1、Dwight D. Eisenhower: “Atoms for Peace“Madam President and Members of the General Assembly: When Secretary General Hammarskjolds invitation to address this General Assembly reached me in Bermuda, I was just beginning a series of conferences with the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of Great Bri
2、tain and of France. Our subject was some of the problems that beset our world.During the remainder of the Bermuda Conference, I had constantly in mind that ahead of me lay a great honor. That honor is mine today, as I stand here, privileged to address the General Assembly of the United Nations.At th
3、e same time that I appreciate the distinction of addressing you, I have a sense of exhilaration as I look upon this Assembly. Never before in history has so much hope for so many people been gathered together in a single organization. Your deliberations and decisions during these somber years have a
4、lready realized part of those hopes.But the great tests and the great accomplishments still lie ahead. And in the confident expectation of those accomplishments, I would use the office which, for the time being, I hold, to assure you that the Government of the United States will remain steadfast in
5、its support of this body. This we shall do in the conviction that you will provide a great share of the wisdom, of the courage, and the faith which can bring to this world lasting peace for all nations, and happiness and well-being for all men. Clearly, it would not be fitting for me to take this oc
6、casion to present to you a unilateral American report on Bermuda. Nevertheless, I assure you that in our deliberations on that lovely island we sought to invoke those same great concepts of universal peace and human dignity which are so cleanly etched in your Charter. Neither would it be a measure o
7、f this great opportunity merely to recite, however hopefully, pious platitudes.I therefore decided that this occasion warranted my saying to you some of the things that have been on the minds and hearts of my legislative and executive associates, and on mine, for a great many months - thoughts I had
8、 originally planned to say primarily to the American people.I know that the American people share my deep belief that if a danger exists in the world, it is a danger shared by all; and equally, that if hope exists in the mind of one nation, that hope should be shared by all.Finally, if there is to b
9、e advanced any proposal designed to ease even by the smallest measure the tensions of todays world, what more appropriate audience could there be than the members of the General Assembly of the United Nations. I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new, one which I, who have
10、 spent so much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is the language of atomic warfare.The atomic age has moved forward at such a pace that every citizen of the world should have some comprehension, at least in comparative terms, of the extent of
11、 this development, of the utmost significance to everyone of us. Clearly, if the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be armed with the significant facts of todays existence.My recital of atomic danger and power is necessarily stated in United States terms,
12、for these are the only incontrovertible facts that I know. I need hardly point out to this Assembly, however, that this subject is global, not merely national in character.On July 16, 1945, the United States set off the worlds first atomic explosion.Since that date in 1945, the United States of Amer
13、ica has conducted forty-two test explosions. Atomic bombs today are more than twenty-five times as powerful as the weapons with which the atomic age dawned, while hydrogen weapons are in the ranges of millions of tons of TNT equivalent.Today, the United States stockpile of atomic weapons, which, of
14、course, increases daily, exceeds by many times the total explosive equivalent of the total of all bombs and all shells that came from every plane and every gun in every theatre of war in all the years of World War II.A single air group, whether afloat or land based, can now deliver to any reachable
15、target a destructive cargo exceeding in power all the bombs that fell on Britain in all of World War II. In size and variety, the development of atomic weapons has been no less remarkable. The development has been such that atomic weapons have virtually achieved conventional status within our armed
16、services.In the United States, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and the Marine Corps are all capable of putting this weapon to military use. But the dread secret and the fearful engines of atomic might are not ours alone.In the first place, the secret is possessed by our friends and allies, Great
17、Britain and Canada, whose scientific genius made a tremendous contribution to our original discoveries and the designs of atomic bombs.The secret is also known by the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union has informed us that, over recent years, it has devoted extensive resources to atomic weapons. During t
18、his period the Soviet Union has exploded a series of atomic devices, including at least one involving thermo-nuclear reactions. If at one time the Unites States possessed what might have been called a monopoly of atomic power, that monopoly ceased to exist several years ago.Therefore, although our e
19、arlier start has permitted us to accumulate what is today a great quantitative advantage, the atomic realities of today comprehend two facts of even greater significance.First, the knowledge now possessed by several nations will eventually be shared by others, possibly all others.Second, even a vast
20、 superiority in numbers of weapons, and a consequent capability of devastating retaliation, is no preventive, of itself, against the fearful material damage and toll of human lives that would be inflicted by surprise aggression. The free world, at least dimly aware of these facts, has naturally emba
21、rked on a large program of warning and defense systems. That program will be accelerated and expanded. But let no one think that the expenditure of vast sums for weapons and systems of defense can guarantee absolute safety for the cities and citizens of any nation. The awful arithmetic of the atomic
22、 bomb does not permit of any such easy solution. Even against the most powerful defense, an aggressor in possession of the effective minimum number of atomic bombs for a surprise attack could probably place a sufficient number of his bombs on the chosen targets to cause hideous damage.Should such an
23、 atomic attack be launched against the United States, our reactions would be swift and resolute. But for me to say that the defense capabilities of the United States are such that they could inflict terrible losses upon an aggressor, for me to say that the retaliation capabilities of the Unites Stat
24、es are so great that such an aggressors land would be laid waste, all this, while fact, is not the true expression of the purpose and the hope of the United States.To pause there would be to confirm the hopeless finality of a belief that two atomic colossi are doomed malevolently to eye each other i
25、ndefinitely across a trembling world. To stop there would be to accept helplessly the probability of civilization destroyed, the annihilation of the irreplaceable heritage of mankind handed down to use generation from generation, and the condemnation of mankind to begin all over again the age-old st
