STATEMENT BY THE HONORABLE JOHN FOSTER DULLES SECRETARY OF STATE BEFORE THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 145, 1959

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP61-00357R000300190011-4
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 17, 2004
• Sequence Number: 11
• Publication Date: January 14, 1959
• Content Type: STATEMENT

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STATEMENT BY
THE HONORABLE JOHN FOSTER PULLES
SECRETARY OF STATE
BEFORE THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 1959
h Introduction
The world is today changing more rapidly than ever before.
But the fact that much is changing does not mean that everything
has changed. There are certain values, certain principles, that
are enduring. Among these are the concepts of individual human
dignity and the supremacy of moral law.
In a changing world our task is to strive resolutely that
change shall increasingly reflect the basic principles to which
our nation has, from its origin, been dedicated.
II. Our Basic Purposes
1) At a time when war involves unacceptable risks for all
humanity, we work to build a stable world order.
2) We seek for general acceptance of the concept of
individual dignity which will lead to the spread of responsible
freedom and personal liberty.
3) We seek that the free nations shall attain a more
rapid rate of economic growth, so that their independence will
be more secure and vigorous and so that there will be greater
opportunities for cultural and spiritual development.
III. The Primary Threat
The Soviet Union and Communist China are expanding their
economic and industrial power at a very rapid pace. They do so
by a system which combines governmental rule of all labor with
imposed austerity. This makes it possible greatly to accelerate
capital developments.
There is emphasis, too, on quality. A spectacular product
of Soviet material accomplishment was its recent space probe.
In this field, the United States is still trying to "catch up"
and make up for the head start of the Soviets. Our "space"
accomplishments during the past year justify the belief that
we are making good relative progress.
The Chinese Communists seem to be going into a dark night
of massed regimentation and forced labor. What they call "the
great leap forward" is in reality a tragic fall backward into
the abyss of human slavery.
Asian
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Asian nations are experiencing one aspect of Communist eco-
nomic development: The Communist tactic of flooding their
market places with goods at less than prevailing prices. This
has widespread effects, some of which reach into our own coun-
try. As ong example only, the dumping of cotton textiles in
Southeast Asia has reduced Japanese exports in that area and is
already reducing exports of cotton from the United States to
Japan. As Communist economic power grows, we must anticipate
and plan for further shocks to the free world economic structure
from the Communist trade offensive.
Communist economic methods involve costs in human privation
and misery that, for us, are not only repugnant but completely
unacceptable. We believe that over the long run such a process
must inevitably be altered. Already there are indications that
the Soviet leaders are beginning to realize this. There is
some scaling down of their heavy industry ambitions. They are
beginning to heed demands by workers and peasants for more
leisure and for a greater share in the fruits of their labor.
Peoples sufficiently educated to operate a modern industrial
state may be expected also to acquire the desire for freedom
and the capacity to get it. History gives us good reason to
believe that the Soviet peoples will not indefinitely submit to
dictatorial rule by the International Communist Party leadership.
It would appear that the Communists will encounter difficulties
increasing in the long run.
But for the short run -- and this may be a period of
years -- the situation is full of danger.
That means that we may face a period even harder than we
have become used to. To get advantage from time we shall have
to stand on our course. We shall need the national will to
stand firm in the face of aggressive threats and probings from
the Sino-Soviet bloc. We shall need to make whatever unusual
sacrifices may be necessary. People respond to this kind of
demand when they understand that a temporary emergency requires
it. But these burdens seem to grow heavier the longer they
must be borne during a period of relative peace. Our people
will need to show what freedom can mean in terms of self-
sacrifice and self-discipline; and in terms of fortitude and
perseverance.
IV. World Order
Let me speak now about world order. This requires an
elimination of the use or threat of force to accomplish inter-
national change. This was always a bad method. It has become
an intolerable method because the force at man's disposal could
now practically obliterate human life on this planet.
The United States and other free world nations have, by
their conduct, done much to establish, for themselves, the
principle of the renunciation rofr~aggggressive force.; and they have
shown the3ArppM~aFtbY ~s% A64/v '/2F! LTX- -0ffi5g7R 003x6 00'f?-4
others.
