I come to the opening of the ninth session of the General Assembly with a deep sense of the significance of this occasion. This annual gathering of the representatives of sixty nations represents mankind’s most hopeful effort to achieve peace with justice. Here is made manifest the close interdependence of today’s world, and also the vast opportunity for constructive results which lies in good partnership efforts.
78. The people of the United States believe wholeheartedly in the Purposes and Principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations. That document marks a milestone in the understanding of the nature of peace. It recognizes that peace is not merely a passive concept, but a call to action. It is not enough to dislike war and to denounce it. War has been hated throughout the ages. Yet war has been recurrent throughout the ages. One reason is that men have never put into winning the peace efforts comparable to those which they put into winning a war. Mankind will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve their full resources for tasks of war. To preserve peace, and to do so without the sacrifice of essential freedoms, requires constant effort, sustained courage and at times a willingness to accept grave risks. That is the true spirit of peace.
79. During the year since we last met, many nations have actively worked together on behalf of a just and durable peace. There have been moments when it seemed the scales were precariously balanced between war and peace. That hazardous equation still exists, but at least we see the hazard and we strive to tip the balance in favour of peace.
80. The efforts which have been made during this past year are not to be appraised merely by whether in fact they have produced concrete settlements. The very fact of making intelligent, resolute and united efforts to seek just settlements has contributed of itself to peace, for it shows a dynamic spirit and a vigilance which are a warning to any potential aggressor. In the past, peace has often been lost by default. That, let us resolve, shall never happen again.
81. I cannot, of course, here touch upon the manifold activities which have recently occurred within and without this Organization. I shall therefore focus mainly upon certain political efforts with which my own country was actively associated as a partner.
82. Let me first speak of the Organization of American States. The inter-American system rests on a long tradition of co-operation for freedom and peace in this hemisphere. Faithfulness to that tradition and pride in it have served to spare this hemisphere from such wars as have tragically ravaged Europe and Asia during the last century and more. Last March, the tenth Conference of the Organization of American States met at Caracas, deliberated and declared that, if international communism gained control of the political institutions of any American State, that would be a danger to the peace and security of them all and would call for collective action to remove the threat. However aggressive communism may be adjudged elsewhere, we in this hemisphere, without exception, know that its intrusion here would open up grave conflicts, the like of which, happily, we have not known before.
83. In Guatemala, there developed an identifiable threat to the peace and security of this hemisphere. The American States exchanged views about this danger and were about to meet to deal with it collectively when the Guatemalan people themselves eliminated the threat.
84. In this connexion, there was occasion for the United Nations to apply the principles of our Charter, which, while affirming the universal jurisdiction of this Organization, do call for a resort first to regional arrangements, before resort to the Security Council. Those provisions had been hammered out in the course of debate at San Francisco, when our Charter was adopted. The American States at that time urged that their tested relationship should be co-ordinated with, and not totally replaced by, the United Nations, which they felt might not be dependable because of the veto power in the Security Council. It was therefore decided at that time to make regional associations a major feature of the United Nations peace system.
85. This year, the Organization of American States showed anew that it is ready, able and willing to maintain regional peace. Thereby, the provisions of our United Nations Charter have been vindicated, and the foundation for peace in the American hemisphere has been solidified.
86. Last year, when I spoke here, I said [434th meeting, para. 25] that “the division of Germany cannot be perpetuated without grave risk?”. In an effort to eliminate those risks, I went to Berlin last January to confer with the Foreign Ministers of the other three occupying Powers. There, the United States joined with the United Kingdom and France in presenting a proposal for the unification of Germany through free elections — elections which would be supervised by the United Nations or by some comparable impartial body. The Soviet Union countered with proposals which added up to an extension of the Soviet orbit to the Rhine. Accordingly, the dangerous division of Germany still persists. But, I may add, something else still persists — and that is our resolve, in the spirit of peace, to end the cruel injustice which is being done to Germany.
