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Speeches [Presidential Address to European Parliament in Strasbourg 05/08/1985] (5)
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Speeches [Presidential Address to European Parliament in Strasbourg 05/08/1985] (5)
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
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Folder Title: Speeches [Presidential Address to
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Collection Name MATLOCK, JACK: FILES
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SPEECHES [PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS TO EUROPEAN
FOIA
PARLIAMENT IN STRASBOURG 5/8/85] (5/12)
F01-061
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35
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Opened 05/14/202020
A NOTES
RE STRASBOURG SPEECH (ORIGINAL
6
ND
AND COPY) [1-6]
The Strasbourg Speech: Handling the East-West Theme
Re pp. 11-15:
This theme needs to be developed more logically, and certain key
elements which are now missing should be added. The
illustrations of the Soviet threat can be in vivid language, of
course, but sweeping statement such as the Soviet Union being the
most destabilizing influence in the world should be avoided.
(This is true, but stating it in a speech in Europe will
reinforce the damaging stereotype that the President sees every
issue in the world solely in the U.S. -Soviet context. We must
encourage Western unity and support, not divisive debates on
abstract statements.
When the case has been made regarding the Soviet threat and the
necessity for Western firmness and unity, it is essential to
present our policy as one which combines deterrence with a search
for a more stable peace. The transition can be made with a
paragraph along the following lines:
We must stay united and firm in defense of our precious
values, values won at such sacrifice by earlier generations
and by many members of ours. But we must also remember
another profound truth. That is, in this nuclear age, we
can do so only if we preserve the peace. Preserving the
peace and defending democracy must be integral parts of the
same effort.
Then, the following points will follow logically:
-- The US is making a steady, sustained effort to engage the
USSR in realistic negotiations with the aim of solving problems
in the relationship, reducing tension, and lowering the high
levels of offensive nuclear weapons.
-- Tensions can be lowered only if both sides are prepared for
fair, reciprocal, verifiable agreements. U.S. is ready for such
agreements and will not be deterred from effort to obtain them.
-- US seeks no unilateral advantages. At same time, it can
allow none on the Soviet part.
-- US does not seek to undermine or change Soviet system; at
same time it must resist attempts to use force against US and its
Allies.
-- In arms control, most important objective is lowering level
of offensive nuclear weapons and creating more stable strategic
environment. That is aim of Geneva negotiations.
-- Pleased that Soviet Govt has accepted goal of radical
reductions of nuclear weapons and eventually their complete
elimination. It is now time to translate that professed intent
into concrete, balanced and verifiable agreements.
- 2 -
-- As for the US, we will spare no effort at Geneva and elsewhere
to achieve such agreements.
-- Role of SDI in this. (But I recommend avoiding the acronym
and speaking intead of "defensive systems," and "our research
program"; such terms evoke positive feelings. SDI is a neutral
and emotion-free term (for Europeans, at least), and is usually
translated "Star Wars," which we should not encourage.)
-- Importance of compliance with agreements.
-- Conclude by making point that we must show both firmness and
unity in negotiations, but at the same time reasonable
flexibility.
-- Stress US commitment to consult Allied Governments every step
of the way, since we know that this must be an Allied effort,
even when the U.S. is the negotiator.
- 3 -
Re Eastern Europe (p. 18):
The first two paragraphs do not convey the essence of our policy.
It would be much better to use language similar to that in the
President's statement of February 8, 1985, concerning the
anniversary of the Yalta Declaration. The basic points are:
-- The artificial division of Europe is unnatural and
destabilizing.
-- When families are divided, and people are not allowed to
maintain normal human and cultural contacts, this creates
international tension.
-- To point this out is not to impinge on the security interests
of any country in Europe.
-- The question is not one of borders. It has to do with one
country imposing its system on others by force.
-- We must not be deluded in ever accepting that one country's
security gives it the right to subjugate another. Such practices
undermine the security of all in the long run.
-- Only a situation in which all feel secure, and sovereign, can
be lasting and secure in the long run.
-- This problem, like others, must be solved peacefully.
-- Full implementation of the Helsinki Final Act, in all its
aspects, can play a key role.
It might be better to move this presentation to an earlier point
in the speech, perhaps just after the discussion of U.S.-Soviet
relations above. It fits in the general East-West context, and
also provides a firm foundation for the excellent concluding
preroration on European unity.
NOTE: The central message of the Strasbourg speech should convey
our policy on East-West relations. It should, therefore, occupy
more space than some of the other themes, particularly the
economic ones. There will be several other speeches during the
European trip where these economic themes should have a more
central role. Therefore, cuts elswhere in the Strasbourg draft
should permit adequate expansion of the East-West themes to make
them comprehensive and coherent.
The Strasbourg Speech: Handling the East-West Theme
Re pp. 11-15:
This theme needs to be developed more logically, and certain key
elements which are now missing should be added. The
illustrations of the Soviet threat can be in vivid language, of
course, but sweeping statement such as the Soviet Union being the
most destabilizing influence in the world should be avoided.
(This is true, but stating it in a speech in Europe will
reinforce the damaging stereotype that the President sees every
issue in the world solely in the U.S. -Soviet context. We must
encourage Western unity and support, not divisive debates on
abstract statements.
When the case has been made regarding the Soviet threat and the
necessity for Western firmness and unity, it is essential to
present our policy as one which combines deterrence with a search
for a more stable peace. The transition can be made with a
paragraph along the following lines:
We must stay united and firm in defense of our precious
values, values won at such sacrifice by earlier generations
and by many members of ours. But we must also remember
another profound truth. That is, in this nuclear age, we
can do so only if we preserve the peace. Preserving the
peace and defending democracy must be integral parts of the
same effort.
Then, the following points will follow logically:
-- The US is making a steady, sustained effort to engage the
USSR in realistic negotiations with the aim of solving problems
in the relationship, reducing tension, and lowering the high
levels of offensive nuclear weapons.
-- Tensions can be lowered only if both sides are prepared for
fair, reciprocal, verifiable agreements. U.S. is ready for such
agreements and will not be deterred from effort to obtain them.
-- US seeks no unilateral advantages. At same time, it can
allow none on the Soviet part.
-- US does not seek to undermine or change Soviet system; at
same time it must resist attempts to use force against US and its
Allies.
-- In arms control, most important objective is lowering level
of offensive nuclear weapons and creating more stable strategic
environment. That is aim of Geneva negotiations.
-- Pleased that Soviet Govt has accepted goal of radical
reductions of nuclear weapons and eventually their complete
elimination. It is now time to translate that professed intent
into concrete, balanced and verifiable agreements.
- 2 -
-- As for the US, we will spare no effort at Geneva and elsewhere
to achieve such agreements.
-- Role of SDI in this. (But I recommend avoiding the acronym
and speaking intead of "defensive systems," and "our research
program"; such terms evoke positive feelings. SDI is a neutral
and emotion-free term (for Europeans, at least), and is usually
translated "Star Wars," which we should not encourage.)
-- Importance of compliance with agreements.
-- Conclude by making point that we must show both firmness and
unity in negotiations, but at the same time reasonable
flexibility.
