The economic need of all nations--in
mutual dependence--makes isolation an impossibility; not even
America's prosperity could long survive if other nations did not
also prosper. No nation can longer be a fortress, lone and strong
and safe. And any people, seeking such shelter for themselves, can
now build only their own prison.
Our pledge to these principles is constant, because we believe in
their rightness.
We do not fear this world of change. America is no stranger to
much of its spirit. Everywhere we see the seeds of the same growth
that America itself has known. The American experiment has, for
generations, fired the passion and the courage of millions
elsewhere seeking freedom, equality, and opportunity. And the
American story of material progress has helped excite the longing
of all needy peoples for some satisfaction of their human wants.
These hopes that we have helped to inspire, we can help to
fulfill.
In this confidence, we speak plainly to all peoples.
We cherish our friendship with all nations that are or would be
free. We respect, no less, their independence. And when, in time
of want or peril, they ask our help, they may honorably receive
it; for we no more seek to buy their sovereignty than we would
sell our own. Sovereignty is never bartered among freemen.
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