Africa stands at an earlier stage of development than Latin America.  It has yet to develop the transportation, communications, agriculture, and, above all, the trained men and women without which growth is impossible.  There, too, the job will best be done if the nations and peoples of Africa cooperate on a regional basis.  More and more our programs for Africa are going to be directed toward self-help.

The future of Africa is shadowed by unsolved racial conflicts.  Our policy will continue to reflect our basic commitments as a people to support those who are prepared to work towards cooperation and harmony between races, and to help those who demand change but reject the fool’s gold of violence.

In the Middle East the spirit of good will toward all, unfortunately, has not yet taken hold.  An already tortured peace seems to be constantly threatened.  We shall try to use our influence to increase the possibilities of improved relations among the nations of that region.  We are working hard at that task.

In the great subcontinent of South Asia live more than a sixth of the earth’s population.  Over the years we—­and others—­have invested very heavily in capital and food for the economic development of India and Pakistan.

We are not prepared to see our assistance wasted, however, in conflict.  It must strengthen their capacity to help themselves.  It must help these two nations—­both our friends—­to overcome poverty, to emerge as self-reliant leaders, and find terms for reconciliation and cooperation.

In Western Europe we shall maintain in NATO an integrated common defense.  But we also look forward to the time when greater security can be achieved through measures of arms control and disarmament, and through other forms of practical agreement.

We are shaping a new future of enlarged partnership in nuclear affairs, in economic and technical cooperation, in trade negotiations, in political consultation, and in working together with the governments and peoples of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

The emerging spirit of confidence is precisely what we hoped to achieve when we went to work a generation ago to put our shoulder to the wheel and try to help rebuild Europe.  We faced new challenges and opportunities then and there—­and we faced also some dangers.  But I believe that the peoples on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as both sides of this Chamber, wanted to face them together.

Our relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are also in transition.  We have avoided both the acts and the rhetoric of the cold war.  When we have differed with the Soviet Union, or other nations, for that matter, I have tried to differ quietly and with courtesy, and without venom.

Our objective is not to continue the cold war, but to end it.

We have reached an agreement at the United Nations on the peaceful uses of outer space.