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"Communist Imperialism and America's Answer, " 1954?
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The original documents are located in Box D14, folder "Communist Imperialism and
America's Answer, 1954?" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and
Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Digitized from Box D14 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
- 1 -
COMMUNIST IMPERIALISM AND AMERICA'S ANSWER
Perhaps the most outstanding national characteristic of the American
people is our desire to live in peace. Endowed as we are with an abundance
of natural resources and traditions of freedom and individual enterprise,
we have been able to create a national wealth second to none other in the
world and we have been able to amintain a standard of living which is the
envy of all. We seek no territory from anybody; we covet no other nation's
wealth. Rather, we seek only to establish the conditions of peace and
security which will enable us, through the medium of mutually beneficial
trade, to share our blessings with all the peoples of the world.
But because this love of peace is an integral part of our make-up and
throughout our history has been the foundation of our dealings with other
nations, we have difficulty in understanding the will to conquest and the
desire for aggression which motivate some governments and we tend to remain
complacent too long in the face of threats to our national security.
This complacency was never more evident than in our approach to
communism and Soviet Russia during World War II and the years immediately
following. Beguiled by the false assurances of the godless men in the Kremli n
and misled by our sympathy for a people suffering from the attacks of our
common enemy, we failed to recognize the communist conspiracy for what it
was and is, an attack upon the traditions and heritage of freedom which
we so deeply cherish and a menace to our national existence, and we
erroneously believed that the Soviet rulers had abandoned the precepts and
teachings of their false prophets and were desirous of living in a world
FORD
community based upon mutual understanding and honor among free nations.
- 2 -
Our leaders, acting upon these assumptions, were led into mistakes which
M
enabled the Russian aries to overrun Eastern and Central Europe and entered
into treaties which permitted the communist tyrants to enslave the free
peoples of these areas. In our anxiety to return to the ways of peace
after the defeat of the Axis powers, we too hastily demobilised our armies
and immobilized our navy and air force and by our weakness encouraged Soviet
Russia and her satellites in their agressions in Korea and elsewhere.
Little is to be gained, however, by dwelling upon the mistakes of the
past. The threat which is posed to our way of live and the struggle which
has been forced upon us are too great to permit regret and we must not allow
recrimination to divide and waaken us. We must, rather, devote our entire
attention to understanding the nature of communist imperialism, its objectives,
and its methods and to the formulation and implementation of our answer.
There can be little doubt in anyone's mind today as to the fundamental
nature of Soviet communism. Its description is to be found in the writings
and speeches of its leaders, past and present, and in the pattern of its
actions, and only those who will not read and those who will not learn can
fail to understand its significance. Soviet communism is, first of all, a
vast and monstrous conspiracy of evil men who, because they know no God,
recognize none of the moral principles of honesty, truthfulness, and integrit y
which are the foundation of all societies in which religion plays an important
part. They sneer at the virtues and standans which we respect and regard
them as weaknesses to be taken advantage of and exploited. They have only
one guiding principle - that the end justifies the means - and there is
no limit upon the methods they employ in moving toward their objectives.
FORD
To them falsehood and deceit are not sins, but tools to be employed whenever
necessary to meslead and weaken those who stand in their way. Their most
LIBRARY
- 3 -
solemn promises are meaningless and are adhered to only so long as adherence
serves their purposes. Lest anyone question this, let him look to the long
list of treaty violations on the part of Soviet Russia since she first became
a world power.
The ultimate goal of this conspiracy is likewise clear. It is the
subjugation of the entire world to the tyranny of the men in the Kremlin.
The false and brutal philosophy to which they are devoted is based upon
concepts and theories which are irreconsilable with the principles of free
enterprise, civil liberties, and respect for the dignity of the individual
upon which our civilazation is founded and they well know that so long as
there are nations who live by these principles their position of power is
in jeapardy. So long as there are men who enjoy the fruits of freedom so
long will there by danger that the people who have been subjected to the
yoke of communist despotism will tire of their slavery and revolt against
those who impose it upon them. The communist rulers know that they must
continue the struggle upon which they have entered, for to rest is to invite
the loss of all they have conquered.
The United States is, and must be, the principal object of their attack.
It is in this country that the greatest individual freedom has been achieved
and it is here that we enjoy the spiritual, intellectual, and material wealth
which is the goal of all mankind. We are the freest and richest nation on
earth and because of this we are the epitome of all that the leaders of
communism despise and fear and we are the prinèipal obstacle in their march
to dominate the world.
1
The history of the last two decades amply demonstrates that there is
no limit to the tactics which these men are willing to employ to advance
FORD i LIBRARY
- 4 -
their evil cause. In the Nineteen Thirties, finding their citadel in
Russia threatened by a rival tyranny, they pretended to join the society
of free nations in a united front against Hitler. When he, perfidious as
they, offered a temporary respite and a free hand in the conquest of the
Baltic states they did not hesitate to desert their allies and entered into
the treaty which precipitated the calamity of World War II. When Hitler
laundhed his attack upon Russia in 1941 they did not hesitate to accept
the aid and assistance of the democratic nations and again renewed their
false pledges to join in an international association to secure peace and
improve the conditions of mankind. But once the danger was rempved and
their rival eliminated, they again turned upon the free world and renewed
their effort to destroy it.
