Statement by the President at the Conference on the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

[Read by Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission]

Mr. President and Delegates to the Conference on the Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency:

Almost three years have passed since I was honored by an invitation to speak to the General Assembly of the United Nations. On that occasion, I proposed in behalf of the United States that atomic power--the greatest force science ever placed in man's hand--be put to work for peace.

Specifically, my proposal was: first, that governments begin, and continue, to make from their atomic materials stockpiled for war joint contributions to an International Agency; and, second, that this Agency be responsible for finding methods to apply these atomic materials to the needs of agriculture, medicine, and other peaceful pursuits of mankind.

The United States then pledged its entire heart and mind to finding how the miraculous inventiveness of man should be dedicated, not to his death, but consecrated to his life.

The atom was regarded, in 1953, as a terrible weapon for war. Since the first explosion in 1945, man had fearfully multiplied its destructiveness. People knew that a single airgroup could carry a more devastating cargo than all the bombs that fell on Britain in World War II. Several nations had learned to make atomic weapons and swiftly transport them across oceans and continents. To many people the doom of civilization in a nuclear war seemed inevitable. When they looked ahead, they saw no hope for a peaceful future.

The proposal made in 1953 by the United States offered: for apathy, action; for despair, hope; for the whirlpool of general war, a channel to the harbor of future peace.

From the time that proposal was made, I watched with ardent expectation the outcome of all the work done by the sponsoring powers and the working groups, and the debates in the General Assembly and at this culminating Conference. The planning and framing of the International Atomic Energy Agency has required many months of patience and intelligent effort. These labors have now been completed by the Conference's approval of the Statute.

I congratulate the Conference for what it has accomplished. The Statute, and the International Agency for which it provides, hold out to the world a fresh hope for peace.

Since the United States made its proposal in 1953, the intensity of the atom's destructiveness has again been greatly multiplied. For their own salvation, men are under a compulsion that must not be denied to turn this furious, mighty power from the devastation of war to the constructive purposes and practices of peace.

That is why the world needs fresh hope--a new chance for man working with man to root out past frustration and past hopelessness.

That is why the United States will never cease from seeking trustworthy agreements under which all nations will cooperate to disarm the atom.

To spur the coming of such a day, the peace-loving nations have pressed forward with benign uses of the atom for man's well-being and welfare. As increased knowledge makes more terrible the atom's might, it also brings closer the realization of its potential for good.

Peace can come from nations working together. When they have a common cause and a common interest, they are drawn together by this bond.

We--as one of -the peace-loving nations--have sought to share our atomic skills and materials.

Last February, we offered to make available to friendly nations, for peaceful use, 20,000 kilograms of nuclear materials-an amount equal to that allocated for like use within the United States. And we have entered into agreements with thirty-seven nations represented at the Conference--and are negotiating with fourteen more--to cooperate in building in their lands atomic reactors, of all types and sizes, for peaceful works.

People have shown their hunger to learn the intricate mysteries of the new atomic science. We have tried to satisfy that hunger, to break open doors that sealed off the knowledge they sought--through initiating great scientific congresses and by providing libraries and training courses and schools. We have been happy to offer our knowledge of ways to use the atom for peace, of ways to use the atomic isotope in medical care and cure and in agriculture and industry. Because science is without boundaries, a common knowledge of the peaceful application of this new science can help us all to a better understanding of each other.

In all those things that we do as a government, the United States does not seek for domination or control or profit. Nor shall we as a government ever do so.

It is now for nations assembled at this Conference formally to adopt the Statute.

Here is what I, in behalf of the United States, propose.

First: It shall be my care, when our Congress reassembles, to present the Statute for official ratification by our Senate in accordance with our Constitution, and to request appropriate Congressional authority to transfer special nuclear materials to the International Atomic Energy Agency. I wish my country to be among the first to recognize by official action what you at this Conference have accomplished.

Second: To enable the International Atomic Energy Agency-upon its establishment by appropriate governmental actions--to start atomic research and power programs without delay, the United States will make available to the International Agency, on terms to be agreed with the Agency, 5,000 kilograms of the nuclear fuel uranium 235 from the 20,000 kilograms of such material allocated last February by the United States for peaceful uses by friendly nations.

Third: In addition to the above-mentioned initial 5,000 kilograms of uranium 235, the United States will continue to make available to the International Atomic Energy Agency nuclear materials that will match in amount the sum of all quantities of such materials made similarly available by all other members of the International Agency, and on comparable terms, for the period between the establishment of the Agency and July 1, 1960. The United States will deliver these nuclear materials to the International Agency as they are required for Agency-approved projects.

Assuming that all nations represented at the Conference undertake parallel steps--within their capabilities--together we can overcome the obstacles that lie ahead and prove to each other that international controls are not only feasible but generally acceptable as a way to achieve peace.

The prompt and successful functioning of the Agency can begin to translate the myriad uses of atomic energy into better living: in our homes, at our work, during our travel and our rest.

At present, we see only the first fruits of this atomic growth. Atomic-fueled plants, which are being planned or built in this and several countries, will in a few years be producing power for civilian uses: to turn the wheels of factories--to light the darkness in countless homes.

We will not lead people to expect the advent overnight of an atomic millennium. In many countries, long and patient scientific experimentation and trial must precede the generation from atomic sources of electric power that can compete with that produced by using available coal, oil, gas, or water power. But, in the meantime, this International Agency will be encouraging those scientific labors and research to hasten the looked-for day.

The benefits of our daily living which will result from putting the atom to work for peace--more abundant and cheaper power and light, irrigation of arid lands, less costly transportation, the opening to industry of territories hitherto denied--may come to us more slowly than we would wish. But there is something more important than these material benefits. I mean those highways that lead to a settled tranquillity among nations.

People have long been seeking a channel for peaceful discussion. The International Atomic Energy Agency offers one such channel. During the last three years of deliberations upon its establishment and functioning, this channel has been kept open. It shall be the purpose of the United States to broaden this channel and to encourage its general use.

Some day, we fervently hope, sanity will overcome man's propensity to destroy himself. Then, the world can beat its swords into ploughshares. All nations can turn their plants that make nuclear fuel to an exclusively civilian use, and the fuel in their stockpiled nuclear weapons can also be put to work for man's health and welfare. In that happy time, the giant of atomic energy can become, not a frightening image of destructive war, but an obedient servant in a prosperous and peaceful world.

The real vision of the atomic future rests not in the material abundance which it should eventually bring for man's convenience and comfort in living. It lies in finding at last, through the common use of such abundance, a way to make the nations of the world friendly neighbors on the same street.