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At the time of the Suez affair and the Israeli-Egyptian
hostilities, the United Kingdom and France, and then Israel,
responding to the overwhelming opinion of the United Nations,
withdrew their armed forces and accepted a United Nations
solution. This may well prove to be an historical landmark.
During the past year the United States and its partners
have further shown their opposition to change through force
or the threat of force.
When Lebanon and Jordan seemed threatened from without and
appealed to the United States and the United Kingdom for
emergency aid, we responded with promptness and efficiency.
When the emergency was relieved by United Nations action, we
promptly withdrew our forces.
Throughout the world small nations felt a profound sense
of reassurance.
In the Far East the Chinese Communists, with Soviet backing,
initiated military action designed, as they put it, to "expel the
United States" from the Western Pacific. We stood beside the
Republic of China as it resisted what seemed the preliminaries
of that attack. Our free world associates generally supported
our position that change in that area should not be effected
by force of arms.
The Government of the Republic of China itself made a
notable contribution when, last October, it declared that it
relied primarily upon peaceful principles and not upon force
to secure the freeing of the mainland. This courageous and
statesmanlike act has strengthened the Free World's cause in
the Western Pacific.
Now in Berlin we face an effort to "expel" the small
Western contingents in West Berlin. Their presence constitutes
an indispensable safeguard to the freedom of that city. The
NATO powers, at their December meeting, unanimously vowed that
such expulsion should be resisted.
Step by step, discernible progress continues to be made in
consolidating a system of collective security which will effec-
tively operate to exclude the use of force to effect interna-
tional changes.
The mutual security arrangements which we have with free
world countries no longer assume the aspect of mere military
alliances. They are the framework of consultative processes
that, day by day, are steadily re-forming the society of free
nations.
In primitive and frontier societies, security is on an
individual basis. Each householder defends himself by his own
means. That primitive formula is now obsolete domestically.
It is
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It is becoming obsolete internationally. Many free nations
combine to help each other. The resultant power is not a
power which can be or would be used for any aggressive or
nationalistic purpose. It is a power dedicated to the common
welfare as mutually agreed.
The United States has repeatedly made clear -- and I said
this again at the last December NATO meeting -- that we regard
our own military power as being a trust for the benefit of our
free world partnerships; that we are ready to make known to all
the defensive purposes and circumstances under which that force
might be used; and that we shall heed in this respect the
advice and counsel of our partners just as we would expect them
to heed our advice and counsel with respect to the international
use of their force.
Thus, out of what may originally have been conceived
primarily as military alliances, there is developing an inter-
national structure which provides collective security on the
basis of organized and continuous collective consultation.
That is something, new in history.
I might add that accomplishment is not always easy given
the variety of national development and national viewpoints.
Nevertheless the free world practice in this regard constantly
grows in efficiency.
World order is not, however, assured merely by the elimina-
tion of violence. There must be processes of peaceful change.
These, too, are rapidly developing within the Free World. The
General Assembly of the United Nations is a forum where these
needs find effective expression. The General Assembly does not
have the power to legislate change. But it has a capacity to
induce change, at least in the case of governments which have
respect for, and are responsive to, world opinion.
The peace of the Free World is not a peace of political
stagnation or a peace which sanctifies the stat'~s quo. It is a
peace characterized by peaceful change reflecting new human
aspirations and potentialities.
There is, of course, need not only for processes which per-
mit of peaceful change, but there is equally a need for
stability in adherence to basic values, including that of
respecting international agreements and treaties. This requires
that, unless international law and treaty engagements are
changed by common agreement, they should be respected.
There has not been as great a development of international
law and recourse to judicial processes as would be desirable.
