must reflect the

knowledge that before the end of five years we will have a population of

over 190 million. They must be goals that stand high, and so inspire

every citizen to climb always toward mounting levels of moral,

intellectual and material strength. Every advance toward them must stir

pride in individual and national achievements.

To define these goals, I intend to mobilize help from every available

source.

We need more than politically ordained national objectives to challenge

the best efforts of free men and women. A group of selfless and devoted

individuals, outside of government, could effectively participate in

making the necessary appraisal of the potentials of our future. The

result would be establishment of national goals that would not only spur

us on to our finest efforts, but would meet the stern test of

practicality.

The Committee I plan will comprise educators and representatives of

labor, management, finance, the professions and every other kind of

useful activity.

Such a study would update and supplement, in the light of continuous

changes in our society and its economy, the monumental work of the

Committee on Recent Social Trends which was appointed in 1931 by

President Hoover. Its report has stood the test of time and has had a

beneficial influence on national development. The new Committee would be

concerned, among other things, with the acceleration of our economy’s

growth and the living standards of our people, their health and

education, their better assurance of life and liberty and their greater

opportunities. It would also be concerned with methods to meet such

goals and what levels of government--Local, State, or Federal--might or

should be particularly concerned.

As one example, consider our schools, operated under the authority of

local communities and states. In their capacity and in their quality

they conform to no recognizable standards. In some places facilities are

ample, in others meager. Pay of teachers ranges between wide limits,

from the adequate to the shameful. As would be expected, quality of

teaching varies just as widely. But to our teachers we commit the most

valuable possession of the nation and of the family--our children.

We must have teachers of competence. To obtain and hold them we need

standards. We need a National Goal. Once established I am certain that

public opinion would compel steady progress toward its accomplishment.

Such studies would be helpful, I believe, to government at all levels

and to all individuals. The goals so established could help us see our

current needs in perspective. They will spur progress.

We do not forget, of course, that our nation’s progress and fiscal

integrity are interdependent and inseparable. We can afford everything

we clearly need, but we cannot afford one cent of waste. We must examine

every item of governmental expense critically. To do otherwise would

betray our nation’s future. Thrift is one of the characteristics that

has made this nation great. Why should we ignore it now?

We must avoid any contribution to inflationary processes, which could

disrupt sound growth in our economy.

Prices have displayed a welcome stability in recent months and, if we

are wise and resolute, we will not tolerate inflation in the years to

come. But history makes clear the risks inherent in any failure to deal

firmly with the .basic causes of inflation. Two of the most important of

these causes are the wage-price spiral and continued deficit financing.

Inflation would reduce job opportunities, price us out of world markets,

shrink the value of savings and penalize the thrift so essential to

finance a growing economy.

Inflation is not a Robin Hood, taking from the rich to give to the poor.

Rather, it deals most cruelly with those who can least protect

themselves. It strikes hardest those millions of our citizens whose

incomes do not quickly rise with the cost of living. When prices soar,

the pensioner and the widow see their security undermined, the man of

thrift sees his savings melt away; the white collar worker, the

minister, and the teacher see their standards of living dragged down.

Inflation can be prevented. But this demands statesmanship on the part

of business and labor leaders and of government at all levels.

We must encourage the self-discipline, the restraint necessary to curb

the wage-price spiral and we must meet current costs from current

revenue.

To minimize the danger of future soaring prices and to keep our economy

sound and expanding, I shall present to the Congress certain proposals.

First, I shall submit a balanced budget for the next year, a year

expected to be the most prosperous in our history. It is a realistic

budget with wholly attainable objectives.

If we cannot live within our means during such a time of rising

prosperity, the hope for fiscal integrity will fade. If we persist in

living beyond our means, we make it difficult for every family in our

land to balance its own household budget. But to live within our means

would be a tangible demonstration of the self-discipline needed to

assure a stable dollar.

The Constitution entrusts the Executive with many functions, but the

Congress--and the Congress alone--has the power of the purse. Ultimately

upon Congress rests responsibility for determining the scope and amount

of Federal spending.

By working together, the Congress and the Executive can keep a balance

between income and outgo. If this is done there is real hope that we can

look forward to a time in the foreseeable future when needed tax reforms

can be accomplished.

In this hope, I am requesting the Secretary of the Treasury to prepare

appropriate proposals for revising, at the proper time, our tax

structure, to remove inequities and to enhance incentives for all

Americans to work, to save, and to invest. Such recommendations will be

made as soon as our fiscal condition permits. These prospects will be

brightened if 1960 expenditures do not exceed the levels recommended.

Second, I shall recommend to the Congress that the Chief Executive be

given the responsibility either to approve or to veto specific items in

appropriations and authorization bills. This would save tax dollars.

