United States, 1982

I begin by paying a tribute to the new

Secretary-General, who has brought great

distinction to the office during his brief

tenure. Dag Hammarskjold once told the General

Assembly that whichever word one chooses

independence, impartiality, objectivity—they all

describe essential aspects of what, without

exception, must be in the attitude of the

Secretary-General . Javier Perez de CueBar, a man

of the third world, and, I am proud to note, of

the New World as well, has already demonstrated

his strict adherence to this most exacting

standard. In so doing, he has earned the esteem

of my Government and the gratitude of all who

believe in the purposes of the Charter.

197. I also congratulate Mr. Hollai of Hungary

upon his election as President of the

thirty-seventh session of the General Assembly.

198. As I stand here today I cannot help but

reflect on my relation to this city and to this

Hall. I was born about four miles from here. I

was reared and educated not far away, just across

the Hudson River, and I took a tour through this

building just after it opened in 1952, marveling

at the reality of a temple erected in the hope,

at least, of abolishing war. ,

199. When I took that tour back in the early

1950s, there was great public interest in what

was called the Meditation Room. I understand the

room is still here. But in the years since then

this institution has become more famous for talk

than for meditation. This Hall has heard great

ideas eloquently expressed. It has also heard

double-talk, platitudes and ringing protestations

of innocence—all too often aimed at camouflaging

outrageous and inhuman acts.

200. But we must not ridicule words. I believe

that the greatest advance in human history was

not the wheel, the use of electricity, or the

internal combustion engine. Indispensable to

progress as these have been, our most remarkable

achievement was the slow, clumsy but triumphant

creation of language. It was words that released

our ancestors from the prison of the solitary.

Words gave us the means to transmit to our

children and the future the crowning jewel of

human existence: knowledge. The Code of

Ham¬murabi, the Bible, the Analects of Confucius,

the teachings of the Buddha, the Koran, the

insights of Shakespeare, the creed of Mahatma

Gandhi or Martin Luther King—all these were

arrangements of words.

201. Is it not profoundly revealing that the

first victims of tyrants are words? No people

better know the meaning of freedom than those who

have been arrested or beaten or imprisoned or

exiled because of what they said. A single man

speaking out—a Lech Walesa, for example—is more

dangerous than an armored division.

202. All of us here, whether we arrived after

a short one-hour flight, as I did, or came from

the other side of the globe, as many others of

those present did, enter this auditorium for one

main purpose—to talk about what our Governments

see as the problems ahead and how they should be

solved. On one point at least we can all

agree—the problems are many and difficult. I

shall not try, in the minutes allotted me, to

deal with each, or even most, of these issues in

detail. Instead, I want to give the Assembly some

sense of the principles and general approach that

the United States will take toward our common

problems.

203. Americans are, by history and by

inclination, a practical and pragmatic people,

yet a people with a vision. It is the

vision—usually simple and sometimes naive—that

has so often led us to dare and to achieve.

President Reagan's approach to foreign policy is

grounded squarely on standards drawn from the

pragmatic American experience. As de Tocqueville

pointed out, To achieve its objective, America

relies on personal interest, and gives full reign

to the strength and reason of the individual.

That is as true now as when it was said 150 years

ago. Our principal instru¬ment, now as then, is

freedom. Our adversaries are the oppressors, the

totalitarian, the tacticians of fear and pressure.

204. On this foundation, President Reagan's

ideas and the structure of his foreign policy are

so straight-forward that those of us enmeshed in

day-to-day details may easily lose sight of them.

The President never does, he consistently brings

us back to funda¬mentals. Today I will talk about

those fundamentals. They consist of four ideas

that guide our actions: we will start from

realism; we will act from strength, both in power

and in purpose; we will stress the indispensable

need to generate consent, build agree¬ments and

negotiate on key issues, and we will conduct

ourselves in the belief that progress is

possible, even though the road to achievement is

long and hard.

205. If we are to change the world, we must

first understand it. We must face reality, with

all its anguish and all its opportunities. Our

era needs those who, as

Pericles said, have the clearest vision of what

is before them, glory and danger alike, and

notwithstanding that, go out to meet it.

206. Reality is not an illusion or a sleight

of hand, though many would have us believe

otherwise. The enormous, grinding machinery of

Soviet propaganda daily seeks to distort reality,

to bend truth for its own purposes. Our world is

occupied by far too many Governments which seek

to conceal truth from their own people. They wish

to imprison reality by con¬trolling what can be

read or spoken or heard. They would have us

believe that black is white and up is down.