26、ruggle upward from savagery toward decency, and right, and justice. Surely no sane member of the human race could discover victory in such desolation.Could anyone wish his name to be coupled by history with such human degradation and destruction? Occasional pages of history do record the faces of th
27、e “great destroyers,” but the whole book of history reveals mankinds never-ending quest for peace and mankinds God-given capacity to build.It is with the book of history, and not with isolated pages, that the United States will ever wish to be identified. My country wants to be constructive, not des
28、tructive. It wants agreements, not wars, among nations. It wants itself to live in freedom and in the confidence that the people of every other nation enjoy equally the right of choosing their own way of life.So my countrys purpose is to help us to move out of the dark chamber of horrors into the li
29、ght, to find a way by which the minds of men, the hopes of men, the souls of men everywhere, can move forward towards peace and happiness and well-being.In this quest, I know that we must not lack patience. I know that in a world divided, such as ours today, salvation cannot be attained by one drama
30、tic act. I know that many steps will have to be taken over many months before the world can look at itself one day and truly realize that a new climate of mutually peaceful confidence is abroad in the world. But I know, above all else, that we must start to take these steps now.The United States and
31、 its allies, Great Britain and France, have, over the past months, tried to take some of these steps. Let no one say that we shun the conference table. On the record has long stood the request of the United States, Great Britain, and France to negotiate with the Soviet Union the problems of a divide
32、d Germany. On that record has long stood the request of the same three nations to negotiate an Austrian peace treaty. On the same record still stands the request of the United Nations to negotiate the problems of Korea.Most recently we have received from the Soviet Union what is in effect an express
33、ion of willingness to hold a four-Power meeting. Along with our allies, Great Britain and France, we were pleased to see that his note did not contain the unacceptable pre-conditions previously put forward. As you already know from our joint Bermuda communiqu, the United States, Great Britain, and F
34、rance have agreed promptly to meet with the Soviet Union.The Government of the United States approaches this conference with hopeful sincerity. We will bend every effort of our minds to the single purpose of emerging from that conference with tangible results towards peace, the only true way of less
35、ening international tension. We never have, we never will, propose or suggest that the Soviet Union surrender what is rightly theirs. We will never say that the people of the Russia are an enemy with whom we have no desire ever to deal or mingle in friendly and fruitful relationship.On the contrary,
36、 we hope that this coming conference may initiate a relationship with the Soviet Union which will eventually bring about a free intermingling of the peoples of the East and of the West - the one sure, human way of developing the understanding required for confident and peaceful relations.Instead of
37、the discontent which is now settling upon Eastern Germany, occupied Austria, and the countries of Eastern Europe, we seek a harmonious family of free European nations, with none a threat to the other, and least of all a threat to the peoples of the Russia. Beyond the turmoil and strife and misery of
38、 Asia, we seek peaceful opportunity for these peoples to develop their natural resources and to elevate their lives.These are not idle words or shallow visions. Behind them lies a story of nations lately come to independence, not as a result of war, but through free grant or peaceful negotiation. Th
39、ere is a record already written of assistance gladly given by nations of the West to needy peoples and to those suffering the temporary effects of famine, drought, and natural disaster. These are deeds of peace. They speak more loudly than promises or protestations of peaceful intent.But I do not wi
40、sh to rest either upon the reiteration of past proposals or the restatement of past deeds. The gravity of the time is such that every new avenue of peace, no matter how dimly discernible, should be explored. There is at least one new avenue of peace which has not yet been well explored - an avenue n
41、ow laid out by the General Assembly of the Unites Nations.In its resolution of November 18, 1953 this General Assembly suggested - and I quote - “that the Disarmament Commission study the desirability of establishing a sub-committee consisting of representatives of the Powers principally involved, w
42、hich should seek in private an acceptable solution and report such a solution to the General Assembly and to the Security Council not later than September 1, of 1954.”The United States, heeding the suggestion of the General Assembly of the United Nations, is instantly prepared to meet privately with
43、 such other countries as may be “principally involved,” to seek “an acceptable solution” to the atomic armaments race which overshadows not only the peace, but the very life of the world. We shall carry into these private or diplomatic talks a new conception.The United States would seek more than th
44、e mere reduction or elimination of atomic materials for military purposes. It is not enough to take this weapon out of the hands of the soldiers. It must be put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of peace.The United States knows that if th
45、e fearful trend of atomic military build-up can be reversed, this greatest of destructive forces can be developed into a great boon, for the benefit of all mankind. The United States knows that peaceful power from atomic energy is no dream of the future. That capability, already proved, is here, now
46、, today. Who can doubt, if the entire body of the worlds scientists and engineers had adequate amounts of fissionable material with which to test and develop their ideas, that this capability would rapidly be transformed into universal, efficient, and economic usage?To hasten the day when fear of th
47、e atom will begin to disappear from the minds of people and the governments of the East and West, there are certain steps that can be taken now. I therefore make the following proposals:The governments principally involved, to the extent permitted by elementary prudence, to begin now and continue to
48、 make joint contributions from their stockpiles of normal uranium and fissionable materials to an international atomic energy agency. We would expect that such an agency would be set up under the aegis of the United Nations. The ratios of contributions, the procedures, and other details would proper
49、ly be within the scope of the “private conversations” I have referred to earlier.The United States is prepared to undertake these explorations in good faith. Any partner of the United States acting in the same good faith will find the United States a not unreasonable or ungenerous associate.Undoubtedly, initial and early contributions to this plan would be small in quantity. However, the proposal has the great virtue that it can be undertaken without the irritations and mutual suspicions incident to any attempt to set up a completely acceptable system of world-wide inspection