The United Nations General Assembly Committee on the codifica-
tion of international law has made little progress. Some
significant pro ress in law development was made at the recent
Law of the Sea Conference, and that Conference will be resumed
in 1960. Inadequate use has been made of the International
Court of Justice. As the President said last week in his State
of the Union address we envisage further steps to encourage the
greater use of that Oourt,
In such ways as I describe progress is being made toward
onto#~lask#~,o(Ie1s~i~k12t4ions
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it tiThis evolution is not spectacular and rarely considered
news . What attracts attention are the aggressive probings of
the Communists
that our World
the impression reacting to Communist initiatives.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Threfact
tlisntthat
day by day, month by month, and year by year, we
quietly but steadily, in the United Nations, in NATO, in the OAS,
in SEATO, and other organs of consultation, the solid foundations
of an international order based upon justice and law as substi-
tutes for force.
The Communist rulers do not share in this effort to build a
stable world order based upon justice and law. International
Communism avowedly seeks world-wide dictatorship, The concept
of justice is alien to the Communist creed, and law, in our sense
of that word, is unknown. The Free World and Communist concepts
are mutually antagonistic.
This, however, does not mean that there cannot be useful
We have had many
contacts and negotiations with the Communists.
such. We are striving to make progress in the field of disarma-
ment and in that connection deal with the Soviets, particularly
in relation to the controlled discontinuance of nuclear weapons
tests. 1.-Ie also seek agreement on possible measures which might
be helpful in preventing surprise attack.
At Warsaw we negotiate with the Chinese Communists.
We have made clear our willingness to negotiate about the
German question.
We have now an agreement with the Soviet Union on cultural
and scientific exchanges
is Russia oftinfluential. Also
important are the visits citizens.
?resident Eisenhower urged this in his letter of February
16, 1958, to the then Soviet Premier. Following this initiative,
there have been useful visits on both sides, and we are gladsthat
the First Deputy Premier of the Soviet WUUnio ,, Mr. Mikto see a
now here learning about our country. We
that in such ways false
broader exchange of students.
premises and miscalculations can be reduced in the interest of
peace
V. The Inevitable Movement Toward Freedom
I turn now to our second major purpose.
the world today is
One of the strongest
nfo forces aworking din,
the movement toward independence and freedom.
This force
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This force is notably manifest in Africa. Here change is
rapid, new states are arising almost overnight. This great con-
tinent presents a challenge to the United States to do its best
to assist the peoples now emerging into independence and new
opportunity.
Another such area is our Hemisphere to the south. The
peoples of Latin America are making clear their determination to
control their own destinies. One by one dictatorships have made
way for governments more responsive to the popular will.
This world-wide movement toward freedom is accompanied by
a growing awareness of the deadly nature of Sino-Soviet imperial-
ism. The leaders of the new freedom are coming more and more to
see International Communism as an immediate threat to their
liberties, not, as some have thought, a mere bogeyman of so-called
"Western imperialism".
The Communists are paying a price for the forced growth of
their material power: there is a developing fear in the less
powerful nations around the world of the dangerous combination
of burgeoning economic and military power with the imperialist
drive of the Communists for world dominion. This menacing
combination brings home with force the threat which, when the
Communists were not so strong, was but a matter of vague and
largely academic concern.
There has recently been a surprising clarification of under-
standing around the world of the real purpose of Communist
leaders -- to subject all the world to the dominant influence
and control of International Communism, with its primary power
centers at Moscow and Peiping.
In the Middle East the deadly designs of Communism are now
far more clearly realized than a year ago.
In Southeast Asia liberty-loving peoples are struggling --
and with success -- to remain masters in their newly built
national homes.
In general, I believe the leaders and peoples of Asia now
understand better the sincerity of American policy favoring
their independence and our willingness to support unconditionally
their efforts to stay free and do so in their own way, which may
indeed be a non-Western way.
In France, we are witnessing an inspiring example of
national renewal.
The tide of freedom is running strong in Western Europe as
Communist strength there ebbs.
Even in Communist countries there is a powerful and
persistent craving for greater national freedom. Yugoslavia
has been steadfast against all threats and blandishments from
Moscow and ~SOS'eQdy10~/2~-R13~90011-4
Hungary's
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Hungary's great effort to throw off its shackles, even though
crushed by force, has been an inspiration and a tribute to man's
unquenchable thirst for liberty. And throughout the bloc, even
in the USSR, revisionism is a living force and ferment. Moscow
considers it a deadly enemy, and with reason,
The pull of freedom is daily manifested in the flow of
refugees from the Communist bloc to the Free World.