207. Much of present-day reality is

unpleasant. To describe conditions as we see them

as I do today and as President Reagan has over

the course of his presidency, is not to seek

confrontation—far from it. Our purpose is to

avoid misunderstanding and to create the

necessary pre-conditions for change.

208. So, when we see aggression, we will call

it aggression. When we see subversion, we will

call it subversion. When we see repression, we

will call it repression.

209. The events in Poland, for example, cannot

be ignored or explained away. The Polish people

want to be their own master. Years of systematic

tyranny could not repress this desire; and nor

will martial law. But in Poland today truth must

hide in comers.

210. Nor can we simply turn our heads and look

the other way as Soviet divisions brutalize an

entire population in Afghanistan. The resistance

of the Afghan people is a valiant saga of our

times. We demean that valour if we do not

recognize its source.

211. And Soviet surrogates intervene in many

coun¬tries, creating a new era of colonialism at

the moment in history when peoples around the

globe had lifted that burden from their backs.

212. Nor will we shy away from speaking of

other problems affecting the free and the

developing worlds. Much of the developing world

is threatened by a crisis of confidence in

financial institutions and the stultifying

effects of State-controlled economies. The

naturally vibrant economies of many Western

nations and trade between the world's major

trading partners are threatened by recession and

rising protectionism. The great alliances that

shore up world stability and growth—our

hemispheric partnership, NATO—and the Western and

Japanese industrial democracies are challenged by

new as well as chronic strains.

213. Finally, the shadow of war still darkens

the future of us all. There is no ultimate safety

in a nuclear balance of terror constantly

contested. There is no peace of mind at a time

when increasing numbers of nations appear willing

to launch their armies into battle for causes

which seem local but have ramifica¬tions for

regional and even global harmony.

214. The list of troubles is long, the danger

of despair great. But there is another side to

the present reality; it is a reality of hope. We

are living in a fantastic time of opportunity.

215. Historians in the future will surely

marvel at the achievements of human beings in the

last half of this century. We have expanded the

frontiers of thought—in science, in biology, in

engineering, in painting and music and

mathematics, in technology and architecture—far

beyond the point anyone could have dared predict,

much less hope for. We know much today about the

oceans and forests and the geological strata that

lock in the story of our past. We have more

knowledge about a baby, or the brain, than was

accumulated in 10 millennia before our time. We

are learning to produce food for all of us; we

are no longer helpless before the threat of

disease; we explore our universe as a matter of

course. We are confronting the nature of Nature

herself. The oppor¬tunities are grand. This, too,

is a clear reality.

216. Thus realism shows us a world deeply

troubled, yet with reason for hope. There is one

necessary condition: the only way we can enhance

and amplify the human potential is by preserving,

defending and extending those most precious of

conditions—freedom and peace.

217. America's yearning for peace does not

lead us to be hesitant in developing our strength

or in using it when necessary. Indeed, clarity

about the magnitude of the problems we face leads

inevitably to a realistic appreciation of the

importance of American strength. The strength of

the free world imposes restraint, invites

accommodation and reassures those who would share

in the creative work that is the wonderful

consequence of liberty.

218. Strength means military forces to ensure

that no other nation can threaten us, our

interests or our friends. But when I speak of

strength I do not mean military power alone. To

Americans, strength derives as well from a solid

economic base and social vitality at home and

with our partners. And, most funda¬mentally, the

true wellspring of strength lies in America's

moral commitment.

219. The bulwark of America's strength is

military power for peace. The American people

have never accepted weakness, or hesitancy or

abdication. We will not put our destiny into the

hands of the ruthless. Americans today are

emphatically united on the neces¬sity of a strong

defense. This year's defense budget will ensure

that the United States will help its friends and

allies defend themselves—to make sure that peace

is seen clearly by all to be the only feasible

course in world affairs.

220. Along with military readiness and

capability must come the willingness to employ it

in the cause of peace, justice and security.