That effort has been unrelenting and constant. Refusing to join in
the establishment of a program to feduce armaments and outlaw atomic weapons
which most of the United Nations desire, the Soviet rulers have instead
augmented their military power, embarked upon a policy of expansion, aggressi on
and subversion, and frustrated all efforts to build a secure peace. They
have extended their territory by the absorption of parts of Germany, Poland,
Czechoslavakia, Rumania, China, and Japan and by direct interference in the
domestic affairs of these countries have succeeded, with the exception of
Japan, in establishing communist tyrannies apposed by the vast majority of
their citizens. They have threatened Turkey, Greece, and Iran. And through
their Chinese satellite they launched military operations in Korea and Indo-
China and threaten them in other areas in Asia.
At the same time, these would-be work rulers have defeated, by their
use of the veto, and their refusal to co-operate, every major effort by the
United Nations to solve the political problems which have come before it
FORD LIBRARY 078835
- 5 - -
and to promote social and economic stability throughout the world. Knowing
full well that communism can triumph only when a people is hungry, restless,
and dissatisfied they have sought to extend rather than alleviate these
conditions.
Posing as devotees of peace and promoters of democracy, the leaders
of international communism and their minions have instead created unrest,
encouraged civil strife, and initiated open warfare and have become masters
of over one-quarter of the world's surface and more than one-third of its
people.
The communist conspiracy is indeed an awful thing to behold, fearsome
in its objective, insidious in its methods, and unrelenting in its attack.
But to recognize it for what it is and to understand its purpose is not
to lose hope. It is rather a necessary condition to the preparation of our
response. Unless we as a nation fully appreciate our peril and are willing to
assume the obligations which it imposes upon us, we cannot develop the unity
of purpose and the strength which will enable us to survive as free men
and to hand down to our children the beritagwwhich has made this country
great and contributed so much to the advancement of mankind.
Our first rewponsibility in meeting the communist threat is to maintain
and expand our military strength. Because in the past we failed to do this,
we were unprepared to resist the aggressions of communist imperialism and
were forced into a hasty and unplanned military effort which was expensive
and wasteful and which taxed our resources and strained our economy. We
must not repeat this error, but must be ready to meet any attack, large or
small, wherever it may occur and whenever circumstances demand that we do SO.
FORD i LIBRARY GERALD
- 6 -
We must build our stock of atomic and hydrogen weapons and we must
provide the means of delivering them. The destructive power of these weapons
is indeed appalling and it is shocking to think that we may some day have
to use them, but we know that Soviet Russia possesses them and only if we
can convince its rulers that we can and will respond with even greater havoc
upon their people can we hope to deter them from such an attack upon us.
IN
It is conceivable that even these men, bent as they are upon world conquest,
would be willing to destroy their own nation in what would be their final
effort to achieve their ambitions.
As part of our preparedness program, furthermore, we must expand our
research and production in the field of guided missiles and we must develop
any new weapons which our science and industry may provide. Only because
we were not limited in our horizon and were willing to explore new fields
were we able, during World War II, to develop the new weapons and equipment
which contributed so much to our victory and only by pursuing the same
course today can we hope to maintain our superiority.
But in emphasizing the new we must be careful not to neglect the old.
One of the principal tactics of the men in the Kremlin has been to embark
upon limited aggression in areas where our superiority in strategic weapons
is of little value and we must be prepared to counter this whenever it is
to our advantage to do so. It is imperative, therefore, that we maintain
an adequate army, navy, and airforce well equipped with the conventional
tools of war and that we establish and train a reserve which will enable us
quickly to expand these forces.
And, finally, it is of prime importance that we prepare the defenses FORD
of our cities and develop/vital the programs of civil defense. While we all
GERALD TIBRARY
- 7 -
fervently hope and pray that an attack will never come we must not neglect
taking the measurefwhich might minimize its impact.
The second part of our answer to communist imperialism lies in the
realm of our relations with other nations. While the United States is the
principal object of its attack and the bulwark of its opposition, we are
not alone in the struggle to keep the red tide of communist tyranny from
overr unning the world. There are other nations who are desirous of living
in peace and harmony and of preserving the traditions of human dignity and
individual liberty and we must unite with them in our common cause and
work together for our mutual security. Through the Inter- American Alliance,
the North Atlantic Treaty, and the security treaties with our allies in the
Western Pacific we have developed a pattern of mutual defense which must
be maintained and strengthened and we must work diligently to extend it
to areas which are not now included. While the United Nations Organization
has in the past failed to be the kind of instrument for peace envisaged
by its founders, we cannot despair of making it so and we must direct our
attention toward finding the means to this end.
