In such a world, we seek not to stifle inevitable change, but to influence its course in helpful and constructive ways that enhance our values, our national interests, and the cause of peace.

Towering over this volatile, changing world, like a thundercloud on a summer day, looms the awesome power of nuclear weapons.

We will continue to help shape the forces of change, to anticipate emerging problems of nuclear proliferation and conventional arms sales, and to use our great strength parts of the world before they erupt and spread.

We have no desire to be the world’s policeman.  But America does want to be the world’s peacemaker.

We are building the foundation for truly global cooperation, not only with Western and industrialized nations but with the developing countries as well.  Our ties with Japan and our European allies are stronger than ever, and so are our friendly relations with the people of Latin America, Africa, and the Western Pacific and Asia.

We’ve won new respect in this hemisphere with the Panama Canal treaties.  We’ve gained new trust with the developing world through our opposition to racism, our commitment to human rights, and our support for majority rule in Africa.

The multilateral trade negotiations are now reaching a successful conclusion, and congressional approval is essential to the economic well-being of our own country and of the world.  This will be one of our top priorities in 1979.

We are entering a hopeful era in our relations with one-fourth of the world’s people who live in China.  The presence of Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping next week will help to inaugurate that new era.  And with prompt congressional action on authorizing legislation, we will continue our commitment to a prosperous, peaceful, and secure life for the people of Taiwan.

I’m grateful that in the past year, as in the year before, no American has died in combat anywhere in the world.  And in Iran, Nicaragua, Cyprus, Namibia, and Rhodesia, our country is working for peaceful solutions to dangerous conflicts.

In the Middle East, under the most difficult circumstances, we have sought to help ancient enemies lay aside deep-seated differences that have produced four bitter wars in our lifetime.

Our firm commitment to Israel’s survival and security is rooted in our deepest convictions and in our knowledge of the strategic importance to our own Nation of a stable Middle East.  To promote peace and reconciliation in the region, we must retain the trust and the confidence both of Israel and also of the Arab nations that are sincerely searching for peace.

I am determined, as President, to use the full, beneficial influence of our country so that the precious opportunity for lasting peace between Israel and Egypt will not be lost.

The new foundation of international cooperation that we seek excludes no nation.  Cooperation with the Soviet Union serves the cause of peace, for in this nuclear age, world peace must include peace between the super powers—­and it must mean the control of nuclear arms.