Today in Beirut the United States

Marines—together with our allies, Italy and

France—are helping the Lebanese Government und

armed forces ensure the safety of the peoples of

that tormented capital. I regret to report that I

have just learned that one American Marine died

and several were injured today in a mine

explosion at the Beirut airport. Our marines

represent an extension of American power not for

war but to secure the peace. They are there to

speed the moment when all foreign forces depart

from Lebanon. There must be an early agreement on

a timetable for the full application of Lebanon's

independence, sovereignty and territorial

integrity. Lebanon deserves the world's help—to

secure peace and to rebuild a thriving society.

221. America will continue to use its strength

with prudence, firmness and balance. We intend to

command the respect of adversaries and to deserve

the confidence of allies and partners.

222. The engine of America's strength is a sound economy.

223. In a time of recession, industrialized

and less developed nations alike are bedeviled by

excessive inflation, restricted markets, unused

capacity, stagnating trade, growing pressure for

protectionism and the most potent enemy of

expansion—pervasive uncertainty.

224. The United States with its vast human and

scientific resources can survive an era of

economic strife and decay. But our moral

commitment and our self-interest require us to

use our technological and productive abilities to

build lasting prosperity at home and to

contribute to a sound economic situation abroad.

225. President Reagan has instituted a bold

pro¬gram to get the American economy moving. Our

rate of inflation is down markedly, and we will

keep it down. That will add stability to the

value of the dollar and give greater confidence

to international financial markets.

226. The recent drop in United States interest

rates will stimulate new investments within and

beyond our shores. Conservation through market pricing

of energy has reduced United States demand for

world energy supplies. We are putting the

recession behind us. A growing and open American

economy will provide new markets for goods and

services produced elsewhere, and new

opportunities for foreign invest¬ments. Just as

we have a stake in world-wide recovery, others

will prosper as our recovery develops.

227. For wider prosperity to take hold, we

must co¬operatively attend to these international

issues. The lure of protectionist trade policies

must be resisted everywhere—here in the United

States and all over the world—whether in the form

of overt import restrictions and export subsidies

or by more subtle domestic pro¬grammes. These can

only distort world trade and impair growth

everywhere. Let us determine to make the November

ministerial meeting of GATT a time to stem these

protectionist pressures and to reinvigorate

positive efforts for a more open trading system.

228. The implications of the external debt of

many nations must be understood. Immediate debt

problems are manageable if we use good sense and

avoid destabilizing actions. But the magnitude of

external debt will almost inevitably reduce

resources available for future lending for

development purposes. Economic adjustment is

imperative. IMF can provide critical help and

guidance in any country's efforts to smooth the

adjustment process. The new borrowing

arrange¬ment proposed by the United States can be

crucial to this effort. '

229. And the necessity of reducing government

interference in the market must be recognized. Of

course every nation has the right to organize

society as its inhabitants wish, but economic

facts cannot be ignored. Those facts clearly

demonstrate that the world's command economies

have failed abysmally to meet the needs of their

peoples. The newly pros¬perous industrialized

nations are those with the most free and open

markets.

230. The bedrock of our strength is our moral

and spiritual character. The sources of true

strength lie deeper than economic or military

power. They lie in the dedication of a free

people which knows its responsibility. America's

institutions are those of freedom accessible to

every person and of govern¬ment as the

accountable servant of the people. Equal

opportunity, due process of law, open trial by

jury, freedom of belief, speech and assembly, our

Bill of Rights, our guarantees of liberty and

limited govern¬ment were hammered out in

centuries of ordeal. Because we care about these

human values for ourselves so must we then be

concerned, and legiti¬mately so, with abuses of

freedom, justice and humanitarian principles

beyond our borders. This is why we will speak and

act for prisoners of con¬science, against

terrorism and against the brutal silencing of the

Soviet Helsinki Watch Committee. This is why we

are anxious to participate in periodic reviews of

the human rights performance of ourselves as well

as of others. We welcome scrutiny of our own

system. We are not perfect and we know it, but we

have nothing to hide.

231. Our belief in liberty guides our policies

here in' the United Nations as elsewhere.

Therefore in this forum the United States will

continue to insist upon fairness, balance and

truth. We take the debate on human rights

seriously. We insist upon honesty in the use of

language; we will point out inconsistencies,

double standards and lies. We will not compromise

our commitment to truth.

232. The world has work to do for the

realists, the pragmatists and the free. With a

clear understanding of the troubled circumstances

of the hour and with a strengthened ability to

act, we need as well the vision to see beyond the

immediate present.