The principle of collective security is of course one of the foundation
stones of our foreign policy. Through the co-operation of free sovereign
nations we are organizing a mibitary strength to which each nation contribute S
according to its resources and which will be capable of matching the uneasy
power which the Soviet Union has mobilized by conquest and subversion.
By this means, and this means alone, can we obtain the bases which are
essential to the full effectiveness of our air force as a deterrent to atomic
warfare and can we build a force with the flexibility and mobility needed
to meet the various forms of aggression which are part of the tactics of
our enemy.
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
- 8 -
Unfortunately, some of the allies with whom we are united do not possess
the economic strength to maintain and equip the military forces required
for our common defense and the United States must provide financial assistance
to enable them to carry the burden. Regrettable as this is, we must remember
that we are possessed of almost 50% of the world's industrial resources
and by the aid which we are providing we are using only a small fraction
to assist other free nations to hold their territory and sovereignty against
the communist tide.
Furthermore, there are in the world today backward nations which are
striving to achieve or consolidate their independence. For many of these
the process is a difficult one, attended by conditions of economic hardship
and social unrest, and the leaders of the communist conspiracy are quick
to take advantage of these situations in aneffort to exgend their tyranny.
Supporting the native adherents to their cause with money and arms, they
create and enhance divisions among the people, contribute to their hunger
and distress, and make difficult the task of those who seek to maintain
governments based upon the principles of freedom and equality. By thus
fostering the chaos which breeds communism, the men in the Kremlin are
working constantly to expand their despotism. We, of course, must prevent
this, for whenever a new area falls behind the Iron Curtain there is wide-
spread human tragedy and the people and resources are harnessed to the
Soviet war machine.
It is necessary, therefore, that we offer these nations the technical
assistance and economic aid required to enable them to establish in their
countries the economic and social stability under which democracy flourishes.
Such assistance and aid are in fact weapons in the battle against communi
imperialism and by their use we can bring to our cause new adherents and
GERALOP FORD VIBRARY
- 9 -
additional strength.
In building our own forces and supporting those of our allies and
providing aid to other nations we have to keep in mind the fact that our
resources, while vast, are not unlimited and we must take care to avoid
the economic bankruptcy which would give our enemy, without cost, the
victory he so ardently desires. While we are forced to prepare for a war
which we hope and pray will never come, we cannot permit our economy to
become so geared to our defensive effort that it is dependent upon the
stimulus of government expenditures for such purposes in order to operate
at a high level. Pronounced and continuing imbalance between government
revenue and expenses only lead to ever increasing inflation and a weakening
of the values upon which our society rests, and we must continue our efforts
toward a balanced budget. Only by so doing can we encourage private
investment, maintain the highest level of employment, preserve and advance
our standard of living, and otherwise keep our economy in the strong and
healthy condition necessary to our success.
Finally, I believe that the third part of our answer to communist
imperialism lies in a re-affirmation and strengthening of the principles
of freedom and the spiritual and moral values which so sharply distingmish
us from our enemy. The evil leaders of world communism offer mankind only
the prospect of a world governed by a bureaucracy almost incomprehensible
in magnitude and controlled from the Kremlin. Under their system, every
phase of human activity must be conducted according to the rules which they
lay down and must fit the patterns which they establish. Every moment of
the life of their subjects, from the first to the last, must be spent in
the service of their godless cause and the dungeon, slave labor camp, or
FORD z LIBRARY SERALD
- 10 -
the hangman's noose is the reward for those who deviate in the slightest
degree.
How different is the philosophy which we live by and which we are
defending! To us each man is not an automaton whose only value lies in
his ability to serve his masters, but a human being capable of thinking
for himself and working out his own salvation. Co-operation, not conformance
is the motivating force in our society and we need no secret police, spies
or informers to insure our obediance to the wishes of a ruling class. To
us the government is not our master, but our servant and its only true
function is to protect the liberty and well being of its citizens.
To preserve our way of life we must strengthen the freedoms upon which
it is based. Freedom of enterprise, the right to elect our officials, freedom
to think and speak as we wish, and the right to attend the church of our
own choosing are the foundation of our civilazation and we must guard them
with a vigilance never before demanded in our history. There are some among
us who through traitorous motives serve the communist cause and who would
use the constitutional guarantees which we cherish to protect them in their
destructive tasks. These we must seek out and punish but in doing so we
must protect the innocent and we must not, in the name of fighting subversion,
seek to impose conformity upon those whose views we disapprove or whose
actions may be sometimes displeasing to us. We are a people of diverse
political opinions and attitudes and in this we are fortunate, for only
P
through the free comptition of ideas, as through the free competition of
products, can we find the best solutions to the problems which we face.
We in America are a religious people and though the forms of our worship
FORD
may differ we are united in our faith in a just and merciful God. It is
GERALD
om
LIBRARY
- 11 - -
this faith that we draw the moral and spiritual values which so sharply
distinguish us from our enemy and make us superior to him. In the final
analysis, it is this faith which is the source of our greatest strength
and an asset which our enemy cannot match, and we must nurture and preserve
it to the day of our ultimate victory.
21-C you
GERALD FORD LIBRARY