State of the Union AddressesNixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
There could be no more misguided set of priorities than one which would
tempt others by weakening America, and thereby endanger the peace of the
world.
In our foreign policy, we have entered a new era. The world has changed
greatly in the 11 years since President John Kennedy said in his Inaugural
Address, "... we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship,
support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success
of liberty."
Our policy has been carefully and deliberately adjusted to meet the new
realities of the new world we live in. We make today only those commitments
we are able and prepared to meet.
Our commitment to freedom remains strong and unshakable. But others must
bear their share of the burden of defending freedom around the world.
And so this, then, is our policy:
--We will maintain a nuclear deterrent adequate to meet any threat to the
security of the United States or of our allies.
--We will help other nations develop the capability of defending
themselves.
--We will faithfully honor all of our treaty commitments.
--We will act to defend our interests, whenever and wherever they are
threatened anyplace in the world.
--But where our interests or our treaty commitments are not involved, our
role will be limited.
--We will not intervene militarily.
--But we will use our influence to prevent war.
--If war comes, we will use our influence to stop it.
--Once it is over, we will do our share in helping to bind up the wounds of
those who have participated in it.
As you know, I will soon be visiting the People's Republic of China and the
Soviet Union. I go there with no illusions. We have great differences with
both powers. We shall continue to have great differences. But peace depends
on the ability of great powers to live together on the same planet despite
their differences.
We would not be true to our obligation to generations yet unborn if we
failed to seize this moment to do everything in our power to insure that we
will be able to talk about those differences, rather than to fight about
them, in the future.
As we look back over this century, let us, in the highest spirit of
bipartisanship, recognize that we can be proud of our Nation's record in
foreign affairs.
America has given more generously of itself toward maintaining freedom,
preserving peace, alleviating human suffering around the globe, than any
nation has ever done in the history of man.
We have fought four wars in this century, but our power has never been used
to break the peace, only to keep it; never been used to destroy freedom,
only to defend it. We now have within our reach the goal of insuring that
the next generation can be the first generation in this century to be
spared the scourges of war.
Turning to our problems at home, we are making progress toward our goal of
a new prosperity without war.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account