All of us are indebted to the people and the Government of France for the excellence of the arrangements of this meeting. We meet here in Paris on her two-thousandth anniversary. We offer our congratulations and see in the monuments of her great history the symbol and the promise of our United Nations which is still at the threshold of its existence.
46. We, the United Nations, are young indeed but we, too, mark the monuments of our progress. As Paris is the symbol of European culture and beauty, so the United Nations is the symbol of world peace. This city has seen its wars, its strife, and its sorrows, as well as its triumphs. Since we last met in this General Assembly, there have been tensions and crises and armed conflict in the world, but the cause of peace has prospered in tangible ways.
47. We came into existence as an organization at the end of a great war. Our business is peace. The victories of peace are the victories of the United Nations wherever they take place.
48. Since we last met, forty-eight nations have signed a peace treaty with Japan. The way has been opened for other nations to do the same. A long period of tree negotiation was crowned with success. For much of this negotiation the meeting of many statesmen here at the United Nations offered fruitful opportunities.
49. These nations did not merely talk about peace, they achieved it. Some prefer to mouth the word “peace” and to oppose the reality. But the peace treaty was concluded. This is fact, not fiction. It is a tangible accomplishment, not a mere empty protestation. The signatures of many free nations on a just and unvengeful treaty are worth far more on the balance sheet of history than the signatures of those who, by fraud or compulsion, subscribe to vague slogans whose promise is belied by the deeds of those who prefabricate the slogans.
50. Those who unite far peace have also laid solid foundations in the report of our Collective Measures Committee. The report wisely stresses the need for a “mutually supporting relationship” between the United Nations and the regional collective defensive arrangements. This expresses well the direction in which we must work, and I strongly urge that we seek ways of translating this principle into action.
51. If we are to carry out the resolution [377 (V)] entitled: “Uniting for Peace” which we accepted at our last session, we must develop the capacity of the United Nations to act promptly and effectively in the event of aggression. Such preparation is important. It will do much to discourage and deter potential aggressors from carrying out their evil designs. To carry out the resolution of “Uniting for Peace” effectively, we must be prepared in case of need to muster our strength in various parts of the world. No area should be completely unprepared to meet aggression if it strikes.
52. In this part of the world where we now meet, the group of nations in the Atlantic community, acting in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, is fast building bulwarks of peace. The Atlantic community is building its strength in support of the principles of the United Nations. In particular, the Atlantic community is building its armed strength so that free Europe will not be powerless in face of an armed attack from none too peaceful neighbours. We are, as I shall explain later in my speech, eager and anxious to discuss effective means of reducing the burden of armaments. But we are not willing to discuss unilateral disarmament or the holding of armaments at a level which will guarantee the existing armed superiority of the Soviet Union and leave free Europe powerless to meet aggression.
53. The nations which believe in peace and which support the United Nations’ system of collective security have now been forced to reverse their post-war programmes of demobilization, not to threaten their neighbours, but to protect the peace of the world. They are laying a foundation tor the strength that will protect the world against a renewal of aggression. The structure is not complete; the world is not yet secure against the danger of a third world war. But we have made a beginning. The peaceful nations of the world are more united and better equipped to prevent aggression, than would have seemed possible only a few years ago. Centres of defensive power have been, and are being, built up, not only within individual States but to an increasing degree in mutual defence arrangements and in the United Nations.
54. This progress will in time bring us to the threshold of a new period in the affairs of the world. Then the forces of aggression and tyranny will no longer be in a position to attack free nations and find them helpless to resist.
55; The tasks presented by this stage in our efforts are as difficult as any that statesmanship has ever been called upon to fulfil. They are difficult because we must at the same time build strength and work for peace. These are not contradictory; they are two sides of the same coin.
56. We are building strength for one reason, and one reason only — that is, because there will be no peace so long as the peaceful nations are weak and vulnerable. There is no way of escaping this requirement, as the last six years have shown.
57. But building arms alone is not enough. We must use our strength with moderation and restraint. We must work for peace, for understanding, for a reduction of tensions and differences. We must neglect no opportunity to reduce the danger of war in any way that is open to us, and to get on with our main job which is to work toward the kind of a world we want to build.