-- Stress US commitment to consult Allied Governments every step
of the way, since we know that this must be an Allied effort,
even when the U.S. is the negotiator.
- 3 -
Re Eastern Europe (p. 18) :
The first two paragraphs do not convey the essence of our policy.
It would be much better to use language similar to that in the
President's statement of February 8, 1985, concerning the
anniversary of the Yalta Declaration. The basic points are:
-- The artificial division of Europe is unnatural and
destabilizing.
-- When families are divided, and people are not allowed to
maintain normal human and cultural contacts, this creates
international tension.
-- To point this out is not to impinge on the security interests
of any country in Europe.
-- The question is not one of borders. It has to do with one
country imposing its system on others by force.
-- We must not be deluded in ever accepting that one country's
security gives it the right to subjugate another. Such practices
undermine the security of all in the long run.
-- Only a situation in which all feel secure, and sovereign, can
be lasting and secure in the long run.
-- This problem, like others, must be solved peacefully.
-- Full implementation of the Helsinki Final Act, in all its
aspects, can play a key role.
It might be better to move this presentation to an earlier point
in the speech, perhaps just after the discussion of U.S.-Soviet
relations above. It fits in the general East-West context, and
also provides a firm foundation for the excellent concluding
preroration on European unity.
NOTE: The central message of the Strasbourg speech should convey
our policy on East-West relations. It should, therefore, occupy
more space than some of the other themes, particularly the
economic ones. There will be several other speeches during the
European trip where these economic themes should have a more
central role. Therefore, cuts elswhere in the Strasbourg draft
should permit adequate expansion of the East-West themes to make
them comprehensive and coherent.
MASTER II
7
NSC 29
April 28, 1985
1700 hrs
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
STRASBOURG, FRANCE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1985
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honor to be with
you on this day.
We mark today the anniversary of the liberation of Europe
from tyrants who had seized this continent and plunged it into a
terrible war. Forty years ago today, the guns were stilled and
peace began -- a peace that has endured to become the longest of
this century.
On this day 40 years ago, they swarmed onto the boulevards of
Paris, rallied under the Arc de Triomphe, and sang the
"Marseillaise" in the free and open air. In Rome, the sound of
church bells filled St. Peter's square and echoed through the
city. On this day 40 years ago, Winston Churchill walked out
onto a balcony in Whitehall and said to the people of Britain,
"this is your victory" -- and the crowd yelled back, "no, it is
yours," in an unforgettable moment of love and gratitude.
Londoners tore the blackout curtains from their windows, and put
floodlights on the great symbols of English history. And for the
first time in six years Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and St.
1
8
Paul's Cathedral were illuminated against the sky.
Across the ocean, a half million New Yorkers flooded Times
Square and, being Americans, laughed and posed for the cameras.
In Washington, our new president, Harry Truman, called reporters
into his office and said, "the flags of freedom fly all over
Europe.' And, he added, "it's my birthday too
this
On day 40 years ago, I was at my post at the Army Air Corps
installation in Culver City, California. And as I passed a
radio I heard the words, "ladies and gentlemen, the war in Europe
is over," and like so many people that day I felt a chill, as if
a gust of cold wind had just swept past, and-even though, for
America there was still a war on the Pacific Front- I realized:
I will never forget this moment.
This day can't help but be emotional, for in it we feel the
long tug of memory; we are reminded of shared joy and shared pain
and the terrible poignance of life. A few weeks ago in
California an old soldier touched on this. With tears in his
eyes he said, "it was such a different world then. It's almost
impossible to describe it to someone who wasn't there but, when
they finally turned the lights on in the cities again, it was
like being reborn."
2
If it is hard to communicate the happiness of those days, it
is even harder to remember Europe's agony.
So much of it lay in ruins. Whole cities had been destroyed.
children played in the rubble and begged for food.
By this day 40 years ago, 40 million lay dead, and the
survivors composed a continent of victims. And to this day, we
wonder: how did this happen? How did civilization take such a
terrible turn? After all the books and the documentaries, after
all the histories, and studies, we still wonder: How?
Hannah Arendt spoke of "the banality of evil" -- the banality
of the little men who did the terrible deeds. We know what they
were: totalitarians who used the state, which they had elevated
to the level of "God," to inflict war on peaceful nations and
genocide on innocent peoples.
We know of the existence of evil in the human heart, and we
know that in Nazi Germany that evil was institutionalized --
given power and direction by the state, by a corrupt regime and
the jack-boots who did its bidding. And we know, we learned,
that early attempts to placate the totalitarians did not save us
from war. In fact, they guaranteed it. There are lessons to be
learned in this and never forgotten.
3
10
But there is a lesson too in another thing we saw in those
days: perhaps we can call it "the commonness of virtue." The
common men and women who somehow dug greatness from within their
souls-- the people who sang to the children during the blitz, who
joined the resistance and said 'No' to tyranny, the people who
hid the Jews and the dissidents, the people who became, for a
moment, the repositories of all the courage of the West -- from a
child named Anne Frank to a hero named Raoul Wallenberg.
These names shine. They give us heart forever. And the glow
from their beings, the glow of their memories, lit Europe in her
darkest days.
Who can forget the days after the war? They were hard days,
yes, but we can't help but look back and think: life was so
vivid then. There was the sense of purpose, the joy of shared
effort, and, later, the incredible joy of our triumph. Those
were the days when the West rolled up its sleeves and repaired
the damage that had been done. Those were the days when Europe
rose in glory from the ruins.
Old enemies were reconciled with the European family.
Together, America and Europe created and put into place the
Marshall Plan to rebuild from the rubble. Together we created
4
the Atlantic Alliance, an alliance which proceeded not from
transient interests of state but from shared ideals. Together we
created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a defense system
aimed at seeing that the kind of tyrants who had tormented Europe
would never torment her again. NATO was a triumph of
organization and effort, but it was also something new, very
different. For NATO derived its strength directly from the moral
values of the people it represented. It was infused with their
high ideals, their love of liberty, their commitment to peace.
But perhaps the greatest triumph of all was not in the realm
of a sound defense or material achievement. No, the greatest
triumph of Europe after the war is that in spite of all the
chaos, poverty, sickness, and misfortune that plagued this
continent --in spite of all that, the people of Europe resisted
the call of new tyrants and the lure of their seductive
ideologies. Europe did not become the breeding ground for new
extremist philosophies. Europe resisted the totalitarian
temptation. Instead, the people of Europe embraced democracy,
the strongest dream, the dream the fascists could not kill. They
chose freedom.
Today we celebrate the leaders who led the way-- Churchill
and Monnet, Adenauer and Schuman, de Gasperi and Spaak, Truman
and Marshall. And we celebrate, too, the free political parties
5
12
that contributed their share to greatness: the Liberals and the
Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and Labour and the
Conservatives. Together they tugged at the same oar, and the
great and mighty ship of Europe moved on.
If any doubt their success, let them look at you. In this
in
Hair
room are the sons and daughters.of soldiers who fought on
opposite sides 40 years ago and perhaps some of the soldiers
themselves. Now you govern together and lead Europe
democratically. You buried animosity and hatred in the rubble.
There is no greater testament to reconciliation and to the
peaceful unity of Europe than the men and women in this room.