233. All of us here represent nations which

must understand and accept the imperative of fair

engage¬ment on the issues before us and, beyond

that, of common effort towards shared goals.

Whether we are seeking to bring peace to regional

conflict or a reso¬lution of commercial

differences, the time of imposed solutions has

passed. Conquest, pressure, acqui¬escence under

duress was common in decades not long past—but

not today. Not everybody who wants his concern

addressed will find us automatically receptive.

But when negotiations are in order America is

prepared to go to work on the global agenda and

to do so in a way that all may emerge better off

and more secure than before.

234. We manage our problems more intelligently

and with greater mutual understanding when we can

bring ourselves to recognize these problems as

expressions of mankind's basic dilemma. We are

seldom confronted with simple issues of right and

wrong, between good and evil. Only those who do

not bear the direct burden of responsibility for

decision and action can indulge themselves in the

denial of that reality. The task of statesmanship

is to mediate between two—or several— causes,

each of which often has a legitimate claim.

235. It is on this foundation that the United

States stands ready to try to solve the problems

of our time —to overcome chaos, deprivation and

the heightened dangers of an era in which ideas

and cultures too often tend to clash and

technologies threaten to out¬pace our

institutions of control.

236. We are engaged in negotiations and

efforts to find answers to issues affecting every

part of the globe and every aspect of our lives

upon it. Let me take up just two of these with

you.

237. The agony of the Middle East now exceeds

the ability of news bulletins or speeches to

express: it is a searing wound on our

consciousness. The region is in constant ferment.

Unrest flares into violence, terror, insurrection

and civil strife. War follows war. It is clear to

everyone in this Hall that international peace,

security and co-operative progress cannot be

truly achieved until this terrible regional

conflict is settled.

238. AM of us have witnessed in the past

several months a graphic reminder of the need for

practical peace negotiations in the Middle East.

Of the nations in the world which need and

deserve peace, Israel surely holds a pre-eminent

place. Of the peoples of the world who need and

deserve a place with which they can truly

identify, the Palestinian claim is undeniable.

239. But Israel can have permanent peace only

in a context in which the Palestinian people also

realize their legitimate rights. Similarly, the

Palestinian people will be able to achieve their

legitimate rights only in a context which gives

to Israel what it so clearly has a right to

demand: to exist, and to exist in peace and

security.

240. This most complex of international

conflicts cannot be resolved by force: neither

the might of armies nor the violence of

terrorists can succeed in imposing the will of

the strong upon the weak. Nor can it be settled

simply by the rhetoric of even the most carefully

worded document. It can be resolved only through

the give and take of direct negotiations, leading

to the establishment of practical arrangements on

the ground. In other words, it can be resolved

only through hard work. For those who believe

that there is no contradiction between permanent

peace for Israel and the legitimate rights of the

Palestinian people—and fbr those who believe that

both are essential for peace and that neither can

be achieved without the other—the task can truly

be a labour of love.

241. On 1 September President Reagan

challenged the parties to the Arab-Israeli

conflict to make a fresh start on the road to

peace in the Middle East. The Camp David

agreements, resting squarely on Security Council

resolution 242 (1967), with its formula of peace

for territory, remain available to those who

would accept the challenge to make this journey

with us. The road will not be easy, but in his

statement President Reagan made a number of

proposals which, for those who are willing to

join the effort, make the journey safer and

easier.

242. I call on all concerned to accept

President Reagan's challenge and hasten the

realization of true peace in the Middle East,

243. In addition to the imperative need to

resolve regional problems, there is an equally

significant global imperative: to halt, and

reverse, the global arms build¬up. As an

American, I am aware that arms control and

disarmament are a special responsibility of the

world's most powerful nations, the United States

and the Soviet Union. And as an American, I can

report that we are fulfilling our responsibility

to seek to limit and reduce conventional and

nuclear arms to the lowest possible levels.

244. With this goal in mind, President Reagan

has initiated a comprehensive program for

negotiated arms reductions. In Central Europe,

the most heavily armed region on this planet, the

Western allies are seeking substantial reductions

in troops of NATO and the Warsaw Pact to equal

levels. To achieve this goal, we have recently

introduced a new proposal designed to revitalize

the Vienna Talks on Mutual Reduction of Forces,

Armaments and Associated Measures in Central

Europe.