58. While we have worked to build up the strength of the free nations, we have also been deeply concerned with the economic and social needs of the peoples of the world. Much has been done this year in international co-operation for economic and social well-being.
59. Some two thousand million dollars of new capital have been made available for economic and social development by private investors, by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and by governmental institutions. Under the expanded programme of technical assistance, experts are at work in forty-three countries. This is merely a beginning. This points the way in which we must move. As President Truman has already stated, our rate of advance has been impeded by the necessity of building up the defences of the free nations. If we can be relieved of some of this burden, the possibilities of improving the lot of mankind should be limitless.
60. As for the future we recognize that there can be no lasting peace, no real security, while hunger, disease, and despair hold millions in their grip. Every people must have a stake in peace worth defending. By the energetic application of known techniques and without any great increase in expenditure of funds or resources, we can make substantial inroads against poverty and famine. We would welcome the establishment of targets setting forth practical agricultural and industrial goals to be attained in a definite period of time.
61. In the field of agriculture, the Food and Agriculture Organization has already indicated the increase needed to provide adequate nutritional diets in the year 1960. The magnitudes required are by no means staggering, and the advice of experts is that the goals can be attained. The world has the natural resources and the technical knowledge to meet these needs, and it should be our goal to do so.
62. The progress which has been made during the past year in the field of technical co-operation should give us encouragement to go further. Time and again, there have been amazing examples of what a few technicians and a few simple implements, like a hoe or a steel-tipped plough, can do with a few bags of seed in countries where people have long gone hungry. These examples ought to inspire us to further effort.
63. I am also encouraged by the attention and study which has been given during the last year to the problems concerning the ownership and use of land. The report of the Secretary-General, and the action of the Economic and Social Council point the way by which individual governments and the United Nations can provide farmers in many parts of the world with both the incentive and the means for increasing their output of food for the world.
64. Hand in hand with the increase in food supply must come an increase in the world’s industrial output. Here, too, it is not revolutionary technological discoveries which are required. Even with the present rate of new investments, we have the means at hand to secure an enormous increase in productive output. The more efficient use of existing factories, mines, and transportation facilities could, so we are told by the experts, boost the world’s production on the order of about ten per cent within a relatively short period of time. At the same time, we should be on our guard to see that a fair distribution of the increased output that would flow from this increased productivity results in higher wages for workers, and in lower prices for the consumers.
65. With this possible increase in productivity of existing plants, and with the emphasis on the direction of new capital toward undertakings that will add to the output of the world’s supply of needed goods, it should be possible, within a decade, to increase the world’s real annual income by more than 200 thousand million dollars. This would add to the present production in the world the equivalent of the entire productive output of the United States only four years ago. Think what this would mean in terms of numbers of pairs of shoes, of clothes, housing, education and all the other basic requirements of mankind. This challenge, this opportunity for expanding the economy of the world, should be one of the principal concerns of this Organization and of all its members. And it could be if the will to peace were universal.
66. The great constructive accomplishments in the past five years, and those which lie before us, are the sort of international co-operative effort in which my countrymen and those of most of you here join whole-heartedly. This is the work we like — to develop, to build, to expand opportunity for the pursuit of happiness. Our country, as its history and institutions show, is dedicated to this objective. But actually what has been done, and apparently what lies before us, must be done in the face of obstacles made by man and undoubtedly made to impede progress toward peace and human welfare. Again we have a symbol. The symbol is Korea.
67. Korea was the place chosen by those who plan aggression on a world-wide scale as the scene for an imperialist blitzkrieg. The Russian State has repeatedly in modern times tried to make Korea a province. When Korea was liberated from Japanese rule and the Republic of Korea was established under the auspices of the United Nations [resolution 195 (III)], the Soviet Union withheld-from the Republic all that part of Korea which was under communist control. The iron curtain clanked down on the 38th parallel. Suddenly, on 25 June 1950, the iron curtain was raised to allow Soviet-armed and Soviet-trained armies to pour across the border in their brutal assault on the free people of Korea.
68. With courage and determination, the Koreans resisted the alien aggression, resisted the familiar imperialist expansion. But as the aggressors knew, the young Republic was not strong enough to stand alone against an aggression so carefully planned and so thoroughly equipped.