87. Last year, I also spoke of the Austrian treaty as being long overdue. I pointed out that as between the occupying Powers there was “no substantial item of disagreement” [434th meeting, para. 27], At the Berlin Conference, the three Western occupying Powers eliminated the last vestige of disagreement by accepting the Soviet Union version of every article on which there was disagreement. It seemed, for a fleeting moment, that the Austrian treaty might be signed. Then the Soviet Union invented a new condition: it said that it would not free Austria from Soviet occupation until a German peace treaty had been concluded.
88. Now, there cannot be a German peace treaty until Germany is united. And so it goes on: Austria continues to be an indefinitely occupied nation. Nevertheless, here again we do not accept as final the denial of justice to unhappy Austria — the first victim of Hitlerite aggression and the object of the 1943 Moscow pledge of freedom and independence. The three Western Powers, constant in the spirit of peace, have again within recent days urged the Soviet Union to sign the Austrian State treaty as a deed which, far more than platitudinous words, will show whether other matters can be fruitfully discussed.
89. The problem of peace in Europe has become further complicated because of the recent, setback to the consummation of the European Defence Community (EDC). That concept was born out of a recognition that the best guarantee of permanent peace in Europe was an organic unity which would include France and-Germany, and also that, if this unity merged the military forces of those two, and other European countries, their non-aggressive character would be assured — for such forces would clearly be unavailable for use except as the whole Community recognized the need for defensive action.
90. The votes of Communist deputies more than accounted for the parliamentary majority which in one country shelved the EDC. Thus, they acted to perpetuate European divisions which have .recurrently bred wars. The free nations concerned, however, do not accept with resignation the perpetuation of what, historically, has been the world’s worst fire-hazard. They are alert to the peril and are working actively to surmount it.
91. Last year, when I spoke here about Korea, I was able to report an armistice. That, I said, had occurred not because the Communist aggressors loved peace but because they had come up against an effective military barrier. I went on to say [434th meeting, para. 16]: “The Korean political conference, if the Communists come to it, will afford a better test.”
92. It took seven months of arduous negotiations to bring about the political conference. When it occurred in Geneva, the United Nations side proposed the unification of Korea on the basis of free all-Korean elections to be supervised by the United Nations. This proposal was rejected by the communist side. They insisted that the United Nations must itself be treated as an instrument of aggression and debarred from any activity in relation to Korea. That counter-proposal, insulting to the United Nations, was unanimously rejected by those who proudly hailed the Korean action of the United Nations as the first example in all history of an international organization which in fact acted effectively against armed aggression.
93. The United States did not conclude that the unification of Korea must await another war. We have exerted all the influence that we possess in favour of a peaceful solution of the Korean problem, and we have not lost faith that such a solution is still possible.
94. At the Geneva Conference, the belligerents in Indo-China also dealt with the problem of peace. An eight-year conflict of mounting intensity was brought to a close. We can all rejoice that there has been an end to the killing. On the other hand, we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that several hundred thousand persons in North Viet-Nam have, at their desire, been transferred to non-Communist areas and that there still remain millions unwillingly subject to an alien despotism. In this case, an end to fighting has been bought at a heavy price. The final result is still obscure.
95. One result, however, has been the driving home to the nations interested in South-East Asia of the importance of a collective organization for defence against further aggression. At Manila this month, eight nations met, and negotiated and signed a treaty calling for collective defence against aggression. The Manila Pact constitutes significant action taken under the United Nations Charter, which recognizes the inherent right r, t only of individual, but also of collective, self-defence. Those who cry out when others exercise their inherent right of self-defence only expose their own aggressive purposes.
96. The Manila Conference did much more than extend the area of collective security. It adopted a document known as the Pacific Charter. By that Charter the eight nations, Asian and non-Asian, which were meeting at Manila proclaimed in ringing terms the principles of self-determination, self-government and independence. This Charter, and the spirit of fellowship which gave it birth, should serve to end once and for all the myth that there is an inherent incompatibility between the East and the West. The peoples of Asia who are already free or who seek freedom need not remain weak, divided and unsupported in the face of the new imperialism which has already reduced to colonial servitude 800 million people of what were once fifteen truly independent nations.
97. The past year has been marked by intensive effort in the field of atomic energy. The United States has sought to share its commanding position in this field in ways which would permit many to join in a great new adventure in human welfare. We hoped to turn atomic energy from an instrument of death into a source of the enrichment of life.
