Speech Transcript:

 Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members Of the Congress:

This 82d Congress faces as grave a task as any Congress in the
history of our Republic. The actions you take will be watched by the
whole world. These actions will measure the ability of a free people,
acting through their chosen representatives and the ir free
institutions, to meet a deadly challenge to their way of life.

We can meet this challenge foolishly or wisely. We can meet it
timidly or bravely, shamefully or honorably.

I know that the 82d Congress will meet this challenge in a way worthy
of our great heritage. I know that your debates will be earnest,
responsible, constructive, and to the point. I know that from these
debates there will come the great decisions needed to carry us
forward.

At this critical time, I am glad to say that our country is in a
healthy condition. Our democratic institutions are sound and strong.
We have more men and women at work than ever before. We are able to
produce more than ever before in fact, far more than any country ever
produced in the history of the world.

I am confident that we can succeed in the great task that lies before
us.

We will succeed, but we must all do our part. We must all act
together as citizens of this great Republic.

As we meet here today, American soldiers are fighting a bitter
campaign in Korea. We pay tribute to their courage, devotion, and
gallantry.

Our men are fighting, alongside their United Nations allies, because
they know, as we do, that the aggression in Korea is part of the
attempt of the Russian Communist dictatorship to take over the world,
step by step.

Our men are fighting a long way from home, but they are fighting for
our lives and our liberties. They are fighting to protect our right
to meet here today-our right to govern ourselves as a free nation.

The threat of world conquest by Soviet Russia endangers our liberty
and endangers the kind of world in which the free spirit of man can
survive. This threat is aimed at all peoples who strive to win or
defend their own freedom and national independence.

Indeed, the state of our Nation is in great part the state of our
friends and allies throughout the world. The gun that points at them
points at us, also. The threat is a total threat and the danger is a
common danger.

All free nations are exposed and all are in peril. Their only
security lies in banding together. No one nation can find protection
in a selfish search for a safe haven from the storm.

The free nations do not have any aggressive purpose. We want only
peace in the world-peace for all countries. No threat to the security
of any nation is concealed in our plans and programs.

We had hoped that the Soviet Union, with its security assured by the
Charter of the United Nations, would be willing to live and let live.
But I am sorry to say that has not been the case.

The imperialism of the czars has been replaced by the even more
ambitious, more crafty, and more menacing imperialism of the rulers
of the Soviet Union.

This new imperialism has powerful military forces. It is keeping
millions of men under arms. It has a large air force and a strong
submarine force. It has complete control of the men and equipment of
its satellites. It has kept its subject peoples and i ts economy in a
state of perpetual mobilization.

The present rulers of the Soviet Union have shown that they are
willing to use this power to destroy the free nations and win
domination over the whole world.

The Soviet imperialists have two ways of going about their
destructive work. They use the method of subversion and internal
revolution, and they use the method of external aggression. In
preparation for either of these methods of attack, they stir up cl
ass strife and disorder. They encourage sabotage. They put out
poisonous propaganda. They deliberately try to prevent economic
improvement.

If their efforts are successful, they foment a revolution, as they
did in Czechoslovakia and China, and as they tried, unsuccessfully,
to do in Greece. If their methods of subversion are blocked, and if
they think they can get away with outright warfare, they resort to
external aggression. This is what they did when they loosed the
armies of their puppet states against the Republic of Korea, in an
evil war by proxy.

We of the free world must be ready to meet both of these methods of
Soviet action. We must not neglect one or the other.

The free world has power and resources to meet these two forms of
aggression resources that are far greater than those of the Soviet
dictatorship. We have skilled and vigorous peoples, great industrial
strength, and abundant sources of raw materials. And above all, we
cherish liberty. Our common ideals are a great part of our strength.
These ideals are the driving force of human progress.

The free nations believe in the dignity and the worth of man.

We believe in independence for all nations.

We believe that free and independent nations can band together into a
world order based on law. We have laid the cornerstone of such a
peaceful world in the United Nations.

We believe that such a world order can and should spread the benefits
of modern science and industry, better health and education, more food
and rising standards of living-throughout the world.

These ideals give our cause a power and vitality that Russian
communism can never command.

The free nations, however, are bound together by more than ideals.
They are a real community bound together also by the ties of
self-interest and self-preservation. If they should fall apart, the
results would be fatal to human freedom.

