Splendid as can be the blessings of such a peace, high will be its cost:  in toil patiently sustained, in help honorably given, in sacrifice calmly borne.

We are called to meet the price of this peace.

To counter the threat of those who seek to rule by force, we must pay the costs of our own needed military strength, and help to build the security of others.

We must use our skills and knowledge and, at times, our substance, to help others rise from misery, however far the scene of suffering may be from our shores.  For wherever in the world a people knows desperate want, there must appear at least the spark of hope, the hope of progress—­or there will surely rise at last the flames of conflict.

We recognize and accept our own deep involvement in the destiny of men everywhere.  We are accordingly pledged to honor, and to strive to fortify, the authority of the United Nations.  For in that body rests the best hope of our age for the assertion of that law by which all nations may live in dignity.

And, beyond this general resolve, we are called to act a responsible role in the world’s great concerns or conflicts—­whether they touch upon the affairs of a vast region, the fate of an island in the Pacific, or the use of a canal in the Middle East.  Only in respecting the hopes and cultures of others will we practice the equality of all nations.  Only as we show willingness and wisdom in giving counsel—­in receiving counsel—­and in sharing burdens, will we wisely perform the work of peace.

For one truth must rule all we think and all we do.  No people can live to itself alone.  The unity of all who dwell in freedom is their only sure defense.  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.