245. In the area of strategic arms, the United

States has also taken the initiative by calling

for a one-third reduction in the number of

nuclear warheads that American and Soviet

ballistic missiles can deliver. And in the talks

in Geneva on intermediate-range nuclear forces,

the United States has gone even further, by

asking the Soviet Union to agree to a bold

proposal for eliminating an entire category of

weapons from the arsenals of the two sides.

246. But important as these negotiations are,

the problems of arms controls cannot be left to

the two super-Powers. The threat of nuclear

proliferation extends to every region in the

world and demands the attention and energy of

every Government. This is not solely, or even

primarily, a concern of the super¬ powers. The

non-nuclear countries will not be safer if

nuclear intimidation is added to already deadly

regional conflicts. The developing nations will

not be more prosperous if scarce resources and

scientific talent are diverted to nuclear weapons

and delivery systems.

247. Unfortunately, as the task becomes more

im¬portant it also becomes more difficult.

Greater quantities of dangerous materials are

produced and new suppliers emerge who lack a

clear commitment to non-proliferation. But the

technology that helped to create the problems can

supply answers as well. Vigorous action to

strengthen the barriers to aggres¬sion and to

resolve disputes peacefully can remove the

insecurities that are the root of the problem.

The United States, for its part, will work to

tighten export controls; to promote broader

acceptance of safeguards; to urge meaningful

actions when agreements are violated; and to

strengthen IAEA. As our action last week in

Vienna should make clear, we will not accept

attempts to politicize—and therefore emasculate—

such vital institutions.

248. Perhaps the most common phrase spoken by

the American people in our more than two

centuries of national life has been you can't

stop progress . Our people have always been

imbued with the conviction that the future of a

free people would be good. America continues to

offer that vision to the world. With that vision,

and with the freedom to act creatively, there is

nothing that people of good will need fear.

249. I am not here to assert, however, that

the way is easy, or quick, or that the future is

bound to be bright. There is a poem by Carl

Sandburg in which a traveler asks the Sphinx to

speak and reveal the distilled wisdom of all the

ages. The Sphinx does speak. Its words are:

Don't expect too much . That is good counsel for

ail of us here. It does not mean that great

accomplishments are beyond our reach. We can help

shape more constructive international rela¬tions

and give our children a better chance at life. It

does mean, however, that risk, pain, expense, and

above all endurance are needed to bring these

achieve¬ments into our grasp.

250. We must recognize the complex and vexing

character of this world. We should not indulge

our¬selves in fantasies of perfection of

unfulfillable plans, or solutions gained by

pressure. It is the responsibility of leaders not

to feed the growing appetite for easy promises

and grand assurances. The plain truth is this: we

face the prospect of all too few decisive or

dramatic breakthroughs; we face the necessity of

dedicatingour energies and creativity to a

protracted struggle towards eventual success.

251. That is the approach of my country,

because we see not only the necessity but the

possibility, of making important progress on a

broad front. For example: despite deep-seated

differences between us and the Soviet Union, both

sides are now at work in a serious, businesslike

effort at arms control; Presi¬dent Reagan has

issued an important call for an inter¬national

conference on military expenditure. The

achievement of a common system for accounting and

reporting is the prerequisite for subsequent

agreement to limits or curtail defense budgets.

The Caribbean Basin Initiative establishes the

crucial bond between economic development and

economic freedom. It can be a model for fair and

productive co-operation between economies vastly

different in size and character; and the

diplomatic way is open to build stability and

progress in southern Africa through inde¬pendence

for Namibia under internationally accept-able

terms.

252. Realism and a readiness to work long and

hard for fair and freely agreed solutions—that is

our recipe for optimism. That is the message and

the offer which my Government brings to the

Assembly today.

253. I began my remarks here today with an

informal personal word. May I end in the same

spirit? We must be determined and confident. We

must be prepared for trouble, but always

optimistic. In that way the vast bounties

produced by the human mind and imagination can be

shared by all the races and nations we represent

here in this Hall.

254. A predecessor of mine as Secretary of

State, whose portrait hangs in my office,

conveyed the essence of America's approach to the

world's dangers and dilemmas. He said we would

act with a stout heart and a clear conscience

and never despair . That is what John Quincy

Adams said nearly a century and a half ago. I

give the Assembly my personal pledge today that

we will continue in that spirit, with that

determination, and with that confidence in the

future.