In the decades after the war, Europe knew great growth and
power. You enjoyed amazing vitality in every area of life, from
fine arts to fashion, from manufacturing to science to the world
of ideas. Europe was robust and alive, and none of this was an
accident. It was the natural result of freedom, the natural
fruit of the democratic ideal. We in America looked at Europe
and called her what she was: an Economic Miracle.
And we could hardly be surprised. When we Americans think
about our European heritage we tend to think of your cultural
influences, and the rich ethnic heritage you gave us. But the
industrial revolution that transformed the American economy came
6
13
from Europe. The financing of the railroads we used to settle
the West came from Europe. The guiding intellectual lights of our
democratic system--Locke and Montesquieu, Hume and Adam
Smith--came from Europe. And the geniuses who ushered in the
modern industrial-technological age came from-well, I think you
know, but two examples will suffice. Alexander Graham Bell,
whose great invention maddened every American parent whose child
insists on phoning his European pen pal rather than writing to
him was a Scotsman. And Guglielmo Marconi, who invented the
radio thereby providing a living for a young man from Dixon,
Illinois, who later went into politics I guess I should explain
that's me now you know it's Marconi's fault--Marconi was born,
as you know in Italy.
Tomorrow will mark the 35th anniversary of of the European
Coal and Steel Community, the first block in the creation of a
united Europe. The purpose was to tie French and German -- and
European- industrial production so tightly together that war
between them "becomes not merely unthinkable but materially
impossible." Those are the words of Robert Schumann; the Coal
and Steel Community was the child of his genius. And if he were
here today I believe he would say: We have only just begun!
I am here to tell you America remains, as she was 40 years
ago, dedicated to the unity of Europe. We continue to see a
7
strong and unified Europe not as a rival but as an even stronger
partner. Indeed, John F. Kennedy, in his ringing "Declaration of
Interdependence" in the freedom bell city of Philadelphia 23
years ago, explicitly positioned this objective among the key
tenets of post-war American policy, a policy which foresaw the
New World and the Old as twin pillars of a larger democratic
community. We Americans still see European unity as a vital
force in that historic process. We favor the expansion of the
European Community; we welcome the entrance of Spain and Portugal
into that Community, for their presence makes for a stronger
Europe, and a stronger Europe is a stronger West.
Yet despite Eorope's Economic Miracle which brought so much
prosperity to so many, despite the visionary ideas of John
Kennedy and the European leaders who preceded him, despite the
enlargement of democracy's frontiers within the European
continent, I am told that a more doubting mood is upon Europe
today. I hear words like Europessimism" and "Europaralysis." I
am told that Europe seems to have lost the sense of confidence
that dominated that postwar era. I cannot believe this is
so--but if there is something of a "lost" quality these days, I
suspect it is connected to the fact that some, in the past few
years, have begun to question the ideals and philosophies that
have guided the West for centuries. Some have even come to
question the moral and intellectual worth of the West.
8
I wish to speak, in part, to that questioning today. And
there is no better place to do it than Strasbourg-- where Goethe
studied, where Pasteur taught, where Hugo first knew inspiration.
This has been a lucky city for questioning and finding valid
answers. It is also a city for which some of us feel a very
sweet affection. You know that our statue of Liberty was a gift
from France, and its sculptor, F.A. Bartholdi, was a son of
France. I don't know if you have ever studied the face of the
Statue, but immigrants entering New York Harbor used to strain to
see it, as if it would tell them something about their new world.
It is a strong, kind face; it is the face of Bartholdi's mother;
and she was a woman of Alsace. And so, among the many things we
Americans thank you for, we thank you for her.
The Statue of Liberty - made in Europe, erected in America -
helps remind us not only of the past ties but present realities.
It is to those realities. It is to those realities we must look
in order to dispel whatever doubts may exist about the course of
history and the place of free men and women within it. The fact
of the matter is, we live in a complex, dangerous, divided world,
yet a world which can provide all of the good things we require,
spiritual and material, if we but have the confidence and courage
to face history's challenge.
9
Let us not forget the human cost of the artificial division
of Europe--the families split apart, the once-free individuals
turned into tools of the State, the scarcity and want -- the
whole litany of limits. Let us not forget the sadness that
followed the end of the Prague Spring, the death of the
democratic yearnings that followed the invasion of Hungary, the
oppression of the Solidarity movement in Poland. Let us not
forget that while those in the West dissatisfied with current
policies demonstrate openly, the human rights monitors of the
Helsinki Agreement languish in jails, Gulags, or psychiatric
hospitals.
In 1961, in Berlin, a city half free and half communist,
30,000 people a week were fleeing from one side to the other. I
would ask the young people of Europe: which side were these
people fleeing from, and why? And which regime had to build a
wall and imprison the people so they would not flee.
R
Over the past decade, we have witnessed a massive and
sustained military build-up by the Soviet Union. There is no
justification for this build up -- and the Soviets know it. In
1979, we in the NATO countries were forced to deploy a limited
number of longer-range I.N.F. missiles to offset the Soviet
build-up of SS-20 missiles -- a build-up that had led to an
enormous and widening military imbalance which threatened the
11
17
peace. It was not an easy decision and it was not made without
political cost. Many of the leaders of Europe were as brave as
the great leaders of World War II in resisting pressures to keep
NATO from redressing the balance. And on this day I thank them.
When the Soviets left the negotiating table it was said this
would usher in a new Ice Age. But we in the West were patient
and united--and in time the Soviets returned to the table. Now
new talks have begun in Geneva, and we are hopeful that they will
yield fair and verifiable agreements that could lead to
significant reductions in the size of their nuclear arsenal and
ours.
We will meet with the Soviet Union in good faith. We pray
that the Soviets will adopt the same attitude. We will make it
clear, as we have in the past, that the United States continues
to have peaceful intentions- and only peaceful intentions--
toward the Soviet Union.
We do not go to the bargaining table expecting the Soviets to
suddenly change their system of their intentions in a magnanimous
gesture of good will. But we hope to encourage the Soviets to
see that it is in their own interests to stop trying to achieve a
destabilizing superiority over the West for the cost of their
effort is great, and we will not allow it to succeed.
12
18
We must stay united and firm in defense of our precious
values, values won at such sacrifice by earlier generations and
by members ours. But we must also remember another profound
truth. That is, in this nuclear age, we can do so only if we
preserve the peace. Preserving the peace and defending democracy
must be integral parts of the same effort.
The United States is conducting a steady, sustained effort to
engage the USSR in realistic negotiations with the aim of solving
problems in the relationship, reducing tension, and lowering the
high levels of offensive nuclear weapons. But tensions can be
lowered only if both sides are prepared for fair, reciprocal,
verifiable agreements. The United States is ready for such
agreements and will not be deterred from making every feasible
effort to obtain them.
The United States seeks no unilateral advantages, but at the
same time it will not permit the Soviet Union to gain any. We do
not seek to undermine or change the Soviet system, but we will
resist attempts to use force against us or our allies.
In arms control the single most important objective we should
seek today is the lowering of the unacceptable level of offensive
nuclear weapons. Drastic reductions of these weapons would
13
create a more stable strategic environment, and that is our
primary goal in the Geneva negotiations. We are pleased that the
Soviet government has accepted this objective, the reduction of
nuclear weapons and their eventual elimination.