69. The aggressor did not know that the young international organization, the United Nations, could also act with unity, speed, .and eventual military superiority. But that is how it did act.
70. The United States is proud to have been able to play a leading part.in this great practical demonstration of collective security. Until there is peace in Korea, the United Nations will urgently need the maximum contribution — in armed forces and in other means — from every loyal Member of this Organization. And when peace has been restored to Korea, the United Nations must be able to marshal the material aid of all its Members in the great task of reconstruction and rehabilitation.
71. But when will there be peace? We all know that it depends upon the will of those who support, maintain, and defend the communist armies. At a word from them the fighting could end in Korea. Some months ago, it seemed that the word had been spoken. But has it been spoken?
72. The United Nations Command has been negotiating since July to try to bring about an armistice, so far without success. It is only now that the aggressors have agreed to negotiate on the basis of a military and not a political line, taking into account the current military situation.
73. We are hopeful that the achievement of an armistice in Korea might make it possible for this Assembly to bring about a final settlement for Korea, a settlement which will be in accord with the established United Nations objectives in Korea. A settlement such as this, if reached in good faith, could open the door to broader consultations on other aspects of the Far Eastern situation.
74. There are many other areas in which the Soviet Union could demonstrate by action its desire for peace if it chooses to do so. Another example can be found in the case of Germany. A proposal has been submitted [A/1938], for inclusion in the agenda of this Assembly for the establishment of an impartial international commission under United Nations supervision to carry out a simultaneous investigation in the Federal Republic of Germany, in Berlin, and in the Soviet Zone of Germany. The purpose of this investigation would be to determine whether existing conditions there make it possible to hold genuinely free elections throughout these areas.
75. We have consistently maintained, and we continue to maintain, that Germany should be reunified as soon as this can be brought about on democratic lines. It must be done in a way which will ensure the re-establishment of a free Germany able to play her part in the peaceful association of free European nations. This is a constructive effort, and it presents those who claim to support the reunification of Germany with an opportunity to prove their good faith.
76. Austria is another example of an opportunity to demonstrate by action a will to peace. For more than five years now, the United Kingdom, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States have been discussing the the conclusion of a treaty for Austria. The four Powers have promised the Austrian people independence. The Austrians have long ago fulfilled all the conditions for the restoration of their complete sovereignty. But the country is still under occupation. Here again the Soviet leaders can speak the word which will fulfil their promises to Austria.
77. Again, in the case of Italy, as Mr. Stikker has just, mentioned, the Soviet Union could fulfil its obligations and make a contribution to the international community by withdrawing the obstacles it has placed in the way of Italy’s entry into the United Nations.
78. Another example of an area in which the Soviet Union, could demonstrate its desire for peace through action is in the field of human rights, in which the Charter also expresses a profound interest. In a large area of the world, human freedom is being crushed. Millions of persons now work as slaves in forced labour camps, and tens of thousands of persons are being compelled to leave their homes by mass deportations. I should like to cite one example of these brutal mass deportations, because it is important for us to remember that these are human beings we are talking about and not mere statistics.
79. In the city of Budapest this spring thousands of innocent and helpless families were aroused by the police at dawn and given twenty-four hours in which to prepare for departure. With just a few of their belongings, these people — including infants, the sick, the aged — were transported from their homes to camps and hovels in the country. As one of these unhappy victims wrote in a letter which reached the outside world, “ It is very bitter to have to dissolve everything in the course of twenty-four hours ”. The hopes of the civilized world that the mass persecutions of the Hitler regime would never be repeated have proved to be in vain.
80. Culture and religion have been made the special victims of this tyranny. Scientists and scholars, artists and churchmen are all forced to conform to the single dogma of the all-powerful State. The result is not just sterility; it is the dangerous subservience that results from thought control and makes aggression possible.
81. It was a matter of proper concern to the entire world recently when a foreign correspondent, William Oatis, honestly seeking to report the news in Czechoslovakia, was thrown into prison without a fair trial and on the flimsiest of charges. Tins man is much more than an individual victim of tyranny. He is a reminder to the world of how free journalism is deliberately throttled by totalitarian regimes.