Third, to reduce Federal operations in an area where private enterprise

can do the job, I shall recommend legislation for greater flexibility in

extending Federal credit, and in improving the procedures under which

private credits are insured or guaranteed. Present practices have

needlessly added large sums to Federal expenditures.

Fourth, action is required to make more effective use of the large

Federal expenditures for agriculture and to achieve greater fiscal

control in this area.

Outlays of the Department of Agriculture for the current fiscal year for

the support of farm prices on a very few farm products will exceed five

billion dollars. That is a sum equal to approximately two-fifths of the

net income of all farm operators in the entire United States.

By the end of this fiscal year it is estimated that there will be in

Government hands surplus farm products worth about nine billion dollars.

And by July 1, 1959, Government expenditures for storage, interest, and

handling of its agricultural inventory will reach a rate of one billion

dollars a year.

This level of expenditure for farm products could be made willingly for

a temporary period if it were leading to a sound solution of the

problem. But unfortunately this is not true. We need new legislation.

In the past I have sent messages to the Congress requesting greater

freedom for our farmers to manage their own farms and greater freedom

for markets to reflect the wishes of producers and consumers.

Legislative changes that followed were appropriate in direction but did

not go far enough.

The situation calls for prompt and forthright action. Recommendation for

action will be contained in a message to be transmitted to the Congress

shortly.

These fiscal and related actions will help create an environment of

price stability for economic growth. However, certain additional

measures are needed.

I shall ask Congress to amend the Employment Act of 1946 to make it

clear that Government intends to use all appropriate means to protect

the buying power of the dollar.

I am establishing a continuing Cabinet group on Price Stability for

Economic Growth to study governmental and private policies affecting

costs, prices, and economic growth. It will strive also to build a

better public understanding of the conditions necessary for maintaining

growth and price stability.

Studies are being undertaken to improve our information on prices,

wages, and productivity.

I believe all citizens in all walks of life will support this program of

action to accelerate economic growth and promote price stability. III.

I take up next certain aspects of our international situation and our

programs to strengthen it.

America’s security can be assured only within a world community strong,

stable, independent nations, in which the concepts of freedom, justice

and human dignity can flourish.

There can be no such thing as Fortress America. If ever we were reduced

to the isolation implied by that term, we would occupy a prison, not a

fortress. The question whether we can afford to help other nations that

want to defend their freedom but cannot fully do so from their own

means, has only one answer: we can and we must, we have been doing so

since 1947.

Our foreign policy has long been dedicated to building a permanent and

just peace.

During the past six years our free world security arrangements have been

bolstered and the bonds of freedom have been more closely knit. Our

friends in Western Europe are experiencing new internal vitality, and

are increasingly more able to resist external threats.

Over the years the world has come to understand clearly that it is our

firm policy not to countenance aggression. In Lebanon, Taiwan, and

Berlin--our stand has been dear, right, and expressive of the determined

will of a united people.

Acting with other free nations we have undertaken the solemn obligation

to defend the people of free Berlin against any effort to destroy their

freedom. In the meantime we shall constantly seek meaningful agreements

to settle this and other problems, knowing full well that not only the

integrity of a single city, but the hope of all free peoples is at

stake.

We need, likewise, to continue helping to build the economic base so

essential to the Free World’s stability and strength.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have both fully

proven their worth as instruments of international financial

cooperation. Their Executive Directors have recommended an increase in

each member country’s subscription. I am requesting the Congress for

immediate approval of our share of these increases.

We are now negotiating with representatives of the twenty Latin American

Republics for the creation of an inter-American financial institution.

Its purpose would be to join all the American Republics in a common

institution which would promote and finance development in Latin

America, and make more effective the use of capital from the World Bank,

the Export-Import Bank, and private sources.

Private enterprise continues to make major contributions to economic

development in all parts of the world. But we have not yet marshalled

the full potential of American business for this task, particularly in

countries which have recently attained their independence. I shall

present to this Congress a program designed to encourage greater

participation by private enterprise in economic development abroad.

Further, all of us know that to advance the cause of freedom we must do

much more than help build sound economies. The spiritual, intellectual,

and physical strength of people throughout the world will in the last

analysis determine their willingness and their ability to resist

Communism.

To give a single illustration of our many efforts in these fields: We

have been a participant in the effort that has been made over the past

few years against one of the great scourges of mankind--disease. Through

the Mutual Security program public health officials are being trained by

American universities to serve in less developed countries. We are

engaged in intensive malaria eradication projects in many parts of the

world. America’s major successes in our own country prove the

feasibility of success everywhere.

By these and other means we shall continue and expand our campaign

against the afflictions that now bring needless suffering and death to

so many of the world’s people. We wish to be part of a great shared

effort toward the triumph of health. IV.

America is best described by one word, freedom.