Our own national security is deeply involved with that of the other
free nations. While they need our support, we equally need theirs.
Our national safety would be gravely prejudiced if the Soviet Union
were to succeed in harnessing to its war machine th e resources and
the manpower of the free nations on the borders of its empire.

If Western Europe were to fall to Soviet Russia, it would double the
Soviet supply of coal and triple the Soviet supply of steel. If the
free countries of Asia and Africa should fall to Soviet Russia, we
would lose the sources of many of our most vital r aw materials,
including uranium, which is the basis of our atomic power. And Soviet
command of the manpower of the free nations of Europe and Asia would
confront us with military forces which we could never hope to equal.

In such a situation, the Soviet Union could impose its demands on the
world, without resort to conflict, simply through the preponderance of
its economic and military power. The Soviet Union does not have to
attack the United States to secure domination of the world. It can
achieve its ends by isolating us and swallowing up all our allies.
Therefore, even if we were craven enough-I do not believe we could
be-but, I say, even if we were craven enough to aband on our ideals,
it would be disastrous for us to withdraw from the community of free
nations.

We are the most powerful single member of this community, and we have
a special responsibility. We must take the leadership in meeting the
challenge to freedom and in helping to protect the rights of
independent nations.

This country has a practical, realistic protect gram of action for
meeting this challenge.

First, we shall have to extend economic assistance, where it can be
effective. The best way to stop subversion by the Kremlin is to
strike at the roots of social injustice and economic disorder. People
who have jobs, homes, and hopes for the future will defend themselves
against the underground agents of the Kremlin. Our programs of
economic aid have done much to turn back communism.

In Europe the Marshall plan has had an electrifying result. As
European recovery progressed, the strikes led by the Kremlin's agents
in Italy and France failed. All over Western Europe the Communist
Party took worse and worse beatings at the polls.

The countries which have received Marshall Plan aid have been able,
through hard work, to expand their productive strength in many cases,
to levels higher than ever before in their history. Without this
strength they would be completely incapable of def ending themselves
today. They are now ready to use this strength in helping to build a
strong combined defense against aggression.

We shall need to continue some economic aid to European countries.
This aid should now be specifically related to the building of their
defenses.

In other parts of the world our economic assistance will need to be
more broadly directed toward economic development. In the Near East,
in Africa, in Asia, we must do what we can to help people who are
striving to advance from misery, poverty, and hung er. We must also
continue to help the economic growth of our good neighbors in this
hemisphere. These actions will bring greater strength for the free
world. They will give many people a real stake in the future and
reason to defend their freedom. They will mean increased production
of goods they need and materials we need.

Second, we shall need to continue our military assistance to
countries which want to defend themselves.

The heart of our common defense effort is the North Atlantic
community. The defense of Europe is the basis for the defense of the
whole free world-ourselves included. Next to the United States,
Europe is the largest workshop in the world. It is also a ho meland
of the great religious beliefs shared by many of our citizens-beliefs
which are now threatened by the tide of atheistic communism.

Strategically, economically, and morally, the defense of Europe is a
part of our own defense. That is why we have joined with the
countries of Europe in the North Atlantic Treaty, pledging ourselves
to work with them.

There has been much discussion recently over whether the European
countries are willing to defend themselves. Their actions are
answering this question.

Our North Atlantic Treaty partners have strict systems of universal
military training. Several have recently increased the term of
service. All have taken measures to improve the quality of training.
Forces are being trained and expanded as rapidly as th e necessary
arms and equipment can be supplied from their factories and ours. Our
North Atlantic Treaty partners, together, are building armies bigger
than our own.

None of the North Atlantic Treaty countries, including our own
country, has done enough yet. But real progress is being made.
Together, we have worked out defense plans. The military leaders of
our own country took part in working out these plans, and a re agreed
that they are sound and within our capabilities.

To put these plans into action, we sent to Europe last week one of
our greatest military commanders, General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

General Eisenhower went to Europe to assume command of the united
forces of the North Atlantic Treaty countries, including our own
forces in Germany.

The people of Europe have confidence in General Eisenhower. They know
his ability to put together a fighting force of allies. His mission is
vital to our security. We should all stand behind him, and give him
every bit of help we can.

Part of our job will be to reinforce the military strength of our
European partners by sending them weapons and equipment as our
military production expands.