98. I vividly recall that day — 8 December 1953 — [470th meeting] — when we here heard President Eisenhower propose that the nations possessing atomic material should co-operate under the auspices of the United Nations to create a world atomic bank into which they would each contribute fissionable material that would then be used for the purposes of productivity rather than of destruction. I shared the drama of that moment and sensed the universal applause which then greeted that proposal — applause which echoed round the world.
99. Because it oftentimes seems that negotiations publicly conducted with the Soviet Union tend to become mere propaganda contests, President Eisenhower proposed that these new negotiations should be privately conducted. So, the United States, after consultation with others, prepared and submitted a concrete, detailed proposal to carry out President Eisenhower’s great conception. I myself met several times with the Soviet Foreign Minister at Berlin and at Geneva to discuss this matter. We are quite willing that all documents exchanged between the United States and the Soviet Union during these negotiations should be published.
100. We hoped and believed that if the Soviet Union would join with the United States, the United Kingdom and other nations possessing fissionable material and atomic “know-how”, this act of co-operation might set a pattern which would extend itself elsewhere.
101. The plan we submitted could not have hurt anyone. It was motivated by the hope of lifting the darkest cloud that hangs over mankind. Its initial dimensions were not sufficient to impair the military capacity of the Soviet Union, and there was no apparent reason for its rejection. Above all, it was a practicable, easily workable plan, not dependent upon elaborate surveillance.
102. Nevertheless, the proposal was in effect rejected by the Soviet Union last April. Its rejection was not because of any alleged defects in the plan itself. Any such defects would certainly have been subject to negotiation. The Soviet position was, in effect, to say, “We will not co-operate to develop peacetime uses of atomic energy unless it is first of all agreed to renounce all those uses which provide the free nations with their strongest defence against aggression”.
103. To date, the Soviet Union Government has shown no willingness to participate in the implementation of President Eisenhower’s plan except on this completely unacceptable condition. Yesterday, when it was known that I would speak on this topic today, the Soviet Union broke a five months silence by delivering a note in Moscow affirming its readiness to talk further. But the note still gave no indication that the Soviet Union had receded from its negative position.
104. The United States, of course, remains ready to negotiate with the Soviet Union, but we are not ready to suspend any longer our efforts to establish an international atomic agency.
105. The United States is determined that President Eisenhower’s proposal shall not languish until it dies. We are determined that it shall be nurtured and developed, and we shall press on in close partnership with those nations which, inspired by the ideals of the United Nations, can make this great new force a tool of humanitarianism and of statesmanship, and not merely a fearsome addition to the arsenal of war.
106. The United States here proposes an agenda item which will enable us to report further on our efforts to explore and to develop the vast possibilities for the peaceful uses of atomic energy. These efforts have been and will be directed primarily towards the following ends: (a) The creation of an international agency, whose initial membership will include nations from all regions of the world — and it is hoped that such an agency will start its work as early as next year; (b) The calling of an international scientific conference, to consider this whole vast subject, to meet in the spring of 1955 under the auspices of the United Nations; (c) The opening early next year, in the United States, of a reactor training school where students from abroad may learn the working principles of atomic energy with specific regard to its peacetime uses; (d) The invitation to a substantial number of medical and surgical experts from abroad to participate in the work of our cancer hospitals — in which atomic energy techniques are among the most hopeful approaches to controlling this menace to mankind.
107. I want to make it perfectly clear that our planning excludes no nation from participation in this great venture. As our proposals take shape, all nations interested in participating and willing to take on the responsibilities of membership will be welcome to join with us in the planning and the execution of this programme.
108. Even though much is denied us by Soviet negation, nevertheless much remains that can be done. There is denied the immense relaxation of tension which might have occurred had the Soviet Union been willing to begin to co-operate with other nations in relation to what offers so much to fear, so much to hope. Nevertheless, there is much to be accomplished in the way of economic and humanitarian gains. There is no miracle to be wrought overnight. But a programme can be made and vitalized to assure that atomic energy can bring to millions a better way of life. To achieve that result is our firm resolve.
109. Closely allied to this question of the peaceful uses of atomic energy is the whole vast and complex question of disarmament.