82. These calculated denials of basic human rights are a matter of concern to the world community. Let ail who desire peace and talk of their peaceful intentions demonstrate their good faith by putting an end to slavery, rather than seeking to extend it.
83. But the record of the past year — and I say this with real sorrow — does not reveal a single action — and I am talking about action not words — by the Soviet Union to indicate that it is willing to co-operate with the rest of the world in abating tensions and the danger of war. Its only contribution has been an artificially created “mass movement”, built around slogans for peace. Despite these slogans, the familiar methods of threat and subversion are today being used against Yugoslavia as once they were used against Turkey. The method of attack by guerilla forces to upset governments is used today in Indo-China as it once was in Greece.
84. The Soviet Union has talked a great deal about peace, but when it comes to achieving peace through deeds, or to uniting for peace, they obstruct. They call for a new five- Power peace pact, but refuse to carry out our sixty-Power peace pact, the Charter of the United Nations.
85. One of the most urgent of international problems is the level of armaments among nations. Soviet policies have obliged the free nations to begin building up their armaments to levels necessary for their defence. But we do not want an arms race. We are determined to do all in our power to ensure our safety, but we are no less determined to continue to explore, as we have been doing for many years, every possible way of bringing about a safe reduction of armaments. This effort is too important to the world to leave a single stone unturned.
86. A year ago, before this body, the President of the United States proposed the merging of the two United Nations commissions dealing with the problem of armaments [295th meeting]. We have before us the report of the Committee of Twelve [A/1922] recommending that this be done and I hope that the Assembly will approve this recommendation. At that time the President expressed the determination of the United States to find ways of bringing about -control and reduction of armaments as a means of moving forward toward the ultimate goal which the United Nations has set for itself, the goal of a peaceful world in which disagreements are settled by peaceful means. He outlined the basic principles for a real, workable system for reducing armaments and the General Assembly endorsed those principles. The principles are three in number: first, such a system must include all types of weapons; second, it must be accepted by all nations having substantial armed forces; third, it must be based on safeguards that will ensure the compliance of all nations. In other words, it must be foolproof.
87. The United States Government, together with the Governments of France and the United Kingdom, has been studying earnestly the real problems that must be dealt with if we are to make genuine headway toward the reduction of armaments. The world does not want catchwords and tricks. It does not want propaganda gestures! It wants an honest programme which will protect the safety of free men and not be a cloak for aggressive designs.
88. After a long period of study, we have arrived at a series of proposals for the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of armaments and armed forces which meets the test of reasonableness and feasibility. Last night the three Governments announced their intention to submit such proposals to this sixth session of the General Assembly. We are therefore asking that a discussion of these proposals [A/1943] be added to the agenda as a matter of urgency and importance. I firmly believe that these proposals can lead to an agreed programme here in the United Nations, if all nations approach them with goodwill and a sincere desire for peace.
89. Last night, the President of the United States discussed our proposals in a broadcast to the American people, and assured them that we, for our part, would approach these discussions with the most sincere desire for a successful outcome. I wish to repeat here the essential elements of the programme as outlined by the President.
90. The first element is disclosure and verification on a continuing basis. It is impossible for the nations to proceed with such a programme unless each one has knowledge of what armed forces and armaments other nations possess. This knowledge must be continually up to date. It must be full knowledge and there must be guarantees that the knowledge is accurate. This in turn means that there must be a system of inspection. The national inventories of all armed forces and armaments must be checked and verified in each country by inspectors who are nationals of other countries and who are working under the United Nations. These inspectors must have the power to find out what are the real facts. This system of disclosure and verification must be a system which progresses from stage to stage as each one is completed.
91. As our three Governments have already stated, this will mean revealing, in appropriate stages, all armed forces whether military, para-military, security or police forces, and all armaments, whether atomic or non-atomic. The least vital information would be disclosed first, and we would then proceed to more sensitive areas. As I have said, each stage would be completed before the next began, until all arms and armaments of every kind had been included.