But let me pause for a moment and ask you to look beyond the
often esoteric doctrines of nuclear strategy and the
anti-humanist, even horrible ideas implied in such terms as
Mutual Assured Destruction. Can we not imagine a future free
from the catastrophic terror or warfare? Do we, the leaders of
this generation, not have the awesome responsibility to provide
something better, something safer for our children and our
children's children? Should we not use the gifts of our
technological genius to seek a world in which generations need
not rely on ever greater, ever more frightening arsenals of
death? That is the simple yet compelling idea behind our present
strategic research, no more, and certainly no less: the
practical quest for a community no longer menaced by the dark and
pervasive shadow of nuclear aggression. Such a quest remains
part of the unfinished business of genuine peace, the peace which
began 40 years ago when the guns in Europe were finally stilled.
There is one area of defense that I want to speak about today
because it is misunderstood by some of our friends. Ever since
the Soviet Union came into possession of the secrets of nuclear
14
technology, we in the west have had no choice but to rely upon
the threat of nuclear retaliation in order to deter war.
Deterrence on this basis has worked for 40 years now, and for
the foreseeable future, it will remain the foundation of our
common security. But we have hoped for a better way. I believe
we may find it in emerging technologies aimed at enhancing
deterrence through defensive means-- non-nuclear means. The
United States has begun to investigate the feasibility of these
new technologies in a broad-based research program we call the
Strategic Defense initiative-- or SDI.
This research program is an ambitious undertaking, and we
cannot yet say which technologies will prove feasible. With it
comes the possibility that we may one day be able to rely far
less on the threat of nuclear retaliation to keep the peace, and
to increase our dependence on non-nuclear means which threaten no
one.
Can the potential benefits of these technologies be any
clearer? Certainly not to the Soviets, for they are doing the
same kind of research. And we do not fear this-- we welcome it.
This research is not an attempt to achieve nuclear
superiority-- it is an attempt to achieve greater security. This
research is not an attempt to abrogate existing arms control
15
21
treaties-- it is being carried out in full compliance with such
treaties. SDI is not destabilizing -- in fact, as the Soviets
have long pursued such research, it would be
destabilizing if the West did not. The results of the research
will not "decouple" America from Europe-- if it bears fruit, it
will enhance the security system that will protect all of the
West.
We all want peace; we all want to protect the world. But we
have a better chance of preserving the peace if we in the West
see the world as it is and deal honestly with its hard realities.
There are those in the West who call for disarmament, a
thoroughly laudable and understandable desire. But I think it
important to point out that some people forget it is true arms
control we desire-- and not just signing ceremonies. If we
really care about arms control, we must care about compliance in
arms control agreements. I think it is important that all of us
show interest in this manner, for arms control means nothing
unless both sides comply.
We have much to do-- and we must do it together. We must
remember anew that the road to peace does not run through Munich.
We must remain unified in the face of attempts to divide us. We
must remain strong in spite of attempts to weaken us. And we
16
must remember that our unity and our strength are not a mere
impulse of like-minded allies, not a mere geopolitical
calculation. Our unity is the natural result of our shared love
for liberty.
I am here today to reaffirm to the people of Europe the
constancy of the American purpose. We were at your side through
7
two great wars; we have been at your side through 40 years of a
sometimes painful peace; and we are at your side today. It is
not mere sentiment that dictates this, though sentiment we feel.
We are here because, like you, we have not veered from the ideals
of the West -- the ideals of freedom, liberty, and peace. Let no
one -- no one -- doubt our purpose.
The United States is committed not only to the security of
Europe--we are committed to the recreation of a larger and more
genuinely European Europe. The United States is committed not
only to a partnership with Europe-- the United States is
committed to an end to the artificial division of Europe.
I will tell you of the Parliament of Europe I hope an
American President will address 40 years from now. This room
will hardly be big enough to hold all the delegates froma united
European family. Here, the boisterous Polish delegation, there
the delegation from Hungary debating the finer points of freedom,
17
23
there the Czechs and the Bulgarians.
A Europe undivided will make for a more peaceful world; and
God knows it will make for a happier one. And this is not a
dream; we can make it into reality, if we work together with
commitment and trust and patience.
All of us in this room want to preserve and protect our own
democratic liberties -- but don't we also have a responsibility
to encourage democracy throughout the world? Only in an
atmosphere of democracy can man peacefully resolve his
differences through the ballot, through a free press, through
free speech and free political parties and the right to redress
injustice.
More and more of the countries of the world are turning to
democracy- turning each day, turning at great price, turning with
great effort. In the past 10 years alone
countries that
did not know political freedom, for whatever reason, have become
democratic. As we seek to encourage democracy, we must remember
that each country must struggle for democracy within its own
culture; emerging democracies have special problems and require
special help. Those nations whose democratic institutions are
newly emerged and whose confidence in th process is not yet
deeply rooted need our help. They should have an established
18
20
community of their peers, other democratic countries to whom they
can turn for support or just advice.
In my address to the British Parliament in 1982. I spoke of
the need for democratic governments to come together and spread
the democratic word throughout the world. Soon after, the
Council of Europe brought together delegates from four
continents, and I congratulate these European Members of
Parliament for what is now known as the "Strasbourg Initiative."
I would hope that this initiative could be continued,
gathering not only Europe's own, but all the emerging democracies
to craft a sense of common purpose to help move the world forward
to social justice, human dignity, economic growth and political
democracy. In the three years since my speech at Westminster, we
in our country have engaged in a broad bipartisan effort to
strengthen and promote democratic ideals and institutions.
Following a pattern first started in democratic West Germany, two
years ago, the United States Congress approved the National
Endowment for Democracy. This organization subsequently
established institutes of labor, business, and political parties
dedicated to programs of cooperation with democratic forces
around the world. I can report to you that the Endowment is off
to a fine start. I would encourage other European democracies to
create similar organizations to foster democracy.
19
24
But I believe we need more. I believe we need a formal
community to which nations can look for help as they try to
strengthen their institutions. Let us establish an Association
of Democracies. We should establish such a democratic forum, in
which alll democracies are free to participate, to strengthen and
foster democracy among both the developed and the developing
countries, arrange for exchanges of the democratic experience,
promote free communications and media, foster human rights,
combat terrorism, and examine the impact of social and economic
problems on democratic systems. Such as Association, working
closely with parallel efforts in teh nongovernmental sector,
could provide practical training, moral encouragement, and
financial support to pro-democratic political, labor, business,
and civic organizations. Whether this forum is begun here in
Strasbourg, or elsewhere, let us begin. And let us use as our
byword a simple phrase- but one that carries within if all the
best of our past and the promise of our future: Freedom Works!
And as we work, we will remember those who have for now, but
only for now, lost out on the long fight for freedom.
The force of the democratic ideal does not stop short because
there are arbitrary borders, some with barbed wires and control
towers. Here in Western Europe, you have created a Europe for
20
yourselves in which there is a free flow of people, of
information, of goods and of culture. It is the natural bent of
all Europeans to move freely in all directions. sharing and
partaking of each other's ideas and culture. It is my hope, our
hope, that in the 21st century-- which is only 15 years away--
all Europeans, from Moscow to Lisbon can travel without a
passport and the free flow of people and ideas will include the
other half of Europe. It is my fervent wish that in the next
century there will once again be one, free Europe.
There are those who say the West lacks energy -- the moral
and spiritual energy to carry forth these hopes and plans. But
that it not true. As Churchill said, "we have not come this far
becasue we are made of sugar candy."
I do not believe those who say the people of Europe today are
But to those who say
paralyzed and pessimistic. But if this is so, then all I can say
as an objective friend who has observed you for over 40 years is:
Europe, beloved Europe, you are greater than you know. You are
the treasury of centuries of Western thought and Western culture,
you are the father of Western ideals and the mother of Western
faith.
Europe, you have been the power and the glory of the West,
and you are a moral success. In fact, in the horrors after World
21
War II, when you rejected totalitarianism, when you rejected the
lure of new "Superman," and a "New Communist Man," you proved
that you were -- and are -- a moral triumph.
You in the West are a Europe without illusions, a Europe
firmly grounded in the ideals and traditions that made her
greatness, a Europe unbound and unfettered by a bankrupt
ideology. You are, today, a New Europe on the brink of a new
century -- a democratic community with much to be proud of.
We have much to do. The work ahead is not unlike the
building of great cathedral. The work is slow, complicated, and
painstaking. It is passed on with pride from generation to
generation. It is the work not only of leaders but of ordinary
people. The cathedral evolves as it is created, with each
generation adding its own vision -- but the initial spark of
vision remains constant, and the faith that drives the vision
persists. The results may be slow to see, but our children and
their children will trace in the air the emerging arches and
spires and know the faith and dedication and love that produced
them. My friends, Europe is the Cathedral, and it is illuminated
still.
And if you doubt your will, and your spirit, and your
strength to stand for something, think of those people 40 years
22
28
ago -- who wept in the rubble, who laughed in the streets, who
paraded across Europe, who cheered Churchill with love and
devotion, and who sang the "Marseillaise" down the boulevards.
May I tell you: spirit like that does not disappear; it cannot
perish; it will not go away. There's too much left unsung within
it.
Thank you, all of you for your graciousness on this great
day. Thank you, and God bless you all.
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DOCDATE 23 APR 85
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CHEW, D
26 APR 85
KEYWORDS: EUROPE WEST
NATO
BONN SUMMIT
SDI
ARMS CONTROL
DEMOCRACY PROGRAM
SUBJECT: PRES ADDRESS TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT IN STRASBOURG 8 MAY
ACTION: MEMO KIMMITT TO ELLIOTT / CHEW DUE: 29 APR 85 STATUS X/S FILES WH
FOR ACTION
FOR CONCURRENCE
FOR INFO
COBB
MATLOCK
FORTIER
PEARSON
STEINER
MCMINN
KIMMITT
MARTIN
SOMMER
RENTSCHLER
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COMMENTS COMMENTS DUE IMMEDIATELY
REF#
LOG
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( JF
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ACTION OFFICER (S)
ASSIGNED
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Cobb
5 4/29
- 4/29 Recd Shell Chao Referral Same
memo Kiremitt.GElliot
DISPATCH
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(C)
30
Document No.
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE: 4/27/85
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 8:00 a.m. MONDAY, 4/29/85
SUBJECT: ADDRESS: TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
Strasbourg, France (4/27/85 -- 2:00 pm)
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
OGLESBY
REGAN
ROLLINS
>
DEAVER
SPEAKES
>
STOCKMAN
C.
SVAHN
P
BUCHANAN
>
TUTTLE
CHEW
P
SS VERSTANDIG
FIELDING
WHITTLESEY
FRIEDERSDORF
RYAN
HICKEY
DANIELS
HICKS
SPRINKEL
HENKEL
KINGON
McFARLANE
ELLIOTT
SIMS
REMARKS:
Attached is the Strasbourg Address. Please give it
your IMMEDIATE attention, and forward any comments
or edits directly to Ben Elliott by 8:00 a.m. MONDAY,
4/29/85, with an info copy to my office.
Thanks.
RESPONSE:
David L. Chew
Staff Secretary
Ext. 2702
31
(Noonan/BE)
April 27, 1985
2:00 p.m.
PRESIDENTIAL-ADDRESS: TO EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
STRASBOURG, FRANCE
WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1985
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honor to be with
you on this day.
We mark today the anniversary of the liberation of Europe
from tyrants who had seized this continent and plunged it into a
terrible war. Forty years ago today, the guns were stilled and
peace began -- a peace that has endured to become the longest of
this century.
On this day 40 years ago, they swarmed onto the boulevards
of Paris, rallied under the Arc de Triomphe and sang the
"Marseillaise" in the free and open air. In Rome, the sound of
church bells filled St. Peter's Square and echoed through the
city. On this day 40 years ago, Winston Churchill walked out
onto a balcony in Whitehall and said to the people of Britain,
"This is your victory" -- and, the crowd yelled back, "No, it is
yours," in an unforgettable moment of love and gratitude.
Londoners tore the blackout curtains from their windows, and put
floodlights on the great symbols of English history. And for the
first time in 6 years Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and St. Paul's
Cathedral were illuminated against the sky.
Across the ocean, a half million New Yorker's flooded Times
Square and, being Americans, laughed and posed for the cameras.
In Washington, our new President, Harry Truman, called reporters
into his office and said, "The flags of freedom fly all over
Europe." [He added: "And it's my birthday too!"]
Page 2
On this day 40 years ago, I was at my post at an Army Air
Corps installation in Culver City, California. And as I passed a
radio I heard the words, "Ladies and gentlemen, the war in Europe
is over," and like so many people that day I felt a chill, as if
a gust of cold wind had just swept past, and I realized: I will
never forget this moment.
This day can't help but be emotional, for in it we feel the
long tug of memory; we are reminded of shared joy and shared pain
and the terrible poignance of life. A few weeks ago in
California an old soldier touched on this. With tears in his
eyes he said, "It was such a different world then. It's almost
impossible to describe it to someone who wasn't there, but when
-
they finally turned the lights on in the cities again it was like
being reborn."
If it is hard to communicate the happiness of those days, it
is even harder to remember Europe's agony.
So much of it lay in ruins. Whole cities had been
destroyed. Children played in the rubble and begged for food.
By this day 40 years ago, 40 million lay dead, and the
survivors composed a continent of victims. And to this day, we
wonder: How did this happen? How did civilization take such a
terrible turn? After all the books and the documentaries, after
all the histories, and studies, we still wonder: How?
Hannah Arendt spoke of "the banality of evil" -- the
banality of the little men who did the terrible deeds. We know
what they were: totalitarians who used the state, which they had
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Page 3
elevated to the level of "God," to inflict war on peaceful
nations and genocide on an innocent people.
