Address Before the Rio de Janeiro Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security.

Mr. President, delegates to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, ladies and gentlemen:

It is a distinguished privilege to address the final session of this historic conference. You are assembled here as the representatives of the nations of this hemisphere which have been banded together for over a half century in the Inter-American System. You have successfully accomplished the task of putting into permanent form the commitments made in the Act of Chapultepec. You have made it clear to any possible aggressor that the American Republics are determined to support one another against attacks. Our nations have provided an example of good neighborliness and international amity to the rest of the world, and in four association together we have strengthened the fabric of the United Nations. You can be justly proud of the achievements of this conference and I commend the noble spirit which has inspired your efforts.

The cordial and gracious invitation of President Dutra to visit this beautiful land has allowed me to fulfill a desire I have long cherished. I consider it most fortunate that I am enabled also to meet with the Foreign Ministers and other leaders of the American Republics. Thus, in a sense, I am visiting not only Brazil, but I am visiting all your countries, since each of you carries his country in his heart.

While we are assembled here together, I wish to discuss with you the responsibilities which our nations share as a result of the recent war. For our part, the United States is deeply conscious of its position in world affairs. We recognize that we have an obligation and that we share this obligation with the other nations of the Western Hemisphere. Therefore, I take this occasion to give you a frank picture of our view of our responsibility and how we are trying to meet it.

The people of the United States engaged in the recent war in the deep faith that we were opening the way to a free world, and that out of the terrible suffering caused by the war something better would emerge than the world had known before.

The postwar era, however, has brought us bitter disappointment and deep concern.

We find that a number of nations are still subjected to a type of foreign domination which we fought to overcome. Many of the remaining peoples of Europe and Asia live under the shadow of armed aggression.

No agreement has been reached among the allies to maintain the outlines of a peace settlement. In consequence, we are obliged to contemplate a prolonged military occupation of enemy territories. This is profoundly distasteful to our people.

Almost everywhere in Europe, economic recovery has lagged. Great urban and industrial areas have been left in a state of dependence on our economy which is as painful to us as it is to them. Much of this economic distress is due to the paralysis of political fear and uncertainty in addition to the devastation caused by war.

This situation has impeded the return to normal economic conditions everywhere in the world and has hampered seriously our efforts to develop useful forms of economic collaboration with our friends in other areas.

We did not fully anticipate these developments. Our people did not conceive, when we were fighting the war, that we would be faced with a situation of this nature when hostilities ceased. Our planning for peace presupposed a community of nations sobered and brought together by frightful suffering and staggering losses, more than ever appreciative of the need for mutual tolerance and consideration, and dedicated to the task of peaceful reconstruction.

In view of the unfortunate conditions which now prevail, we have faced some difficult problems of adjustment in our foreign policy. I would not say that we have made no mistakes. But I think that the elements of the policy we have evolved thus far are sound and justifiable.

The fundamental basis of the policy of the United States is the desire for permanent world peace.

We are determined that, in the company of our friends, we shall achieve that peace.

We are determined because of the belief of our people in the principle that there are basic human rights which all men everywhere should enjoy. Men can enjoy these rights--the right to life itself, the right to share fully in the bounties of modern civilization-only when the threat of war has been ended forever.

The attainment of worldwide respect for essential human rights is synonymous with the attainment of world peace. The peoples of the earth want a peaceful world, a prosperous world, and a free world, and when the basic rights of men everywhere are observed and respected, there will be such a world.

We know that in the hearts of common people everywhere there is a deep longing for stability and for settled conditions in which men can attain personal security and a decent livelihood for themselves and their children. We know that there are aspirations for a better and a finer life which are common to all humanity. We know--and the world knows--that these aspirations have never been promoted by policies of aggression.

We shall pursue the quest for peace with no less persistence and no less determination than we applied to the quest for military victory.

There are certain important elements in our policy which are vital to our search for permanent peace.

We intend to. do our best to provide economic help for those who are prepared to help themselves and each other. But our resources are not unlimited. We must apply them where they can serve the most effectively to bring production, freedom, and confidence back to the world. We undertook to do this on an individual basis in the case of Greece and Turkey, where we were confronted with specific problems of limited scope and peculiar urgency. But it was evident, at the time that the decision was made early this year, that this precedent could not be applied generally to the problems of other European countries. The demands elsewhere were of far greater dimensions. It was clear that we would not be able to meet them all. It was equally dear that the peoples of Europe would have to get together and work out a solution of their common economic problems. In this way they would be able to make the most of their resources and of such help as they might receive from others.

The representatives of 16 nations are now meeting in Paris in an effort to get to the root of Europe's continued economic difficulties and to chart a program of European recovery based on helping themselves and each other. They will then make known their needs in carrying this program to completion. Unquestionably it is in the interest of our country and of the Western Hemisphere in general that we should receive this appeal with sympathy and good will, prepared to do everything we can, within safe limits, that will be helpful and effective.

