Press Release, Speech of President Harry S. Truman, San Francisco, California

IMMEDIATE RELEASE IMMEDIATE RELEASE REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT AT CITY HALL, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, SEPTEMBER 22, 1948 "NATIONAL 7:50 p.m., c.d.s.t. RECORDS SERVICE'S Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor, Distinguished Guests: I appreciate most highly the hearty welcome which you have extended to me tonight. I have been here on several occasions and you always have been cordial and good to me; and I appreciate it. I was here when the United Nations Charter W&.S finally signed and delivered. I talked to the citizens of San Francisco at that time on that subject. I am proud of the opportunity was which afforded me as President of the United States on that occasion to take part in the birth of the organization which, I am confident, will one day bring a just and lasting peace to the world. I have heard from time to time comments by well-meaning but misinformed Americans that the United Nations is not working. I think I can understand their concern. All of us have been disappointed in the sl owness with which the world is settling down after World War II. However, I am firmly convinced that our progress toward peace is much faster than it would have been without the United Nations. Let me recall for you briefly just what it Was we had in mind when we set up the United Nations. The United Nations was established for three basic purposes. The first was to prevent future wars by creating a kind of economic condition throughout the world which is necessary for peace. The second purpose was to provide the kind of organization which would help countries settle their differences peacefully without shooting each other. The third purpose was to provide an organization by which the peace-loving countries could act collectively against threats to peace by an aggressive country. Now that you have in mind the reasons why the United Nations was set up, let us look at the record of what it has accomplished. I am sure you will agree that the United Nations has proved its worth. It has been meeting all three purposes. I think we can hope for peace in the future. When the United Nations was less than a year old, the Security Council was faced with the problem of Soviet troops invading the small and weak country of Iran located south of the Soviet: Union in the middle East. Action by the Security Council helped to persuade the Soviet Government to pull its troops out of Iran. Iran remained an independent country. The Security Council of the United Nations protected the independende of two other small countries in the middle east when it persuaded the British and French Governments to withdraw their troops from Syria and Lebanon. Greece is still another small nation whose independence has been maintained with the aid of the United Nations. The United Nations has taken action against Greece's northern neighbors. Among other things it has sent a Commission to Greece whose job it is to patrol and to make sure that Greece's neighbors do not invade that country again. The Security Council of the United Nations secured a truce in the conflict between the Dutch and the Indonesians. A United Nations Committee brought about exagreement between the Dutch and the Indonesians on a set of principles which are being used as a guide for the creation of a United States of Indonesia. This act alone involved the peace and security of almost 60 million people. The two new countries of India and Pakistan brought their dispute over Kashmir to the United Nations. The United Nations has not yet ended the dispute, but it has succeeded in keeping violence from breaking out into open war. I have described only a few of the actions which the United Nations has taken since it was founded, but I am sure that those I have mentioned are evidence of the way in which the Security Council and the General Assembly are helping maintain peace in the world. There are many other activities of the United Nations besides the General Assembly and the Security Council. There is the International Refugee Organization which is taking care of refugee in Displaced Persons Camps in Europe. There is the International Trade Organization, which is working to increase the flow of trade among all countries. And there are still other organizations, like these two, connected with the United Nations which are successfully working to improve the welfare of all the peoples of the world OVER