Remarks at the Opening Session of the Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Council.

Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Your Excellencies, and Distinguished Guests:

It is for me a great privilege and a great pleasure to welcome to Washington the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the Foreign Ministers of the NATO nations.

As I review the list of the distinguished persons of this audience, I find the names of many old friends and colleagues from times past, including the early days when I myself was associated directly with NATO. It is indeed heartwarming to greet you here this morning.

And I think it would be somewhat miraculous if an old soldier should find it possible to restrain the impulse to reminisce just a bit about those early days when we were trying to organize and to bring together the military portions of the NATO alliance.

In doing so, I visited each of the countries. I went to see their heads of state, heads of government, the chiefs of the armed services, and as many members of the governments and of the citizens of the country as I could possibly see.

There was only one message that I had to carry. I knew that the basic purpose of the alliance was already achieved. Here in this room 2 years earlier there had been brought about that union of hearts and of purpose that was affirmed in the treaty under which we still operate.

But the achieving of the strength that could realize a particular passage of the Bible that comes to mind, was still to be realized. That passage in St. Luke says, "When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace." That was what we had to do.

To the members of the armed services and to the governments, then, I had one simple message. It was this: look at the hand. Each finger is not of itself a very good instrument for either defense or offense, but close it in a fist and it can become a very formidable weapon of defense.

So, our job was to make each finger stronger, sturdier, so as to get a fist that could defy anyone that would think of aggression against the free world, and the values that it is still defending as it was then defending.

I would like to ask each delegation, each individual from another country, to carry back to those countries my affectionate greetings and my warm remembrance of the kindness and the cooperation they then gave to me some 8 or 9 years ago. It was a very great privilege--I think one of the most interesting experiences of my entire military life.

Today we celebrate the tenth anniversary of this Organization. Founded as an alliance to assure our defense against the threat of aggression, NATO has grown into a powerful security-community by means of which the free people of 15 nations pursue the goal of a durable peace with justice.

Now for generations each nation, including my own, pursued this aim through its own individual efforts. But the galloping pace of technology and the upheavals of modern war brought the world suddenly to a new stage of its existence. By 1945 Americans together with all other peoples recognized the urgent need for a new relationship among nations.

That year the establishment of the United Nations organization lifted hopes the world over that all peoples would at last join together in a universal quest for peace and justice. Momentarily it seemed that mankind at long last had begun to put aside the weapons of war in favor of the tools of peace. But quickly it became evident that the aftermath of World War II had brought, along with this opportunity, new dangers of fearful and unusual significance.

War for all nations has always meant privation, suffering, and death. But with the advent of nuclear science the possibility of war suddenly threatened entire civilizations. Almost simultaneously a new dictatorship reached such great power that it openly challenged the concepts of justice and freedom which our respective nations adhere to and support. So challenged, no free nation dedicated to peace and the preservation of priceless human values could adopt aggression as a countermeasure. But all quickly realized that to stand firmly in defense of their people and those peoples' rights, they had to act in unison.

The stake was not merely the security of our nations from military onslaught; the true issue was our ability to protect the spiritual foundations of Western civilization against every kind of ruthless aggression, whether the attack should be military, economic, or political.

Out of this realization was born the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Its immediate purpose was the prevention of war by deterring military aggression in Europe. The task presented many difficulties, one of which was that there was no guiding precedent. But out of necessity and through the good will of member nations, we succeeded within a few short years in building a substantial defensive establishment.

Since NATO was formed there has been no further Communist advance in Europe--either by political or by military means. And while our military efforts have obviously required economic sacrifice, they have by no means stunted the economic growth of member countries. Instead, there has been a notable increase in production, trade, and living standards among the NATO peoples during the 10 years of NATO's existence.

NATO is unique in many respects. Of these, the most important by far is our common support of spiritual and moral values. Each nation has of course its heritage of religion, language, literature, music, education, and other elements of culture which give real meaning to life. But among all, there is a close kinship because of a common belief in the freedom and the dignity of man. All of us are devoted to the twin ideals of peace and justice--neither of which can live long without the other.

Sustained by a conviction in the rightness of our cause, by faith in ourselves and in each other, NATO has grown steadily in its capacity to assure our common security.

And our alliance is developing an ever-growing political cohesion. The Permanent Council, under the chairmanship of the able and dedicated Mr. Spaak, is becoming an effective mechanism for harmonizing the policies of the Atlantic peoples. By our association we have created possibilities for new and unprecedented forms of economic cooperation among the free peoples of Europe. Together we have laid the foundation for intimate Atlantic partnership in other fields, such as science and technology. All these achievements of the past decade merely point the way for an accelerated progress ahead.

Thus united in purpose and sustained by our moral, economic, and military power, the member nations begin the second decade of their association in NATO.

We shall always keep open the door of honest discussion--even to those whose creed is world domination. Our governments conduct continuous--almost daily--discussions and negotiations with the Soviet Union. We use regular diplomatic establishments, special committees, organs of the United Nations, and occasional meetings of responsible political leaders. No means are overlooked that give rise to promise of constructive results.

We shall continue these negotiations and discussions. We shall continue to make concrete and realistic proposals for disarmament, for a just solution of the problems of Germany, for European security, and for cooperation in the newly-opening realm of outer space.

Although we shall always avoid substituting illusion for reality, we shall continue to strive for a more general and far-reaching, but always practical, settlement of differences with the Soviets.

The need, as we reach for a lasting peace with justice, is the abandonment of the Communist purpose of world domination.

We shall never cease to encourage such a change. Meanwhile, we must be prepared during the years ahead to live in a world in which tension and bickering between free nations and the Soviets will be daily experiences. So, to live confidently, freedom's greatest requirement is unity--the unity which is the very life-blood of NATO.

On this base we propose to build the road leading toward lasting peace and universal justice.

Building this road will require courage--courage to stand fast in the face of menace and of threats.

It will require sacrifice--sacrifice needed to maintain and improve our collective strength over a long period of time.

It will require perseverance--perseverance to explore every avenue which offers reasonable hope for just solutions to the issues between ourselves and the Soviet Union.

All these qualities the free nations possess in full measure--we must never tire or weaken in our practice of them.

Those who respect the dignity of man will not flinch before the magnitude of the task. Rather they will prove once again that greatness of spirit and love of liberty will overcome the forces of atheistic materialism and coercion and give to all the nations, under God, the blessings of security, along with a just and durable peace.

Thank you very much.