Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
World prosperity also requires that we do all we can to expand world trade.
As a major step in this direction we should promptly join the International
Trade Organization. The purpose of this organization, which the United
States has been foremost in creating, is to establish a code of fair
practice, and an international authority for adjusting differences in
international commercial relations. It is an effort to prevent the kind of
anarchy and irresponsibility in world trade which did so much to bring
about the world depression of the 1930's. An expanding world economy
requires the improvement of living standards and the development of
resources in areas where human poverty and misery now prevail. Without such
improvement the recovery of Europe and the future of our own economy will
not be secure. I urge that the Congress adopt the legislation now before it
to provide for increasing the flow of technical assistance and capital
investment in underdeveloped regions.
It is more essential now than ever, if the ideals of freedom and
representative government are to prevail in these areas, and particularly
in the Far East, that their peoples experience, in their own lives, the
benefits of scientific and economic advances. This program will require the
movement of large amounts of capital from the industrial nations, and
particularly from the United States, to productive uses in the
underdeveloped areas of the world. Recent world events make prompt action
imperative.
This program is in the interest of all peoples-and has nothing in common
with either the old imperialism of the last century or the new imperialism
of the Communists.
Our aim for a peaceful, democratic world of free peoples will be achieved
in the long run, not by force of arms, but by an appeal to the minds and
hearts of men. If the peace policy of the democratic nations is to be
successful, they must demonstrate that the benefits of their way of life
can be increased and extended to all nations and all races.
In the world today we are confronted with the danger that the rising demand
of people everywhere for freedom and a better life may be corrupted and
betrayed by the false promises of communism. In its ruthless struggle for
power, communism seizes upon our imperfections, and takes advantage of the
delays and setbacks which the democratic nations experience in their effort
to secure a better life for their citizens. This challenge to us is more
than a military challenge. It is a challenge to the honesty of our
profession of the democratic faith; it is a challenge to the efficiency and
stability of our economic system; it is a challenge to the willingness to
work with other peoples for world peace and for world prosperity.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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