White House Press Release, Address of President Harry S. Truman at the Rio De Janeiro Conference -- Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security

358 1312 HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE HOLD FOR RELEASE SEPTEMBER 2, 1947 CAUTION: The following address of the President, to be delivered at the Rio de Janeiro Conference -- the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security -- MUST BE HELD IN CONFIDENCE until delivery has begun. No portion, synopsis or intimation is to be published or given out in any way until that time. The same terms of release apply to press and radio. EXTREME CARE MUST BE EXERCISED TO PREVENT PREMATURE PUBLICATION. CHARLES G. ROSS Secretary to the President Mr. President, Delegates to the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Continental Peace and Security, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a distinguished privilege to address the final session of this historic Conference. You are assembled here as the representatives of the nations of this hemisphere which have been banded together for over half a century in the Inter-American System. You have successfully accom- plished the task of putting into permanent form the commitments made in the Act of Chapultepec. You have made it clear to any possible aggressor that the American Republics are determined to support one another against attacks. Cur nations have provided an example of good neighborliness and international amity to the rest of the world, and in our association together we have strengthened the fabric of the United Nations. You can be justly proud of the achievements of this Conference and I commend the noble spirit which has inspired your efforts. The cordial and gracious invitation of President Dutra to visit this beautiful land has allowed me to fulfill a desire I have long cherished. I consider it most fortunate that I am enabled also to meet with the Foreign Ministers and other leaders of the American Republics. Thus, in a sense, I am visiting not only Brazil, but I am visiting all of your countries, since each of you carries his country in his heart. While we are assembled here together, I wish to discuss with you the responsibilitics which our nations share as a result of the recent war. For our part, the United States is deeply conscious of its position in world affairs. We recognize that we have an obligation and that we share this obligation with other nations of the Western Hemisphere. There- fore, I take this occasion to give you a frank picture of our view of our responsibility and how we are trying to meet it. The people of the United States engaged in the recent war in the deep faith that we were opening the way to a free world, and that out of the terrible suffering caused by the war something better would emerge than the world had known before. The post-war era, however, has brought us bitter disappointment and deep concern. We find that a number of nations are still subjected to a type of foreign domination which we fought to overcome. Many of the remaining peoples of Europe and Asia live under the shadow of armed aggression. (OVER)