US Presidency
1973

Tomorrow, for example, Chancellor Brandt of West Germany will visit the White House for talks that are a vital element of The Year of Europe, as 1973 has been called. We are already preparing for the next Soviet-American summit meeting later this year. This is also a year in which we are seeking to negotiate a mutual and balanced reduction of armed forces in Europe, which will reduce our defense budget and allow us to have funds for other purposes at home so desperately needed. It is the year when the United States and Soviet negotiators will seek to work out the second and even more important round of our talks on limiting nuclear arms and of reducing the danger of a nuclear war that would destroy civilization as we know it. It is a year in which we confront the difficult tasks of maintaining peace in Southeast Asia and in the potentially explosive Middle East.