Message to the First Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

[Read by Lewis L. Strauss, Chairman of the United States delegation]

Mr. President, and Members of the Conference:

The prayers and hopes of millions of people of every race and faith attend the deliberations which you begin in Vienna today.

You have been given the historic responsibility of translating a new concept into positive action for the benefit of all mankind.

No other Conference in history has ever begun more auspiciously. The Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which you are about to implement, represents the will and the aspirations of more nations than ever before subscribed to an international treaty.

Yours, therefore, is a sacred trust. You hold in your custody the conscience of the peoples of the world. They look hopefully to you to further the practical program whereby the fissioned atom will cease to be a symbol of fear and will be transformed into the means of providing them with richer, healthier and happier lives.

For the past several years the people of the United States have earnestly dedicated their hearts and minds to the success of this undertaking. Speaking in their behalf, let me on this occasion earnestly reaffirm that consecration of our efforts. It is our fervent hope that the Agency will become the focal point for promoting and distributing the beneficence of atomic energy to every nation of the world, large and small.

The opportunities which now lie before you are many; the challenges which you will have to meet and solve will be great. But with faith and continued friendly cooperation, such as has marked the creation of the Agency, our generation can make of atomic energy a gift for which mankind will be forever grateful.

May this Conference be inscribed in history as marking the turning point where man's fears of the atom yielded to hope, and to the wider cooperation necessary to establish that peace which is desired for all men.

It is my prayer that the splitting of the atom, under the wise administration of the International Atomic Energy Agency, may some day unify a divided world.

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER