We wish our friends the world over to know this above all: we face
the threat--not with dread and confusion--but with confidence and
conviction.
We feel this moral strength because we know that we are not
helpless prisoners of history. We are free men. We shall remain
free, never to be proven guilty of the one capital offense against
freedom, a lack of stanch faith.
In pleading our just cause before the bar of history and in
pressing our labor for world peace, we shall be guided by certain
fixed principles.
These principles are:
(1) Abhorring war as a chosen way to balk the purposes of those
who threaten us, we hold it to be the first task of statesmanship
to develop the strength that will deter the forces of aggression
and promote the conditions of peace. For, as it must be the
supreme purpose of all free men, so it must be the dedication of
their leaders, to save humanity from preying upon itself.
In the light of this principle, we stand ready to engage with any
and all others in joint effort to remove the causes of mutual fear
and distrust among nations, so as to make possible drastic
reduction of armaments. The sole requisites for undertaking such
effort are that--in their purpose--they be aimed logically and
honestly toward secure peace for all; and that--in their result--
they provide methods by which every participating nation will
prove good faith in carrying out its pledge.
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