State of the Union AddressesEisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
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State of the Union Addresses
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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