We know of the existence of evil in the human heart, and we
know that in Nazi Germany that evil was institutionalized --
given power and direction by the State, by a corrupt regime and
the jack-boots who did its bidding. And we know, we learned,
that early attempts to placate the totalitarians did not save us
from war. In fact, they guaranteed it. There are lessons to be
learned in this and never forgotten
But there is a lesson too in another thing we saw in those
days; perhaps we can call it "the commonness of virtue." I am
speaking of the "common" men and women who somehow dug greatness
from within their souls -- the people who sang to the children
during the blitz, who joined the Resistance and said 'No' to
tyranny, the people who hid the Jews and the dissidents, the
people who became, for a moment, the repositories of all the
courage of the West -- from a child named Anne Frank to a hero
named Wallenberg.
These names shine. They give us heart forever. And the
glow from their beings, the glow of their memories, lit Europe in
her darkest days.
Who can forget the days after the war? They were hard days,
yes, but we can't help but look back and think: Life was so
vivid then. There was the sense of purpose, the joy of shared
effort, and, later, the impossible joy of our triumph. Those
were the days when the West rolled up her sleeves and repaired
Page 4
the damage that had been done. Those were the days when Europe
rose in glory from the ruins.
Old enemies were reconciled with the European family.
Together, America and Europe created and put into place the
Marshall Plan to rebuild from the rubble. Together we created
the Atlantic Alliance, the first alliance in the world which
proceeded not from transient interests of state but from shared
ideals. Together we created the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization, a defense system aimed at seeing that the kind of
tyrants who had tormented Europe would never torment her again.
NATO was a triumph of organization and effort, but it was also
something very new, very different. For NATO derived its
strength directly from the moral values of the people it
represented. It was infused with their high ideals, their love
of liberty, their commitment to peace.
But perhaps the greatest triumph of all was not in the realm
of a sound defense or material achievement. No, the greatest
triumph of Europe after the war is that in spite of all the
chaos, poverty, sickness, and misfortune that plagued this
continent -- in spite of all that, the people of Europe resisted
the call of new tyrants and the lure of their seductive
philosophies. Europe did not become the breeding ground for new
extremist philosophies. Europe resisted the totalitarian
temptation. Instead, the people of Europe embraced democracy,
the strongest dream, the dream the fascists could not kill. They
chose freedom.
Page 5
Today we celebrate the leaders who led the way -- Churchill
and Monnet, Adenauer and Schuman, de Gasperi and Spaak, Truman
and Marshall, And we celebrate, too, the free political parties
that contributed their share to greatness: the Liberals and the
Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and Labour and the
Conservatives. Together they tugged at the same oar; and the
great and mighty ship of Europe moved on.
If any doubt their success, let them look at you. In this
room are the sons and daughters of soldiers who fought on
opposites sides 40 years ago. Now you govern together and lead
Europe democratically. You buried animosity and hatred in the
rubble. There is no greater testament to reconciliation and to -
the peaceful unity of Europe than the men and women in this room.
In the decades after the war, Europe knew great growth and
power. You enjoyed amazing vitality in every area of life, from
manufacturing to science, from the world of ideas to fine arts
and fashion. Europe was robust and alive, and none of this was
an accident. It was the natural result of freedom, the natural
fruit of the democratic ideal. We in America looked at Europe
and called her what she was: an Economic Miracle.
And we could hardly be surprised. When we Americans think
about our European heritage we tend to think of your cultural
influences, and the rich ethnic heritage you gave us. But the
industrial revolution that transformed the American economy came
from Europe. The financing of the railroads we used to settle
the West came from Europe. The guiding intellectual lights of
our free enterprise system -- Locke and Montesquie, Hume and Adam
Page 6
Smith -- came from Europe. And the geniuses who ushered in the
modern indust7ial-technological age came from -- well, I think
you know, but two examples will suffice. Alexander Graham Bell,
whose great invention maddened every American parent whose child
insists on phoning his European pen pal rather than writing to
him -- was a Scotsman. And Gugliemo Marconi, who invented the
radio -- thereby providing a living for a young man from Dixon,
Illinois, who later went into politics -- I guess I should
explain that's me -- now you know it's Marconi's fault -- Marconi
was born and bred, as you know, in Italy.
And so we owe you much. And we must continue to learn from
each other, and help each other.
But now, after the Economic Miracle, after decades of
prosperity, now I am told that Europe is changing somehow. I
hear of "Europessimism" and "Europaralysis." I am told that
Europe seems to have lost the sense of confidence that dominated
that postwar era. I cannot believe this is so -- but if there is
something of a "lost" quality these days, I suspect it is
connected to the fact that some of us, in the past few years,
have begun to question the ideals and philosophies that have
guided the West for centuries. Some of us have even come to
doubt the moral and intellectual worth of the West.
I wish to speak, in part, to that questioning today. And
there is no better place to do it than Strasbourg -- where Goethe
studied, where Pasteur taught, where Hugo first new inspiration.
This has been a lucky city for questioning and finding valid
answers. It is also a city for which some of us feel a very
Page 7
sweet affection. You know that our Statue of Liberty was a gift
from France, and its sculptor, F.A. Bartholdi, was a son of
France. I don't know if you have ever studied the face of the
Statue, but immigrants entering New York Harbor used to strain to
see it, as if it would tell them something about their new world.
It is a strong, kind face; it is the face of Bartholdi's mother;
and she was a woman of Alsace. And so, among the many thing we
Americans thank you for, we thank you for her.
I believe that some of the doubts about the West are
directly connected to the performance of the West's economies.
Five years ago it was fashionable to say "The U.S. economy is
finished." And now they are saying it of Europe. In the past
few years, Europe's dynamism has slowed somewhat. And I believe
we can agree on some reasons for this -- and some solutions.
I believe that we in the West -- all of us, to varying
degrees -- have been so preoccupied with providing economic
security for our people that we have inadvertently engaged in
policies that have reduced economic opportunity. We know what
those policies are: massive growth in public expenditure, both
in volume and as a percentage of G.N.P. -- and a bias against
entrepreneurship. The last is the key problem, I believe,
because a bias against entrepreneurship is a bias against
individual freedom -- and where there is no freedom, prosperity
perishes.
Have we forgotten some bracing truths? Freedom of economic
action -- from freedom of invention to freedom of investment --
is the one system designed by man that succeeds in raising up the
Page 8
poor. When men and women are encouraged and allowed to start
their own businesses, and create wealth and jobs, they not only
add to the sum total of happiness in their communities -- they
add to the sum total of economic energy in their country, and the
sum total of economic strength in the West.
All of us in the West should honor the entrepreneur for
his -- and her -- contributions to the common good, the common
welfare. To invest one's time and money in an enterprise is a
profoundly faithful act, for it is a declaration of faith in the
future. Entrepreneurs take risks that benefit us all -- and they
deserve rewards.
I believe that all of us are at a unique time in the world's
history in that we know what to do and have the means to do it.
Now is the time to realize that all economic policies must be
judged by their effects on economic growth. I believe that now
is the time to strengthen incentives and remove the impediments
to growth -- to lower tax rates on our people, to let them enjoy
more of the fruits of their labor, and to restrain government
spending, eliminate regulatory burdens, and reduce tariff
barriers. I do not pretend that we are necessarily a model for
others. But I can tell you that we have seen great growth from
our efforts -- growth which has given new life to investment in
smaller high-tech firms, which, themselves, become vessels for
change, opportunity, and progress.