The free people of West Berlin have, during years of un-
certainty and danger, been an inspiring beacon light for all
those whose liberties have been lost to Communist tyranny. We
are determined that this light shall not fail, and that Berlin
shall not be engulfed in the Red undertow.
As we look ahead, we see freedom as a predominant force,
shaping our 20th Century world. As Americans, we have faith that
the aspiration deep within the soul of man, to live freely and
with dignity in a just and peaceful world is stronger than all
the material forces which the Communists invoke as the pledge
and promise of their power.
VI. Economic Progress
I turn now to our third basic purpose.
We believe that economic progress is a necessary condition
of stable and free nations. There must also be acceptance of
economic interdependence of nations. No nation can live com-
pletely to itself.
Unless and until the less developed areas reach the stage
of self-sustaining economic growth, the world as a whole will
suffer. For the inhabitants of those areas, an :thcreasing rate
of economic development has become an essential condition of free
societies. The demand for economic and social betterment is now
universal, and if progress cannot be achieved in freedom, it will
be sought by methods that jeopardize freedom.
The Communists are fully aware of the universal demand for
progress, and they point to the Soviet and Chinese Communist
accomplishments in industrialization as proof that their way is
better than the way of freedom.
Our aid and investment must continue to support the efforts
of the leaders of the developing free nations to sustain their
peoples' confidence that economic progress can be attained in
freedom.
We have not been alone in providing such support. Other
highly industrialized states have made significant contributions.
These industralized nations have also shown a growing aware-
ness of interdependence among themselves. This is particularly
gratifying to us. A Common Market for Europe was one of the
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policy objectives stated in the preamble to the European Recovery
Act of 1948, Now, after 10 years, the six-nation European Common
Market is a fact. The Western European currencies have become
more freely exchangeable and there is a strong movement for
broader economic cooperation in Western Europe.
Free World economic progress does not permit complacency or
relaxation, It calls instead for renewed effort to increase the
forward momentum,
In the years ahead, we must through our trade and financial
policies continue to promote recognition and positive use of the
benefits of interdependence. These benefits, and the inevita-
bility, of economic interdependence become more clear each year.
What is being done in the European Community of Six provides an
example and an inspiration for greater economic cooperation else-
where in the world.
We must continue to apply our will, energy, treasure and
techniques to the problems of the, less developed areas, The
cause of freedom can be won -- or could be lost -- in these areas.
VII, Conclusion
Let me in conclusion recall the basic purposes underlying
our policies:
(1) The renunciation of aggressive force and the substitu-
tion of collective institutions of peace, justice and law among
nations;
(2) Promotion of the concept of human dignity, worth and
freedom;
(3) Stimulation of economic growth and interdependence to
create enlarged opportunities for realization of cultural and
spiritual values.
These goals are not attainable in a few years, but will
require decades and, perhaps even generations, Why is this so?
We are but one nation among nearly a hundred sovereignties, and
but a scant six percent of the world's land surface and popula-
tion. Our foreign policy is not something we can enact into world
law or dictate to other peoples. It means rather constant adjust-
ment to forces which, though beyond our control to direct, we can
influence through wise statesmanship and adherence to sound
principles. With our immense wealth and power, and even more
because of our spiritual heritage of faith and freedom, we can
exert a shaping influence on the world of the future.
The price of failure would be the destruction of all our
other national objectives. While mustering all our resources,
both material and spiritual, we must press on with courage to
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build surer foundations for the interdependent world community
of which we are part. This will call for austerity and sacrifice
on the part of all. We must put first things first,
Our purpose, ultimately and at all times, should be to use
our great power, without abusing or presuming upon it, to move
steadily toward lasting peace, orderly freedom and growing
opportunity. Thus do we achieve our Constitutional purpose "to
secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity".
State -- FD, Wash., D.C.
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