Remarks at the 42d Annual Meeting of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

Ladies and gentlemen:

One of the most pleasant duties that falls to the lot of the President is the opportunity, from time to time, to welcome here in the Capital city bodies of Americans, normally organized according to function or activity in the country, or to some basic purpose. They come here to meet and consult together, and in so doing they consult with members of the Government, and bring us counsel, bring us in touch with the areas lying outside of the District of Columbia, and, we think, greatly to our advantage. We hope that sometimes this is a two-way road. So I do bid you welcome, in the name of the Executive Branch of Government. In fact, I am sure I may speak for the entire Capital in saying we are honored to have you here, the members of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

I think each of us senses that when we meet, as you are meeting today, we are doing so in a time of great decisions. I think it is no longer necessary to enter into a long argument or exposition to show the importance to the United States of Indochina and of the struggle going on there. No matter how the struggle may have started, it has long since become one of the testing places between a free form of government and dictatorship. Its outcome is going to have the greatest significance for us, and possibly for a long time into the future.

We have here a sort of cork in the bottle, the bottle being the great area that includes Indonesia, Burma, Thailand, all of the surrounding areas of Asia with its hundreds of millions of people, and its geographical location that controls lines of communication, to say nothing of the great products of the region, some of which we must have.

Moreover, it is a region with which the newly formed and democratic type of government in Japan must trade. If it is denied the opportunity to trade with that area, how can Japan with its 85 million people exist and develop into a civilization that we would consider dependable, in that it also tried to live in the concept of dignity of the human and according to the precepts of free government?

And then we turn our eyes to Geneva, and we see representatives of great--and some antagonistic--powers meeting there, trying to arrive at some situation that at least we could call a "modus vivendi." We do not hope, I think, very soon to have the type of understanding that we believe we can ultimately develop among ourselves as to great issues. But we would hope that the logic of today's situation would appeal to all peoples, regardless of their ruthlessness, so that they would see the futility of depending upon war, or the threat of war, as a means of settling international difficulty.

That conference is meeting in the terms of another great development of our time: the atomic age, which has so greatly increased the destructive power of weapons that we sometimes visualize in a single destructive and surprise attack, almost a decisive act in the event of an outbreak of hostilities.

In all these things we must, of course, prevent ourselves always from overexaggerating danger, just as we refuse to become complacent because of our historical position of geographic isolation. We do look at them seriously. I am sure that every American that I know looks at them seriously. But I am certain also that America does not forget the power that is concentrated in the faith that we have, in the character of our Government, the character of the system under which we live, and our confidence that by putting our shoulders to the wheel, we can pull through any difficulty.

The great problem is to meet the difficulty in time, so that it does not become a major catastrophe, but that we do adhere to the old principle, "A stitch in time saves nine." But as we think about all of these crises in the world, and their effect upon us, it does illustrate emphatically a doctrine by which the Chamber of Commerce has long lived: that no nation can live alone. We are dependent upon others, as they are dependent upon us, a truth that you have well exemplified in all your actions for many years, including your support of the United Nations.

Admittedly an imperfect instrument for the settlement of these great difficulties, and for the elimination of these great threats of danger, it is still a forum where the world can still talk instead of fight. And that, in itself, is a great advance. It has, in my opinion, accomplished so much in the late years that because the things it has prevented have not happened, we sometimes overlook them.

I think our attitude toward the United Nations should be support, and betterment, and improvement.

Now, because we do have the purpose in this world of promoting peace, of better understanding, of starting by promoting this understanding among nations who are disposed to be friendly to us--the nations still independent, there is one truth we must always remember. I can put it in military terms: you can do nothing positive in a campaign unless you have a firm base from which to start.

In the same way, the United States can do nothing positive in the form of leading the world toward cooperative security, unless it is firm and confident at home.

And so the legislative programs that are submitted to the Congress by the executive departments, that are carefully worked out with consultations with people such as yourselves, and with agricultural, financial, and labor organizations throughout the country, and other people, have as their purpose a firm, sound economy at home, and reasonable, enlightened policies abroad.

In this foreign field there is just one item to which I should like to call your attention this morning: the Report of the Randall Committee, and the message placing it before the Congress for suitable action.

The point I want to make is this: it is a moderate program--if you like, a middle-of-the-road program. It attempts to evaluate and understand and recognize the needs of certain types of industries at home, at the same time that it recognizes the great and crying need for sound relationships with our friends abroad. The additional truth, that we cannot forever be an Atlas, and through gifts and grants and loans--it has become, almost, grants--supporting the rest of the world. But there must be a method worked out by which with mutual profit to all of us, trade can go ahead, strengthening their economies and their standards, as ours are strengthened. Recognizing that adjustments and certain sacrifices have to be made to bring this about, it also recognizes that there is no sacrifice here implied or involved that is half as great--a twentieth as great--as the risk of bringing about a falling apart of cooperative security, and increasing the danger of war.

So you do meet at a time when grave issues are being studied and examined by people who are--like you--ordinary Americans longing for peace, striving to see that peace shall be our lot, and shall be our prize. They do it exactly as you do it, by meeting together, by discussing the problems, by trying to find a solution which adheres to commonsense and to logic, that avoids the extremes on both points, by trying to go down that broad middle way where the great and vast majority of Americans-indeed of the world--can go in perfect accord and unity.

I would say only one additional thing. From war I learned one lesson that I recall right this minute. And that is this: a long face never solved any difficult problem. As you approach these problems you must do so in the confidence that America is great and is powerful, and that it can do anything when we are united among ourselves. You must do so in the certainty that you are striving for the positive factors of happiness and enjoyment in this life, and not in the mere negative idea that we are avoiding destruction or disaster this one day. There must be an approach that reflects confidence, courage, and the certainty that you--and your children--are going to have this great America, and live in it, and be as proud of it and its past as we are this day.

Frankly, my friends, I think I possibly owe you an apology. I came over to say "Welcome" to this Capital City. But as I came, I found my mind so engaged with so many of these other things, and I know that you have so often been helpful, I couldn't avoid talking a bit seriously this morning.

Thank you very much.