United Nations Remarks to Members of the U.S. Delegation and U.S. Officials of the United Nations Secretariat.

In case you're wondering, additionally, who I am, I'm the one who works for Andy Young. [Laughter]

I know it's not appropriate for me to charge you with a special responsibility just to our own great Nation alone, because in a special way you represent the United States in an expanded role. You work in the international community which we were very grateful to have come, with its headquarters, to our free country.

In the past years there has been, I think, a constant growth in the influence of the United Nations. And more and more, there has been a realization that without the U.N. there could be no resolution of any regional disputes and problems and the realization of hopes that, if thwarted, could possibly even embroil our own country in warfare quite unnecessarily.

I, myself, have a deep commitment to the United Nations and want to see its role expanded in the future. The world is too complex to be dealt with even as well as in the past by one powerful country or three or four powerful countries. The other nations of the world resent it, and it's much better to have a forum where each nation's voice can be heard.

I want to say, also, that there's a special reason for the U.N. to be in our country. This kind of a kinship sometimes goes unrecognized because our Nation for the last 200 years has, in effect, done what the United Nations has done in the last 32 years.

There's hardly a country represented in this body now or its predecessors that doesn't have citizens who come to our country to learn how to get along with one another, to share religious compatibilities and differences, to compare social compatibilities and differences, to share past political compatibilities and differences.

Those who have been mortal enemies in the heart of Europe or in Africa, or other parts of the world, when they come here to our country to be citizens, they've had to learn to live in harmony. And at the same time, they've also preserved their own precious heritage in a unique and very proud and effective way.

The foundation of the United Nations, as you know, is similar to our own. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in 1945, I believe, has as its basic premise individual freedom, the reaching for a higher capacity for human life, existence with the worth of each human protected, a search for equality of opportunity. These kinds of bases, not coincidentally, exist in both our own Constitution and Declaration of Independence and in the United Nations Charter.

I think it's accurate to say that there is a growing realization that the United Nations is accepted better by the American people. It hasn't always been a fact that the U.N. could take the major responsibility in a potential trouble spot like Namibia and retain that role, deal with South Africa, deal with SWAPO, deal with the other nations in southern Africa, deal with the other parts of the world who are interested.

I know that as far as our own role is concerned in Zimbabwe, we and the British are very eager to see the United Nations come in and play a larger and larger role.

Just the prevention of war is certainly not enough. But the enhancement of education opportunities, better health care for the people of the world, a searching out of commerce, dealing with the laws of the seas and elimination of racism and many other of the most complicated and challenging confrontations with human beings are now being channeled more and more into the United Nations.

I know that you're searching, along with others who administer the U.N. for a better way to spend the limited amount of money that's available to you, and the organization of the structure of the United Nations is being reexamined. And this is compatible with governments throughout the world.

I'd like to say in closing that I, personally, am deeply indebted to you. We have a fine delegation at the United Nations. Without any derrogation at all to past ambassadors here, I want to say that I'm extremely proud of what Andrew Young is, what he means, what he says, what he does, what he stands for. In my opinion, he epitomizes in many ways the greatness of our own country. And the new harmonious relationship that now exists between our own country and some of the developing nations of the world can be credited directly to the influence of Andrew Young and the trust that those deprived people have in him.

He's one of those Americans whose ancestors came here, perhaps involuntarily-[laughter and applause]--but you can see how well he's done. [Laughter] And I'm very glad politically to have him on my side. But I think this does illustrate very clearly what our country is and what it's made of itself, and what the United Nations is and what it is making of itself, because some of the finest expressions of hope and commitment in the international community have not yet been realized.

Many of our realizations were slow in coming. As you well know, when our country was founded there was a premise that slavery was accepted, although we were founded on a basis of equality and freedom. And it's been in recent years that women had a right to vote and young people had a right to vote and we could elect our United States Senators directly, and so forth. Our country has grown with the last two centuries' experience. And we still have a long way to go before we can assure that the future of the international community will be based on peace and that people with diverse interests can indeed live with mutual respect and in harmony.

I came here as a candidate to speak about the proliferation of nuclear weapons. And I came back last spring as a new President to speak about human rights. And I came here again this morning to speak about the elimination of a threat of war. So, I think I've already demonstrated my deep commitment to the institution which you serve so well.

So, I'm proud of you, and I hope that my own administration, our United Nations delegation, our State Department, and other aspects of it will make you proud.

I think as we deal with the North-South question, which is one of the most difficult of all, it's accurate to say that we've had similar struggle within the United States, too. And perhaps I've proven that if you struggle long enough, the Southerners don't have to worry about eventually coming out on top. So, we've got a long way to go. We'll go there together.

I hope that we can learn as a nation from the harmony in the United Nations, and I hope that your organization, the United Nations, can also learn from the great experience of what I still consider to be the greatest country on Earth, the United States.

Thank you very much.