Address in Miami at the Golden Jubilee Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Mr. Commander in Chief, distinguished guests, fellow members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars:

I am happy to be in Miami today to help celebrate the Golden Jubilee Anniversary of this organization. I want to thank you for that gold card, this Golden Jubilee cap, this membership certificate here, and this scroll of honor. I appreciate all those things. I am particularly happy to have this Missouri mule.

I am proud to be a member of the oldest active veterans organization in the Nation. For 50 years the V.F.W. has been serving not only the interests of the men who have fought for our country in foreign lands, but also the interests of our whole Nation.

I have watched the splendid humanitarian work which our organization carries on. I have also been gratified by the record of the V.F.W. in other fields, and particularly in the field of international policy. I recall the United Nations Rally in 1942, at the 43d National Encampment in Cincinnati, to which 14 allied nations sent representatives. I remember the Victory Conference in 1945 at our Chicago Encampment, where representatives from 21 allied nations met to discuss the value of cooperation in war and the importance of continuing international cooperation in time of peace. The V.F.W. has continued this fine record by its strong support of the North Atlantic Treaty.

I am particularly pleased that you have asked me to be here on the day the V.F.W. is honoring distinguished representatives from other countries which have joined in the North Atlantic Treaty. The presence of veterans from most of the treaty countries, meeting with our own veterans, is symbolic of the spirit that binds together the free nations of the world.

All the countries that signed the treaty have learned the tragic cost of war. All of us have learned how weakness invites aggression-how democratic countries, unless they stand together, can be taken over one by one. And now, all of us are determined that, by joint efforts and a common defense, we shall become strong enough to prevent another terrible conflict.

Four years ago, when the war ended, the world entered a new phase of human history. There were many who believed that the world would quickly return to its old ways. Many believed that the countries of the world would work their way, peacefully and in cooperation, back to conditions of stability and prosperity. And that is what we all pray for.

But the effects of this last war were too far-reaching to permit such an easy adjustment. The destruction had been too great to allow a quick recovery. The accumulated wealth of generations had been poured out and lost in the conflict. Conditions of world trade had been fundamentally altered. As a result of the upheaval, many peoples demanded new rights and new responsibilities. Men who had lived for centuries in economic or political servitude asked for independence and a fair share of the good things of life.

The war against tyranny was sustained by belief in the "Four Freedoms." Men refused to yield to dictatorship because they desired and believed they could secure conditions of material and spiritual freedom. When the war ended, they demanded to be treated as free men. They demanded a world in which they could attain security and liberty.

This demand cannot be suppressed. It must not be frustrated. It presents a challenge to us and to the values of our civilization which will require all our energies and wisdom to satisfy.

One pretended answer to this demand of mankind is offered by organized communism. But that answer is a false one. Communism claims to satisfy the universal desire for a better life. But, in fact, it lures men by false promises back to tyranny and slavery--and more and more people, all over the world, are learning that fact. Some of them to their cost.

The free nations of the world offer a different answer to the demand of mankind for security and liberty. Our answer is based upon voluntary association among free nations, mutual adjustment of our common problems, and combined economic effort. We are convinced that through these means the world can achieve economic progress and at the same time maintain and expand democratic freedoms. We are convinced that our answer will prevail.

The people of the United States have been meeting this challenge. In 4 short years they have done more in the cause of world peace and world recovery than any nation has ever before been called upon to do.

We are not alone in this effort. Many nations which share our democratic values and our traditions are working with us. Without these allies in the cause of peace, our task would be entirely hopeless. We can win a permanent peace only through the joint efforts of free nations striving toward the same objective.

To achieve a better world we must prevent international violence. Unless protection against war can be secured, all efforts for the advancement of mankind will fail. One of the most important aspects of our foreign policy, therefore, is our effort to establish international order.

To this end, we have joined with other nations in creating a world organization which would outlaw aggression and establish a means of settling international disputes.

The principles of the United Nations are still our goal. We have undertaken to defend and preserve them. We will keep that pledge.

Shortly after the end of the war, however, it became apparent that the United Nations could not live up to all our hopes for it until all nations were united in the desire for peace. It became necessary, therefore, for the free countries to take action to defend the principles of that organization and to preserve it.

By an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Congress approved my recommendation early in 1947 that the United States help Greece and Turkey resist Communist pressures. Our prompt action preserved the integrity of both those countries.

By an equally overwhelming vote in 1948, the Congress approved our joint enterprise with 16 European nations to achieve economic recovery. The European recovery program has prevented general collapse in Europe, and has given hope to all countries who want to see the world resume the course of economic progress.

