With this purpose, we move in a wide variety of ways and through many agencies to remove the pall of fear; to strengthen the ties with our partners and to improve the cooperative cohesion of the free world; to reduce the burden of armaments, and to stimulate and inspire action among all nations for a world of justice and prosperity and peace.  These national objectives are fully supported by both our political parties.

In the past year, our search for a more stable and just peace has taken varied forms.  Among the most important were the two Conferences at Geneva, in July and in the fall of last year.  We explored the possibilities of agreement on critical issues that jeopardize the peace.

The July meeting of Heads of Government held out promise to the world of moderation in the bitterness, of word and action, which tends to generate conflict and war.  All were in agreement that a nuclear war would be an intolerable disaster which must not be permitted to occur.  But in October, when the Foreign Ministers met again, the results demonstrated conclusively that the Soviet leaders are not yet willing to create the indispensable conditions for a secure and lasting peace.

Nevertheless, it is clear that the conflict between international communism and freedom has taken on a new complexion.

We know the Communist leaders have often practiced the tactics of retreat and zigzag.  We know that Soviet and Chinese communism still poses a serious threat to the free world.  And in the Middle East recent Soviet moves are hardly compatible with the reduction of international tension.

Yet Communist tactics against the free nations have shifted in emphasis from reliance on violence and the threat of violence to reliance on division, enticement and duplicity.  We must be well prepared to meet the current tactics which pose a dangerous though less obvious threat.  At the same time, our policy must be dynamic as well as flexible, designed primarily to forward the achievement of our own objectives rather than to meet each shift and change on the Communist front.  We must act in the firm assurance that the fruits of freedom are more attractive and desirable to mankind in the pursuit of happiness than the record of Communism.

In the face of Communist military power, we must, of course, continue to maintain an effective system of collective security.  This involves two things—­a system which gives clear warning that armed aggression will be met by joint action of the free nations, and deterrent military power to make that warning effective.  Moreover, the awesome power of the atom must be made to serve as a guardian of the free community and of the peace.

In the last year, the free world has seen major gains for the system of collective security:  the accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and Western European Union of the sovereign Federal German Republic; the developing cooperation under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty; and the formation in the Middle East of the Baghdad Pact among Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and the United Kingdom.  In our own hemisphere, the inter-American system has continued to show its vitality in maintaining peace and a common approach to world problems.  We now have security pacts with more than 40 other nations.