My friends, pro-growth policies in one country enhance the
economic well-being of all the world's citizens, for when we
increase the supply and the demand for goods and services in one
Page 9
country, all the markets of the world are enhanced. And I
believe we must realize that if our young people feel powerless,
part of the solution is returning to them a chance at economic
power.
Europe's economic growth will be accelerated by further
development of European unity. Tomorrow will mark the
35th anniversary of the European Coal and Steel Community, the
first block in the creation of a united Europe. The purpose was
to tie French and German -- and European -- industrial production
so tightly together that war between them would "become not
merely unthinkable but materially impossible." Those are the
words of Robert Schuman; the Coal and Steel Community was a child
of his genius. And if he were here today I believe he would say:
We have only just begun!
I am here to tell you America remains, as she was 40 years
ago, dedicated to the unity of Europe. We continue to see a
strong and unified Europe not as a rival but as an even stronger
partner. We favor the expansion of the European Community; we
welcome the entrance of Spain and Portugal into that Community,
for their presence makes for a stronger Europe, and a stronger
Europe is a stronger West.
The economic summit we have just concluded in Bonn has
reaffirmed once again the importance of Western economic
cooperation. And it reaffirmed the importance of the commitment
we all share to liberalize trade and resist protectionist
pressures. I believe a key step to ensuring continued growth is
to launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations next
40
Page 10
year. And-so-I welcome the idea, given new impetus at Bonn, of a
"Brussels Round.'
If reality is on the side of capitalism, morality is surely
on the side of democracy. But I wonder, too, if all of us still
have complete faith in this fact. It seems to me the dilemma is
both political and perceptual. Forty years ago, we in the West
knew who our adversaries were and why. But some of us in the
West today seem confused about what is right and what is wrong,
what is a decent system and what is not, which philosophies
should be resisted by man and which encouraged.
This terrible moral confusion is reflected even in our
language. Some speak of "East-West" tensions as if the West and
the East were equally responsible for the threat to world peace
today. Some speak of "The Superpowers" as if they are moral
equals -- two huge predators composed in equal parts of virtue
and of vice. Some speak of the "senseless spiral of the arms
race" as if the West and the East are equally consumed by the
ambition to dominate the world. Some speak as if the world were
morally neutral -- when in our hearts, most of us know it is not.
Let us look at the world as it is. There is a destabilizing
force in the world -- and it is not the democracies of the West.
There is a political entity which, through its enormous military
power, means to spread its rule -- and it is not the democracies
of the West.
The central cause of the tensions of our time is the
conflict between totalitarianism and democracy. The evidence of
this is all around us, all around you. Europe is split in two.
Page 11
One side is free, democratic, non-expansionist, non-threatening
and peace loving. The other side is populated by subjugated
peoples who are suffering under the dictatorship of an
expansionist power.
And let us not forget the human cost of that, the terrible
human tragedy that has taken place on this continent -- the
families split apart, the once-free individuals turned into tools
of the State, the scarcity and want -- the whole litany of
limits. Let us not forget the sadness that followed the end of
the Prague Spring, the death of the spirit that followed the
Soviet tanks into Hungary, the oppression of the Solidarity
movement in Poland, the jailing of the human rights monitors of
the Helsinki Agreement.
And the human tragedy is not confined to Europe.
In the late 1970's, in Indochina, a million boat people fled
a dictatorship fed by Soviet expansionism. In Afghanistan they
flee Soviet occupation. In Ethiopia they are starving to death
because of communism. In Central America they flee communism.
In Eastern Europe, 40 years after she was subsumed by the Soviet
State, they still flee from Soviet occupation.
It is the communist system, and especially the Soviet Union,
which is the principal destabilizing influence in the world
today. It is the acquisitive impulses of Soviet communism
against which we are forced to defend ourselves. And knowing
this, admitting this, is the beginning of wisdom and security for
the West. For without this knowledge we cannot maintain the
strength that maintains our peace.
Page 12
Over the past decade, we have witnessed a massive and
sustained military build-up by the Soviet Union. There is no
justification for this build-up -- and the Soviets know it. In
1979, we in the NATO countries were forced to deploy a limited
number of longer-range I.N.F. missiles to offset the Soviet
buildup of SS-20 missiles -- a build-up that had led to an
enormous and widening gap. It was not an easy decision and it
was not made without political cost. Many of the leaders of
Europe were as brave as the great leaders of the World War II in
resisting pressures to stop deployment. And on this day I thank
them.
When the Soviets left the negotiating table, it was said
this would usher in a new Ice Age. But we in the West were
patient and united -- and in time the Soviets returned to the
table. Now new talks have begun in Geneva, and we are hopeful
that they will yield fair and verifiable agreements that could
lead to significant reductions in the size of their nuclear
arsenal and ours.
We will meet with the Soviet Union in good faith. We pray
that the Soviets will adopt the same attitude. We will make it
clear, as we have in the past, that the United States continues
to have peaceful intentions -- and only peaceful intentions --
toward the Soviet Union.
We do not go to the bargaining table expecting the Soviets
to suddenly change their system or their intentions in a
magnanimous gesture of good will. But we hope to encourage the
Soviets to see that it is in their own interests to stop trying
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Page 13
to achieve destabilizing superiority over the West -- for the
cost of their effort is great, and we will not allow it to
succeed.
There is one area of our common defense that I want to speak
about today because it is misunderstood by some of our friends.
Ever since the Soviet Union came into possession of the secrets
of nuclear technology, we in the West have had no choice but to
rely upon the so-called "balance of terror" in order to deter
war. Deterrence has worked for 40 years now, and for the
foreseeable future it will remain the foundation of our common
security. But we have long hoped for a better way. I believe we
may have found it in emerging new technologies aimed at enhancing
our safety through defensive means -- non-nuclear means. The
United States has begun to investigate the feasibility of these
new technologies in a research program we call the Strategic
Defense Initiative -- or S.D.I.
The research completed so far is an ambitious undertaking.
With it comes the possibility that we may one day be able to rely
far less on the threat of nuclear retaliation to keep the peace
and to rely more on non-nuclear defenses, which threaten no one.
Can the potential benefits of these technologies be any
clearer? Certainly not to the Soviets, for they are doing the
same kind of research. And we do not fear this -- we welcome it.
This research is not an attempt to achieve nuclear
superiority -- it is an attempt to achieve greater security.
This research is not an attempt to abrogate existing arms control
treaties -- S.D.I. is being carried out in full compliance with
Page 14
such treaties. This research is not destabilizing -- in fact, as
the Soviets have long pursued such research, it would be
destabilizing if the West did not. S.D.I. will not "decouple"
America from Europe -- S.D.I. is part of the security system that
will protect all of the West.
We all want peace; we all want to protect the world. But we
will preserve the peace only if we see the world as it is and
deal honestly with its hard realities.
