National Affairs: PEACE & FRIENDSHIP-IN FREEDOM

Minutes before taking off on his 22,370-mile global mission, President Eisenhower laid down before a TV audience of 38 million Americans a statement of national —and personal—purpose in the world to rank with his Guildhall speech in London in June 1945, Excerpts:

I SHALL try to convey to everyone our earnestness in striving to reduce the tensions dividing mankind—an effort first requiring, as indeed Mr. Khrushchev agrees, the beginning of mutual disarmament. Of course, I shall stress that the first requirement for mutual disarmament is mutual verification.

Then I hope to make this truth clear—that, on all this earth, not anywhere does our nation seek territory, selfish gain or unfair advantage for itself. I hope all can understand that beyond her shores, as at home, America aspires only to promote human happiness, justly achieved.

The True Hallmark

We in America know that for many decades our nation has practiced and proclaimed these convictions and purposes. But this is not enough. For years, doubts about us have been skillfully nurtured in foreign lands by those who oppose America’s ideals.

Our country has been unjustly described as one pursuing only materialistic goals; as building a culture whose hallmarks are gadgets and shallow pleasures; as prizing wealth above ideals, machines above spirit, leisure above learning, and war above peace.

Actually, as our declaration proclaims, the core of our nation is belief in a Creator who has endowed all men with inalienable rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In that belief is our country’s true hallmark, a faith that permeates every aspect of our political, social and family life. This truth, too, I hope to emphasize abroad.

Of course, as all the world knows, at times and in some respects, we have fallen short of the high ideals held up for us by our founding fathers. But one of the glories of America is that she never ceases her striving toward this shining goal.

And in this striving we do not forget that in the eyes of millions in older lands, our America is still young, in some respects, is still on trial.

The True Source

So I earnestly make this suggestion, as I start this journey tonight, that you, and those close to you, join with me in a renewed dedication to our moral and spiritual convictions, and in that light re-examine our own record, including our shortcomings. In this rededication we shall replenish the true source of America’s strength—her faith; and, flowing from it, her love of liberty, her devotion to justice.

So believing, we look on our nation’s great wealth as more than a hard-earned resource to be used only for our own material good. If we can truly cooperate with other nations, especially our friends of the free world, we can first defeat the evils of hunger, privation and disease. Thus we can develop a healthier, more prosperous world, and in the process develop greater prosperity for ourselves.

Thus we provide a peaceful barrier, erected by freedom, to the continuous probings of predatory force. Our mutual undertakings support those who strive to forestall aggression, subversion and penetration. It helps steady the struggling economies of free nations new and old. It helps build strength and hope, preventing collapse and despair. In a world sorely troubled by an atheistic imperialism, it is a strong instrument of hope and of encouragement to others who are eager, with us, to do their part in sustaining the human spirit and human progress.

The Strong Shield

We are fortunate in having an economy so richly productive as to sustain a most powerful defense without impairment of human values. Without this military strength our efforts to provide a shield for freedom and to preserve and strengthen peace would be futile. We are determined that in quality and power this force shall forever be kept adequate for our security needs until the conference table can replace the battlefield as the arbiter of world affairs.

This kind of defense is costly and burdensome, as indeed are many other essential federal programs. We must, then, for our security and our prosperity, keep our economy vigorous and expanding. We can keep it so, but only if we meet wisely and responsibly our economic problems. To mention a few, there are inflation, public spending, taxation, production costs and foreign trade, agriculture, and labor-management relations.

One last thought. We have heard much of the phrase, “peace and friendship.” This phrase, in expressing the aspirations of America, is not complete. We should say instead, “peace and friendship, in freedom.” This, I think, is America’s real message to the world.