Our program of military assistance extends to the nations in the Near
East and the Far East which are trying to defend their freedom. Soviet
communism is trying to make these nations into colonies, and to use
their people as cannon fodder in new wars of conquest. We want their
people to be free men and to enjoy peace.

Our country has always stood for freedom for the peoples of Asia.
Long, long ago it stood for the freedom of the peoples of Asia. Our
history shows this. We have demonstrated it in the Philippines. We
have demonstrated it in our relations with Indonesia, India, and with
China. We hope to join in restoring the people of Japan to membership
in the community of free nations.

It is in the Far East that we have taken up arms, under the United
Nations, to preserve the principle of independence for free nations.
We are fighting to keep the forces of Communist aggression from
making a slave state out of Korea.

Korea has tremendous significance for the world. It means that free
nations, acting through the United Nations, are fighting together
against aggression.

We will understand the importance of this best if we look back into
history. If the democracies had stood up against the invasion of
Manchuria in 1931, or the attack on Ethiopia in 1935, or the seizure
of Austria in 1938, if they had stood together again st aggression on
those occasions as the United Nations has done in Korea, the whole
history of our time would have been different.

The principles for which we are fighting in Korea are right and just.
They are the foundations of collective security and of the future of
free nations. Korea is not only a country undergoing the torment of
aggression; it is also a symbol. It stands for right and justice in
the world against oppression and slavery. The free world must always
stand for these principles-and we will stand with the free world.

As the third part of our program, we will continue to work for
peaceful settlements in international disputes. We will support the
United Nations and remain loyal to the great principles of
international cooperation laid down in its charter.

We are willing, as we have always been, to negotiate honorable
settlements with the Soviet Union. But we will not engage in
appeasement.

The Soviet rulers have made it clear that we must have strength as
well as right on our side. If we build our strength-and we are
building it-the Soviet rulers may face the facts and lay aside their
plans to take over the world.

That is what we hope will happen, and that is what we are trying to
bring about. That is the only realistic road to peace.

These are the main elements of the course our Nation must follow as a
member of the community of free nations. These are the things we must
do to preserve our security and help create a peaceful world. But
they will be successful only if we increase the strength of our own
country.

Here at home we have some very big jobs to do. We are building much
stronger military forces-and we are building them fast. We are
preparing for full wartime mobilization, if that should be necessary.
And we are continuing to build a strong and growing economy, able to
maintain whatever effort may be required for as long as necessary.

We are building our own Army, Navy, and Air Force to an active
strength of nearly 3 1/2 million men and women. We are stepping up
the training of the reserve forces, and establishing more training
facilities, so that we can rapidly increase our active fo rces far
more on short notice.

We are going to produce all the weapons and equipment that such an
armed force will need. Furthermore, we will make weapons for our
allies, and weapons for our own reserve supplies. On top of this, we
will build the capacity to turn out on short notice arms and supplies
that may be needed for a full-scale war.

Fortunately, we have a good start on this because of our enormous
plant capacity and because of the equipment on hand from the last
war. For example, many combat ships are being returned to active duty
from the "mothball fleet" and many others can be put into service on
very short notice. We have large reserves of arms and ammunition and
thousands of workers skilled in arms production.

In many cases, however, our stocks of weapons are low. In other
cases, those on hand are not the most modern. We have made remarkable
technical advances. We have developed new types of jet planes and
powerful new tanks. We are concentrating on producing the newest
types of weapons and producing them as fast as we can.

This production drive is more selective than the one we had during
World War II, but it is just as urgent and intense. It is a big
program and it is a costly one.

Let me give you two concrete examples. Our present program calls for
expanding the aircraft industry so that it will have the capacity to
produce 50,000 modern military planes a year. We are preparing the
capacity to produce 35,000 tanks a year. We are not now ordering that
many planes or that many tanks, and we hope that we never have to, but
we mean to be able to turn them out if we need them.

The planes we are producing now are much bigger, much better, and
much more expensive than the planes we had during the last war.

We used to think that the B-17 was a huge plane, and the blockbuster
it carried a huge load. But the B-36 can carry five of these
blockbusters in its belly, and it can carry them five times as far.
Of course, the B-36 is much more complicated to build than the B-17,
and far more expensive. One B-17 costs $275,000, while now one B-36
costs 3 million.

I ask you to remember that what we are doing is to provide the best
and most modern military equipment in the world for our fighting
forces.