There are those in the West who call for disarmament, a
thoroughly laudable and understandable desire. But I think it
important to point out that some people forget it is true arms
control we desire -- and not just signing ceremonies. If we
really care about arms control, we must care about compliance in
arms control agreements. I think it is important that all of us
show interest in this matter, for arms control means nothing
unless both sides comply. And I would ask if it is not
reasonable to state the following: that anyone who talks arms
control, but never about compliance is, wittingly or unwittingly,
contributing not to peace but to the unilateral disarmament of
the West. And we cannot have that, because if the West and only
the West is disarmed, then we will wind up back in 1939 -- and
the tanks of the totalitarians will roll again.
History has taught a lesson we must never forget:
Totalitarians do not stop -- they must be stopped. And we can do
this -- peacefully. I believe we must remember first of all that
we are not powerless before history. The answer to the dilemma
of the West resides within the heart of the West; it resides in
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the knowledge_that "the history of the world begins anew with
every man, and ends with him." "
We have much to do -- and we must do it together. We must
remember anew that the road to peace does not run through Munich.
We must remain unified in the face of attempts to divide us. We
must remain strong in spite of attempts to weaken us. And we
must remember that our unity and our strength are not a mere
impulse of like-minded allies, not a mere geopolitical
calculation. Our unity is the natural result of our shared love
for liberty.
I am here today to reaffirm to the people of Europe the
constancy of the American purpose. We were at your side through
two great wars; we have been at your side through 40 years of a
sometimes painful peace; and we are at your side today. It is
not mere sentiment that dictates this, though sentiment we feel.
We are here because, like you, we have not veered from the ideals
of the West -- the ideals of freedom, liberty, and peace. Let no
one -- no one -- doubt our purpose.
We must together, and today, agree on what we want for
Europe. Forty years after World War II we must declare what we
want the Europe of 40 years from now to be. And I will tell you:
we want it to be united and we want it to be free.
The United States is committed not only to the security of
Europe -- we are committed to the recreation of a larger and more
genuinely European Europe. The United States is committed not
only to a partnership with Europe -- the United States is
committed to an end of the division of Europe. I tell you
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nothing is so written in the history of man on Earth as this:
Europe will be restored.
I will tell you of the Parliament of Europe I hope an
American President will address 40 years from now. This room
will hardly be big enough for all the delegates from all the lost
countries. Here, the boisterous Polish delegation, there the
delegation from Hungary debating the finer points of freedom,
there the Czechs and the Bulgarians.
A Europe restored will make for a more peaceful world; and
God knows it will make for a happier one. And this is not a
dream; we can make it into reality, if we work together with
commitment and trust and patience.
All of us in this room want to preserve and protect our own
democratic liberties -- but don't we have a responsibility to
encourage democracy throughout the world? And not because
democracy is "our" form of government but because we have learned
that democracy is, in the last analysis, the only peaceful form
of government. It is, in fact, the greatest Conflict Resolution
Mechanism ever devised by man.
Democracy is the institutionalization of restraint on the
possibility of irresponsible behavior by governments. Democracy
is the forced submission of rulers to the peaceful desires of the
people. And only in an atmosphere of democracy can man
peacefully resolve his differences through the ballot, through a
free press, through free speech and free political parties and
the right to redress injustice.
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More and-more of the countries of the world are turning to
democracy -- turning each day, turning at great price, turning
with great effort. In the past 10 years along countries
that
did not know political freedom, for whatever reason, have become
democratic.
Throughout the world Freedom Fighters cry out for
assistance -- in Afghanistan, in Asia, in Africa and Central
America. And the most heartening thing, the most inspiring thing
about these movements is that they are dominated by the young.
It is freedom that is new again, democracy that is the new idea.
And we know why: because their newness is eternal. All the
other systems -- all the "isms" -- reek with feebleness and age.
As we seek to encourage democracy, we must remember that
each country must struggle for democracy within its own culture;
emerging democracies have special problems and require special
help. Nearly 3 years ago in Westminster, I spoke of the need for
democratic governments to come together and spread the democratic
word throughout the world. Soon after, the Council of Europe
brought together delegates from four continents, and I
congratulate these European Members of Parliament for what is now
known as the "Strasbourg Initiative."
But I believe we need more. I believe we need a formal
community to which nations can look for help as they try to
strengthen their institutions. I believe we should begin a
democratic forum in which practical training, moral
encouragement, and financial support can be given to
pro-democratic political, labor, business and civic
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organizations. I believe we must help those who strive to
improve living conditions in countries with a high level of
poverty. Whether this forum is begun here in Strasbourg, or
elsewhere, let us begin. And let us use as our byword a simple
phrase -- but one that carries within it all the best of our past
and the promise of our future: freedom works -- and so,
"Democracies Unite." After all, those we help have nothing to
lose but their chains.
And as we work, we will remember those who have for now, but
only for now, lost out on the long fight for freedom.
On this 40th anniversary of the liberation of the victims of
yesterday, I wish to speak to the victims of today. The people
of the communist countries, the people who live lives of quiet
desperation. I wish to speak to those who live in the slave
labor camps and the psychiatric hospitals -- the people behind
the walls, and the barbed wire, and the secret police border
guards.
To them I say: We will not forget you nor forsake you. We
are your spiritual allies. We are with you as you suffer. We
stand beside you still.
This is our mission, then: to push back the borders of
tyranny and let freedom flood the world. We in the West, we in
this room, have great challenges ahead of us, great goals
inspired by great love.
There are those who say the West lacks energy -- the moral
and spiritual energy to carry forth these great hopes and plans.
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But that could not be true. As Churchill said, "We have not come
this far because we are made of sugar candy."
I do not believe those who say the people of Europe are
these days paralyzed and pessimistic. But if this is so, then
all I can say as an objective friend who has known you for over
40 years, is:
Europe, beloved Europe, you are greater than you know. You
are the treasury of centuries of Western thought and Western
culture, you are the father of Western ideals and the mother of
Western faith.
Europe, you have been the power and the glory of the West,
and you are a moral success. In fact, in the horrors after World
War II, when you rejected totalitarianism, when you rejected the
lure of a new "Superman," and a "New Communist Man," you proved
that you were -- and are -- a moral triumph.
You are a Europe without illusions, a Europe firmly grounded
in the ideals and traditions that made her greatness, a Europe
unbound and unfettered by communism or fascism. You are, today,
a New Europe on the brink of a New Century -- a democratic
continent with much to be proud of.
We have much to do. The work ahead is not unlike the
building of a great cathedral. The work is slow, complicated,
and painstaking. It is passed on with pride from generation to
generation. It is the work not only of leaders but of ordinary
people. The cathedral evolves as it is created, with each
generation adding its own vision -- but the initial spark of
vision remains constant, and the faith that drives the vision
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persists. The results may be slow to see, but our children and
their children will trace in the air the emerging arches and
spires and know the faith and dedication and love that produced
them. My friends, Europe is the Cathedral -- and it is
illuminated still.
And if you doubt your will, and your spirit, and your
strength to stand for something, think of those people 40 years
ago -- who wept in the rubble, who laughed in the streets, who
paraded across Europe, who cheered Churchill with love and
devotion, and who sang the "Marseillaise" down the boulevards.
May I tell you: spirit like that does not disappear; it cannot
perish; it will not go away. There's too much left unsung within
it.
Thank you, all of you, for your graciousness on this great
day. Thank you, and God bless you all.