Statement by the President on the Message on the Foreign Aid Program.

THE foreign assistance program that I have sent to the Congress has a new look and a new purpose. We serve notice here and now from this day on that our foreign assistance will go to those nations and only those nations who are willing and ready to help themselves.

Unless nations and peoples are determined to do all that must be done in their own country and by their own work to lift the quality of their own lives, then we cannot really effectively help them. We want to see other countries achieve for their people a life of freedom and security.

We must pursue that goal with all the talent that we have. Today the majority of the people in this world are living in desperate need. Americans, I think, are not going to just sit complacently and idly by, wringing their hands and doing nothing while this suffering goes on. But compassion is not enough.

While our wealth is great, our wealth is not unlimited. Our wealth must be used to root out the causes of dangerous disorder so that the lasting values can survive and prosper, and that is why we are not going to allow American aid to become an international dole.

Our assistance must be concentrated on those particular nations which will put it to the best use. It must be based on merit as well as need, on action as well as aspiration, on responsibility as well as despair. We are eager to cooperate with the industrious and the willing and the responsible, and I believe that this is the kind of program that our Congress advocates and the kind of program that our Congress desires.