110. At this Assembly last year the United States affirmed its ardent desire to reduce the burden of armament. I stated here [434th meeting] that the United States would vigorously carry forward the technical studies on armament control and limitation which are vital to any solution of this problem.
111. Last spring, the United States participated in discussions in London with the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, France and Canada on a Sub-Committee of our Disarmament Commission. We sought to find out whether a fresh approach to the problem could achieve a solution acceptable to the Soviet Union as well as to the free world. The record of these meetings has now been made public. It shows that the representatives of Canada, France, the United Kingdom and the United States tried with patience and with ingenuity to explore all avenues of agreement with the Soviet Union which would be consistent with the security of all nations. Once more we made it clear, as we have again and again in the past, that we seek to eliminate the use of atomic energy for any purpose other than the purposes of peace.
112. These efforts were met by a flat refusal by the Soviet Union even to discuss our proposals on their merits. The crux of the Soviet position was that, even before it will engage in real negotiations on disarmament, it insists upon a paper ban by the major Powers of all use of nuclear elements. The great shield, the supreme deterrent, must first be abandoned, leaving the free nations exposed to the communists’ unrivalled manpower. Once that inequality has been assured, then — perhaps — the Soviet Union will negotiate further from its then gained position of assured supremacy. Such procedure would not increase the security of any free nation.
113. Reluctantly, we must conclude that the Soviet Union has no present serious desire to negotiate on the disarmament problem: We shall continue to hope, and to seek, that the Soviet Union may ultimately come to co-operate on a programme which could end the wasteful diversion of vast economic wealth and bring it into the constructive service of mankind.
114. No doubt you will have observed that many of the efforts for peace to which I have referred were conducted outside the United Nations itself. It should not, however, be forgotten that the organs of the United Nations are themselves steadily carrying forward activities which contribute substantially, even though perhaps not spectacularly, to the political, economic and social conditions which are the foundation for peace. The United States wishes to pay a high tribute to those who perform these indispensable tasks.
115. If many major political developments have occurred outside the immediate framework of the United Nations, that is due to two causes — one good and one bad.
116. The Charter of the United Nations itself provides that the parties to any dispute which would endanger international peace and security should first of all seek a solution by negotiation, resort to regional agencies, or other peaceful means of their own choice. Only when such methods fail should there be resort to the Security Council. In other words, the Security Council of the United Nations was never intended to be a court of first instance, but only a court of last resort. In this sense, the unprecedented peace efforts of the past year fall within the pattern which our Charter itself prescribes.
117. I refer to a second cause, and that is disturbing. It is the fact that the membership of the United Nations falls far short of representing the totality of those nations which are peace-loving, which are able and willing to carry out the obligations of the Charter and which include nations which are indispensable parties to many critical international problems. Fourteen nations are now debarred from membership only through the use — in reality the abuse — of the so-called veto power. None of these fourteen is in the category of Communist China, which has been found by the United Nations to be guilty of aggression. All fourteen are fully qualified, without a blemish, for membership.
118. Unless ways can be found to bring peace-loving, law-abiding nations into this Organization, then inevitably the power and influence of this Organization will progressively decline.
119. We are approaching the tenth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. All of the Member Governments and their peoples may properly be thankful for the great accomplishments of the United Nations and for its unique service as a forum for international discussion. However, this coming anniversary must be made more than a date for self-congratulation. It is time to take account of the weaknesses of our Organization and of the ways in which it can be made to function better as a guarantor of peace and justice, and as a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations. That indeed was the idea of the founders who planned for a Charter review conference to be called at the next annual session of our Assembly.
120. The search for peace has had its high hopes and its deep frustrations. But after the frustration, there is always renewed hope. On behalf of the United States, I would say in my closing words that we believe that international peace is an attainable goal. That is the premise which underlies all of our planning. We propose never to desist, never to admit discouragement, but confidently and steadily so to act that peace becomes for us a sustaining principle of action.
121. In that, we know that we shall not be alone. That is not merely because we have treaties of alliance and bonds of expediency. It is because the spirit of peace is a magnet which draws together many men and many nations, and makes of them a fellowship of loyal partners for peace.