Our own troubles--and we have many-are small in contrast with the struggle for life itself that engrosses the peoples of Europe. The nations of free Europe will soon make known their needs. I hope that the nations of free America will be prepared, each according to its ability and in its own manner, to contribute to lasting peace for the benefit of mankind.

Another important element of our policy vital to our search for peace, is fidelity to the United Nations. We recognize that the United Nations has been subjected to a strain which it was never designed to bear. Its role is to maintain the peace and not to make the peace. It has been embroiled from its infancy in almost continuous conflict. We must be careful not to prejudge it by this unfair test. We must cherish the seedling in the hope of a mighty oak. We shall not forget our obligations under the Charter, for we shall not permit others to forget theirs!

In carrying out our policy we are determined to remain strong. This is in no way a threat. The record of the past speaks for us. No great nation has been more reluctant than ours to use armed force. We do not believe that the present international differences will have to be resolved by armed conflict. The world may depend upon it that we shall continue to go far out of our way to avoid anything that would increase the tensions of international life.

But we are determined that there shall be no misunderstanding in these matters. Our aversion to violence must not be misread as a lack of determination on our part to live up to the obligations of the United Nations Charter or as an invitation to others to take liberties with the foundations of international peace. Our military strength will be retained as evidence of the seriousness with which we view our obligations.

This is the course which our country is endeavoring to follow. I need not tell you how important it is to our success that we have your understanding, support, and counsel. The problem is in the deepest sense a common one for this hemisphere. There is no important aspect of it which does not affect all of us. No solution of it can be fully successful in which we do not all cooperate.

I have already mentioned our collective responsibility for economic assistance. By the grace of God and by our united armed efforts our countries have been saved from the destruction of war. Our economies are intact, our productive powers undiminished, our resources not even yet fully explored. In consequence, our collective importance in the affairs of a distressed world has become immense.

The Western Hemisphere cannot alone assure world peace, but without the Western Hemisphere no peace is possible. The Western Hemisphere cannot alone provide world prosperity, but without the Western Hemisphere no world prosperity is possible.

Insofar as the economic problems common to the nations of North and South America are concerned, we have long been aware that much remains to be done. In reaching a solution there are many subjects which will have to be discussed among us. We have been obliged, in considering these questions, to differentiate between the urgent need for rehabilitation of war-shattered areas and the problems of development elsewhere. The problems of countries in this hemisphere are different in nature and cannot be relieved by the same means and the same approaches which are in contemplation for Europe. Here the need is for long-term economic collaboration. This is a type of collaboration in which a much greater role falls to private citizens and groups than is the case in a program designed to aid European countries to recover from the destruction of war. You have my solemn assurance that we in Washington are not oblivious to the needs of increased economic collaboration within the family of American nations and that these problems will be approached by us with the utmost good faith and with increased vigor in the coming period.

If acceptable solutions to these economic problems can be found, and if we can continue to work with mutual confidence and courage at the building of the great edifice of political security to which this Conference has made so signal a contribution, then I believe that we can look with high hopes on the further development of our community life in this hemisphere.

I have no desire to overlook the difficulties that have been encountered in the past and will continue to be encountered in the future. All of us are young and vigorous nations. At times we have been impetuous in our relations with one another. There has been a natural tendency for us to exhibit the same exuberance in our differences and our criticisms as in our friendships. Wide differences of background and tradition have had to be overcome.

But I believe that we may view with sober satisfaction the general history of our hemisphere. There has been steady progress in the development of mutual respect and of understanding among us. As the United States acquires greater maturity, as its experience becomes deeper and richer, our people gain in appreciation of the distinguished cultural traditions which flourish among our neighbors in the Western Hemisphere. I hope that as your acquaintance with us broadens, you will appreciate our fundamental good will and will understand that we are trying to bear with dignity and decency the responsibility of an economic power unique in human history.

There are many concrete problems ahead of us on the path to inter-American relations. They will not be solved with generalities or with sentimentality. They will call for the utmost we can give in practical ingenuity, in patience, and good will. But their solution will be easier if we are able to set our sights above the troubles of the moment and to bear in mind the great truths upon which our common prosperity and our common destiny must rest.

This Western Hemisphere of ours is usually referred to as the New World. That it is the New World is clearer today than ever before. The Old World is exhausted, its civilization imperiled. Its people are suffering. They are confused and filled with fears for the future. Their hope must lie in this New World of ours.

The sick and the hungry cannot build a peaceful world. They must have the support of the strong and the free. We cannot depend upon those who are weaker than we to achieve a peace for us to enjoy.

The benefits of peace, like the crops in the field, come to those who have sown the seeds of peace.

It is for us, the young and the strong, to erect the bulwarks which will protect mankind from the horrors of war forever.

The United States seeks world peace--a peace of free men. I know that you stand with us. United, we can constitute the greatest single force in the world for the good of humanity.

We approach our task with resolution and courage, firm in the faith of our Lord, whose will it is that there shall be Peace on Earth.

We cannot be dissuaded, and we shall not be diverted, from our efforts to achieve His will.