This kind of defense production program has two parts. The first part
is to get our defense protect production going as fast as possible. We
have to convert plants and channel materials to defense production.
This means heavy cuts in civilian uses of copper, aluminum, rubber,
and other essential materials. It means shortages in various consumer
goods.

The second part is to increase our capacity to produce and to keep
our economy strong for the long pull. We do not know how long
Communist aggression will threaten the world.

Only by increasing our output can we carry the burden of preparedness
for an indefinite period in the future. This means that we will have
to build more power plants and more steel mills, grow more cotton,
mine more copper, and expand our capacity in many other ways.

The Congress will need to consider legislation, at this session,
affecting all the aspects of our mobilization job. The main subjects
on which legislation will be needed are:

First, appropriations for our military buildup.

Second, extension and revision of the Selective Service Act.

Third, military and economic aid to help build up the strength of the
free world.

Fourth, revision and extension of the authority to expand production
and to stabilize prices, wages, and rents.

Fifth, improvement of our agricultural laws to help obtain the kinds
of farm products we need for the defense effort.

Sixth, improvement of our labor laws to help provide stable
labor-management relations and to make sure that we have steady
production in this emergency.

Seventh, housing and training of defense workers and the full use of
all our manpower resources.

Eighth, means for increasing the supply of doctors, nurses, and other
trained medical personnel critically needed for the defense effort.

Ninth, aid to the States to meet the most urgent needs of our
elementary and secondary schools. Some of our plans will have to be
deferred for the time being. But we should do all we can to make sure
our children are being trained as good and useful citizens in the
critical times ahead.

Tenth, a major increase in taxes to meet the cost of the defense
effort.

The Economic Report and the Budget Message will discuss these
subjects further. In addition, I shall send to the Congress special
messages containing detailed recommendations on legislation needed at
this session.

In the months ahead the Government must give priority to activities
that are urgent-like military procurement and atomic energy and power
development. It must practice rigid economy in its non defense
activities. Many of the things we would normally do must be curtailed
or postponed.

But in a long-term defense effort like this one, we cannot neglect
the measures needed to maintain a strong economy and a healthy
democratic society.

The Congress, therefore, should give continued attention to the
measures which our country will need for the long pull. And it should
act upon such legislation as promptly as circumstances permit.

To take just one example-we need to continue and complete the work of
rounding out our system of social insurance. We still need to improve
our protection against unemployment and old age. We still need to
provide insurance against the loss of earnings through sickness, and
against the high costs of modern medical care.

And above all, we must remember that the fundamentals of our strength
rest upon the freedoms of our people. We must continue our efforts to
achieve the full realization of our democratic ideals. We must uphold
the freedom of speech and the freedom of conscience in our land. We
must assure equal rights and equal opportunities to all our
citizens.

As we go forward this year in the defense of freedom, let us keep
clearly before us the nature of our present effort.

We are building up our strength, in concert with other free nations,
to meet the danger of aggression that has been turned loose on the
world. The strength of the free nations is the world's best hope of
peace.

I ask the Congress for unity in these crucial days.

Make no mistake about my meaning. I do not ask, or expect, unanimity.
I do not ask for an end to debate. Only by debate can we arrive at
decisions which are wise, and which reflect the desires of the
American people. We do not have a dictatorship in this country, and
we never will have one in this country.

When I request unity, what I am really asking for is a sense of
responsibility on the part of every Member of this Congress. Let us
debate the issues, but let every man among us weigh his words and his
deeds. There is a sharp difference between harmful criticism and
constructive criticism. If we are truly responsible as individuals, I
am sure that we will be unified as a government.

Let us keep our eyes on the issues and work for the things we all
believe in.

Let each of us put our country ahead of our party, and ahead of our
own personal interests.

I had the honor to be a Member of the Senate during World War II, and
I know from experience that unity of purpose and of effort is possible
in the Congress without any lessening of the vitality of our two party
system.

Let us all stand together as Americans. Let us stand together with
all men every where who believe in human liberty.

Peace is precious to us. It is the way of life we strive for with all
the strength and wisdom we possess. But more precious than peace are
freedom and justice. We will fight, if fight we must, to keep our
freedom and to prevent justice from being destroyed.

These are the things that give meaning to our lives, and which we
acknowledge to be greater than ourselves.

This is our cause-peace, freedom, justice. We will pursue this cause
with determination and humility, asking divine guidance that in all
we do we may follow the will of God.