MR TRUMAN’S SPEECH ON EUROPE

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25447, 19 March 1948, Page 7

MR TRUMAN’S SPEECH ON EUROPE

♦- Congress Asked To Pass Three Measures

AUTHORITY SOUGHT TO CONSCRIPT TROOPS

I<N.Z. Press Association— Copyright) (Bee. 7 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 17 In his speech to the joint session of Congress to-dav President Truman asked Congress to pass three measures’ whi eh, he said were m his judgment “best calculated to give gjppert to the free democratic n.tions of Europe and to improve the solid foundation of our own national strength.” The President asked that:— fftt gc A om i ;reted n byConSes O s Pean reC ° Very * (2) Legislation for uhiversal military training be enacted. (3) Conscription be temporarily introduced to maintain the nation s armed forces at their authorised strength. These measures, he said, represented “the most urgent steps toward securing peace and preventing war.” He described" the situation in Europe as critical. Pressure was being brought on Finland, “to the hazard of the entire Scandinavian Peninsula’; Greece was under direct military attack; and in Italy a Communist minority was seeking to take control. He added: Until the free nations of Europe have regained their strength and so long as Communism threatens the very existence of democracy, the United States must remain strong enough to support those European countries which are threatened with Communist control and police-state rule. We must be prepared to pay the price of peace or assuredly we shall pay the price of war.”