State of the Union AddressesEisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
(1) Our foreign policy must be clear, consistent, and confident. This means
that it must be the product of genuine, continuous cooperation between the
executive and the legislative branches of this Government. It must be
developed and directed in the spirit of true bipartisanship.
(2) The policy we embrace must be a coherent global policy. The freedom we
cherish and defend in Europe and in the Americas is no different from the
freedom that is imperiled in Asia.
(3) Our policy, dedicated to making the free world secure, will envision
all peaceful methods and devices--except breaking faith with our friends.
We shall never acquiesce in the enslavement of any people in order to
purchase fancied gain for ourselves. I shall ask the Congress at a later
date to join in an appropriate resolution making clear that this Government
recognizes no kind of commitment contained in secret understandings of the
past with foreign governments which permit this kind of enslavement.
(4) The policy we pursue will recognize the truth that no single country,
even one so powerful as ours, can alone defend the liberty of all nations
threatened by Communist aggression from without or subversion within.
Mutual security means effective mutual cooperation. For the United States,
this means that, as a matter of common sense and national interest, we
shall give help to other nations in the measure that they strive earnestly
to do their full share of the common task. No wealth of aid could
compensate for poverty of spirit. The heart of every free nation must be
honestly dedicated to the preserving of its own independence and security.
(5) Our policy will be designed to foster the advent of practical unity in
Western Europe. The nations of that region have contributed notably to the
effort of sustaining the security of the free world. From the jungles of
Indochina and Malaya to the northern shores of Europe, they have vastly
improved their defensive strength. Where called upon to do so, they have
made costly and bitter sacrifices to hold the line of freedom.
But the problem of security demands closer cooperation among the nations of
Europe than has been known to date. Only a more closely integrated economic
and political system can provide the greatly increased economic strength
needed to maintain both necessary military readiness and respectable living
standards.
Europe's enlightened leaders have long been aware of these facts. All the
devoted work that has gone into the Schuman plan, the European Army, and
the Strasbourg Conference has testified to their vision and determination.
These achievements are the more remarkable when we realize that each of
them has marked a victory--for France and for Germany alike over the
divisions that in the past have brought such tragedy to these two great
nations and to the world.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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