Remarks to Members of the Press Following a Meeting of the Cabinet

We have just completed a 2-hour Cabinet meeting and I will summarize briefly statements made at that meeting.

Since the significant developments in the world last week, responsible officials of your Government have carefully evaluated their meaning for our country.

Out of our discussions and deliberations, certain conclusions have been reached for the present:

First, the changes in the Communist world and in the free world do not at this time indicate sharp or sudden changes in the policies of the United States.

Second, it is of the utmost importance that there be continuity and stability in United States policies and purposes during this period of international change.

Third, we shall pursue a course of reasonable and responsible watchfulness. We are able to do so, because we are confident of our strength militarily, we are confident of our stability economically, and we are confident of the all-important unity of our society on which our strength stands at home and abroad.

Fourth, we do recognize that it is very important for the United States to continue to be prepared for the long pull. Our responsibilities in this regard are clear:

First, we must continue to maintain, to increase, and to strengthen our preparedness. No one must doubt our capacity for appropriate response to any challenge presented to freedom anywhere in the world.

Second, in actions as well as in words we must assure our allies and adversaries alike that we seek only peace in a world of honor and justice and individual dignity.

Third, we must pursue those policies at home which will continue our domestic growth, our expansion, and our prosperity without recession, depression, or inflation. Whatever the future may hold, we can take special satisfaction from the strength afforded by the success of America's economy today.

The picture of the economy in the third quarter is now nearly complete. We reviewed it in some detail in the Cabinet today. The great gains of the first half of the year have been extended. Compared to the third quarter a year ago, here are some of the key gains outlined at the Cabinet meeting.

Our gross national product is up $40 billion. The income of consumers, after taxes, is up $138 per capita. Total nonfarm employment is up 1.6 million. Total retail sales are up 7.2 percent. Business plant and equipment expenditures are up 11.4 percent. By preliminary estimate, corporate profits after taxes are up 21.7 percent. Wholesale prices are up only one tenth of 1 percent.

Fourth, considering the demands the future may impose upon us, it is more important than ever that in our governmental planning and programs we be relentless in our war on waste. I have asked each Cabinet officer to review his program and policies and see that we eliminate all waste possible and to report back to me. Progress must continue to overcome the deficits of the past and meet the challenges of the future, but that progress must go hand in hand with the self-discipline of fiscal prudence.

Fifth, we must continue in every way open to us to perfect the unity of our people. Divisions and suspicions among our people will only open doors for those adversaries who seek to divide us and to weaken our leadership. There must be no misunderstanding of America's purpose and there must be no miscalculation of America's will.

In direct communications to new governments and in public statements here at home, we have sought to make clear that the objectives of United States policy are unchanging. Our first purpose is peace. We are prepared to defend peace and freedom and do it promptly against any act of hostility or aggression anywhere.

We face the future hopefully in the confidence of the strength that we have all built together. But we face the future with a full sense of responsibility for the trust that we are privileged to bear for the cause of humanity and the cause of freedom everywhere.