“U.S. Policy Is To Prevent Wars”

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28792, 13 January 1959, Page 7

“U.S. Policy Is To Prevent Wars”

(N.Z Press Association—Copyright)

WASHINGTON, January 11. Delivering his State di the Union message to Congress, President Eisenhower said today that ,the United States fought to “prevent war at any place and in any dimension.” The President called for a continuation of United States commitments to its overseas allies, and asked Americans to support policies which would keep the economy sound, and reduce the risk of inflation. Other points made by the President were: Defence, atomic energy and foreign military assistance in the fiscal year 1960 would exceed 47,000 million dollars (about £29,720 million). He would submit a balanced Budget for the next year—a year expected to be the most prosperous in the country's history. if national income and expenditure could be balanced, the United States could look forward to a time when needed • tax reforms could be' accomI. plished. "There can be no such thing as fortress America.” The Western Allies had undertaken to defend the people of “free Berlin" against any effort to destroy their freedom. He would later propose measures, including a re-examination of

the relationship of the United States to the International Court of Justice, so that the rule of law might replace the rule of

force in the affairs of nations. The President said that expenditures for new weapons ‘‘demand both balance and perspective in our planning for defence. “We must guard against feverish building of vast armament to meet glibly predicted moments of socalled ‘maximum peril.’ The threat we face is not sporadic or dated: It is continuous,” he said. Dealing with the international situation, the President said: “We cannot built peace through desire alone. Moreover, we have learned the bitter lesson that international agreements, historically considered by use as sacred, are regarded in Communist doctrine and practice to be mere' scraps of paper. “As a consequence, we can have no confidence in any treaty in which Communists are a party, except where such a treaty provides within itself for selfenforcing mechanisms.” Mr Eisenhower said the world was “watching our conduct. “The image of America abroad is not improved when school children, through closing of some of our schools and through no fault of their own, are deprived of the opportunity for an education,” he said.