To such suspicious souls—­using a polite terminology—­I wish to say that Mr. Churchill, and Marshal Stalin, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek are all thoroughly conversant with the provisions of our Constitution.  And so is Mr. Hull.  And so am I.

Of course we made some commitments.  We most certainly committed ourselves to very large and very specific military plans which require the use of all Allied forces to bring about the defeat of our enemies at the earliest possible time.

But there were no secret treaties or political or financial commitments.

The one supreme objective for the future, which we discussed for each Nation individually, and for all the United Nations, can be summed up in one word:  Security.

And that means not only physical security which provides safety from attacks by aggressors.  It means also economic security, social security, moral security—­in a family of Nations.

In the plain down-to-earth talks that I had with the Generalissimo and Marshal Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill, it was abundantly clear that they are all most deeply interested in the resumption of peaceful progress by their own peoples—­progress toward a better life.  All our allies want freedom to develop their lands and resources, to build up industry, to increase education and individual opportunity, and to raise standards of living.

All our allies have learned by bitter experience that real development will not be possible if they are to be diverted from their purpose by repeated wars—­or even threats of war.

China and Russia are truly united with Britain and America in recognition of this essential fact: 

The best interests of each Nation, large and small, demand that all freedom-loving Nations shall join together in a just and durable system of peace.  In the present world situation, evidenced by the actions of Germany, Italy, and Japan, unquestioned military control over disturbers of the peace is as necessary among Nations as it is among citizens in a community.  And an equally basic essential to peace is a decent standard of living for all individual men and women and children in all Nations.  Freedom from fear is eternally linked with freedom from want.

There are people who burrow through our Nation like unseeing moles, and attempt to spread the suspicion that if other Nations are encouraged to raise their standards of living, our own American standard of living must of necessity be depressed.

The fact is the very contrary.  It has been shown time and again that if the standard of living of any country goes up, so does its purchasing power—­ and that such a rise encourages a better standard of living in neighboring countries with whom it trades.  That is just plain common sense—­and it is the kind of plain common sense that provided the basis for our discussions at Moscow, Cairo, and Teheran.

Returning from my journeyings, I must confess to a sense of “let-down” when I found many evidences of faulty perspective here in Washington.  The faulty perspective consists in overemphasizing lesser problems and thereby underemphasizing the first and greatest problem.