While we are working with our friends in Europe, we are also working with our friends and neighbors in this hemisphere. The Pact of Rio de Janeiro, signed in September 1947, binds the nations of North and South America together in a defensive alliance.

The United States and 11 other nations have now joined in the North Atlantic Treaty. Like the Rio Pact, this is a pledge of mutual assistance by nations which are determined to protect their independence. It is based on the principle that an armed attack on one nation is an attack on all.

The next task is to back up this principle with military assistance to European nations, and to certain other nations, which are unable to build up their defenses without outside help.

I have recommended to the Congress that the United States supply three kinds of military assistance to friendly democratic nations in need of our help. First, we should help them increase their own military production. Second, we should transfer to them some essential items of military equipment. Third, we should send some of our experts abroad to help train and equip their military forces.

Now, some people who do not understand the state of the world very well have tried to make the military assistance program seem a difficult and confused issue. On the contrary, it is very simple.

The purpose of the military assistance program is to prevent aggression. Our European partners in the North Atlantic Treaty are not strong enough today to defend themselves effectively. Since the end of the war they have been concentrating on rebuilding their war-torn economies. We can strengthen them, and ourselves, by transferring some military means to them, and by joining with them in a common defense plan. The military assistance program is based on the same principle of self-help and mutual aid that is the cornerstone of the European recovery program and the North Atlantic Treaty.

We are not arming ourselves and our friends to start a fight with anybody. We are building defenses so that we won't have to fight. In two instances, if we had been ready there would have been no war.

Our aid will be limited to the material necessary to equip mobile defense forces. These forces will constitute no threat to the independence of other nations. The democratic nations have no desire for aggression; they only want to be able to defend their homes.

Most of our assistance under this program will go to Atlantic Treaty countries, but we will also help certain other nations whose security is important to world peace. We must continue our aid to Greece and Turkey. We should help Iran maintain its firm stand against Soviet pressure. And, in the Far East, two young republics--the Philippines and Korea--need military assistance if they are to maintain their national security.

If it were possible, we would prefer that these bulwarks against aggression be established by the United Nations. We hope the peace of the world will some day be enforced by security forces under the control and direction of the United Nations.

We have been working for that.

But the Soviet Union has blocked every effort to establish an effective international police force and to free the world from the fear of aggression. For that reason, we have had to join other friendly nations in forming regional defense pacts.

The United Nations Charter was wisely drawn to permit these regional defense pacts and other collective security arrangements which are consistent with the great principles of that charter. The military assistance program will help the United Nations to operate more effectively by increasing the collective as well as the individual ability of free countries to resist aggression.

The military assistance program and the European recovery program are part and parcel of the same policy. There is the closest relationship between economic recovery and military defense. On the one hand, economic recovery will lag if the haunting fear of military aggression is widespread. Such fear will prevent new investments from being made and new industries from being established. On the other hand, if protection against aggression is assured, economic recovery will move forward more rapidly. Sound economic recovery and adequate military defense must be carried forward together in balance. That is exactly what we propose to do.

Great progress has been made in economic recovery in Europe. The production of the Western nations of Europe has been rising steadily. To continue the momentum of this economic advance it is necessary now to remove the obstacles created by the fear of military aggression.

We should therefore undertake a program of military assistance without delay. The cost of such a program is considerable, but it represents an investment in security that will be worth many times its cost. It is part of the price of peace. Which is better, to make expenditures to save the peace, or to risk all our resources and assets in another war?

Peace with freedom and justice cannot be bought cheaply. No single program can bring it about, nor can any single nation. It can only be assured by the combined efforts of the multitudes of people throughout the world who want a secure peace. They are our friends and they are friends worth having. We must keep them our friends if the world is to be a decent place for our children and their children to live in.

We must face the fact that we have forever put behind us the false security of isolationism. We have done so because we have learned--and learned the hard way--that, in the world of today, isolationism is a futile and vulnerable shield. We have learned that the defense of the United States and the defense of other freedom-loving nations are indivisible. We have learned that we can serve our country best by joining in the common defense of the rights of all mankind.

The Congress of the United States in noble words has set out certain purposes of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Our organization is pledged; and I quote from the act:

"To maintain true allegiance to the Government of the United States of America, and fidelity to its Constitution and laws; to foster true patriotism; to maintain and extend the institutions of American freedom; to persevere and defend the United States from all her enemies."

In the fulfillment of those high purposes, I enlist your support to the end that we may preserve in the ways of peace with the same vigor and determination with which we fought our country's wars.

I thank you.