92. Since 1949, there has been before the United Nations a proposal, supported by the United States, for a census and verification to be carried out on a one-time basis. We are now moving forward from that proposal in two ways. One is that while the process of disclosure and verification is taking place, we would be working out the further steps of regulation, limitation and balanced reduction. And we are also proposing to alter the earlier proposal so as to include in the system of disclosure all of the aspects of atomic energy. In short, the first step of the general programme we are now putting forward would be the disclosure in stages of all military matters. This would enable us to work out specific arrangements for the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of national military establishments while the process of inventory and inspection is taking place. Moreover — and this is of the greatest importance — the continuing disclosure and verification? which we propose would provide quick and certain knowledge of any violation. In a world charged as ours is with suspicions and dangers our peoples want the safeguard that disclosure and verification can provide. As we move from stage to stage, we would have increasing evidence of good faith and honesty. We would not go forward without that evidence.
93. Of course, we have always recognized that a census or disclosure of armed forces and armaments would not by itself bring about the change in the military situation which the people of the world so eagerly desire, but it is a necessary pre-condition for the balanced reduction of armaments. This leads to the second element of our proposals which is their general application.
94. It is not enough that four or five States should agree to such a programme. It should apply at least to all members of the international community who have a substantial military potential and we would hope that the programme would be universal.
95. The third element is the establishment of some sort of criteria for the balanced reduction of armaments and armed forces. These criteria, which can be worked out, would determine the exact amounts and kinds of armaments and armed forces which each country would finally be permitted to have. As examples of the criteria that would be considered by the United Nations, the United States would suggest:
96. First, limiting the size of all armed forces, including para-military, security and police forces, to a fixed percentage of population, with a ceiling beyond which no country could go.
97. Second, restricting the proportion of national production which could be used for military purposes to an amount which would bear a direct relation to what was needed for the armed forces permitted under the programme; and here, again, there might be a ceiling expressed in terms of a percentage of the national production.
98. Third, developing mutual agreements on the composition of the national military programmes within the over-all limitations and restrictions; such mutually agreed programmes should be developed within the framework of the United Nations and in conferences under United Nations auspices.
99. Now with particular respect to the control and regulation of atomic energy, we will continue to support the United Nations plan as providing the most satisfactory basis, unless and until a better and more effective plan is devised.
100. These are the general outlines of our proposals. They would establish absolute limits for armed forces and armaments so that they would be adequate for defence but not enough for aggression. That is the central purpose of these proposals and may I state that again: they would establish absolute limits for armed forces and armaments, adequate for defence but not enough for aggression. We will be prepared to explain these proposals in greater detail when the appropriate Committee of the Assembly takes them up for consideration.
101. We believe that discussion of the programme should begin now. No general programme can be put into effect while United Nations forces are resisting aggression in Korea. Moreover, concurrently with the coming into effect of the programme, the major political issues which have divided the world can be settled and must be settled. We pledge ourselves to do everything in our power to bring this about. If such a programme could be put into effect, the immense military expenditures which now press on nearly all peoples of the world could be largely lifted. The Charter of the United Nations speaks of promoting the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources.
102. At the present time, the demands of security, requiring the use of treasure and resources for military purposes, have necessitated in all countries the postponement of great positive programmes of reconstruction and development which had been planned nationally and internationally. If the world could use its resources, its skills and energies for non-military projects, as the United States most earnestly desires, then vast new opportunities would open up for the better and happier conditions of life which all men seek.
103. We could then get ahead, as President Truman said last night, with the only kind of war we seek — the war against want and human misery. Within developed countries, new resources for peaceful production could be put to work, not only for their own benefit but to the advantage of all. And in other parts of the world where, as I said earlier, millions upon millions of people are struggling with poverty, with hunger, with disease, the great constructive efforts of the United Nations could go forward without hindrance.
104. This is what could be done if all nations here were willing to serve the cause of peace by their actions. But so long as some nations talk of peace while their actions make for war, the free people of the world will still continue with determination and steadiness to build the full programmes of defensive strength which their security requires. But we must never cease trying to change this state of affairs. That is why we are submitting these proposals now for proceeding with the regulation, limitation and balanced reduction of all armed forces and all armaments, including atomic. The United States is prepared to begin negotiations on these proposals in the United Nations at once. We firmly believe that a workable agreement is within our reach, if all nations will approach this task with good faith and with a will to peace.