If we hope to strengthen freedom in the world we must be ever mindful of

how our own conduct reacts elsewhere. No nation has ever been so

floodlighted by world opinion as the United States is today. Everything

we do is carefully scrutinized by other peoples throughout the world.

The bad is seen along with the good.

Because we are human we err. But as free men we are also responsible for

correcting the errors and imperfections of our ways.

Last January I made comprehensive recommendations to the Congress for

legislation in the labor-management field. To my disappointment,

Congress failed to act. The McClellan Committee disclosures of

corruption, racketeering, and abuse of trust and power in

labor-management affairs have aroused America and amazed other peoples.

They emphasize the need for improved local law enforcement and the

enactment of effective Federal legislation to protect the public

interest and to insure the rights and economic freedoms of millions of

American workers. Halfhearted measures will not do. I shall recommend

prompt enactment of legislation designed:

To safeguard workers’ funds in union treasuries against misuse of any

kind whatsoever.

To protect the rights and freedoms of individual union members,

including the basic right to free and secret elections of officers.

To advance true and responsible collective bargaining.

To protect the public and innocent third parties from unfair and

coercive practices such as boycotting and blackmail picketing.

The workers and the public must have these vital protections.

In other areas of human rights--freedom from discrimination in voting,

in public education, in access to jobs, and in other respects--the world

is likewise watching our conduct.

The image of America abroad is not improved when school children,

through closing of some of our schools and through no fault of their

own, are deprived of their opportunity for an education.

The government of a free people has no purpose more noble than to work

for the maximum realization of equality of opportunity under law. This

is not the sole responsibility of any one branch of our government. The

judicial arm, which has the ultimate authority for interpreting the

Constitution, has held that certain state laws and practices

discriminate upon racial grounds and are unconstitutional. Whenever the

supremacy of the Constitution of the United States is challenged I shall

continue to take every action necessary to uphold it.

One of the fundamental concepts of our constitutional system is that it

guarantees to every individual, regardless of race, religion, or

national origin, the equal protection of the laws. Those of us who are

privileged to hold public office have a solemn obligation to make

meaningful this inspiring objective. We can fulfill that obligation by

our leadership in teaching, persuading, demonstrating, and in enforcing

the law.

We are making noticeable progress in the field of civil rights--we are

moving forward toward achievement of equality of opportunity for all

people everywhere in the United States. In the interest of the nation

and of each of its citizens, that progress must continue.

Legislative proposals of the Administration in this field will be

submitted to the Congress early in the session. All of us should help to

make clear that the government is united in the common purpose of giving

support to the law and the decisions of the Courts.

By moving steadily toward the goal of greater freedom under law, for our

own people, we shall be the better prepared to work for the cause of

freedom under law throughout the world.

All peoples are solely tired of the fear, destruction, and the waste of

war. As never before, the world knows the human and material costs of

war and seeks to replace force with a genuine role of law among nations.

It is my purpose to intensify efforts during the coming two years in

seeking ways to supplement the procedures of the United Nations and

other bodies with similar objectives, to the end that the rule of law

may replace the rule of force in the affairs of nations. Measures toward

this end will be proposed later, including a re-examination of our own

relation to the International Court of Justice.

Finally--let us remind ourselves that Marxist scripture is not new; it

is not the gospel of the future. Its basic objective is dictatorship,

old as history. What is new is the shining prospect that man can build a

world where all can live in dignity.

We seek victory--not over any nation or people--but over the ancient

enemies of us all; victory over ignorance, poverty, disease, and human

degradation wherever they may be found.

We march in the noblest of causes--human freedom.

If we make ourselves worthy of America’s ideals, if we do not forget

that our nation was founded on the premise that all men are creatures of

God’s making, the world will come to know that it is free men who carry

forward the true promise of human progress and dignity.

The Address as reported from the floor appears in the Congressional

Record of January 9, 1959 (vol. 105, p. 163).

***

State of the Union Address

Dwight D. Eisenhower

January 7, 1960

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the 86th Congress:

Seven years ago I entered my present office with one long-held resolve

overriding all others. I was then, and remain now, determined that the

United States shall become an ever more potent resource for the cause of

peace--realizing that peace cannot be for ourselves alone, but for

peoples everywhere. This determination is shared by the entire

Congress--indeed, by all Americans.

My purpose today is to discuss some features of America’s position, both

at home and in her relations to others.

First, I point out that for us, annual self-examination is made a

definite necessity by the fact that we now live in a divided world of

uneasy equilibrium, with our side committed to its own protection and

against aggression by the other.

With both sides of this divided world in possession of unbelievably

destructive weapons, mankind approaches a state where mutual

annihilation becomes a possibility. No other fact of today’s world

equals this in importance--it colors everything we say, plan, and do.

There is demanded of us, vigilance, determination, and the dedication of

whatever portion of our resources that will provide adequate security,

especially a real deterrent to aggression. These things we are doing.