US Presidency
1993

They created a foundation of stability and created in the process the conditions which led to the explosion of the great American middle class, one of the true economic miracles In the whole history of civilization. Their statecraft stands to this day: the IMF and the World Bank, GATT, and NATO. In this very auditorium in 1949, President Harry Truman signed one of the charter documents of this golden era of American leadership, the North Atlantic Treaty that created NATO. In this pact we hope to create a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression, told his audience, a bulwark which will permit us to get on with the real business of Government and society, the business of achieving a fuller and happier life for our citizens. Now, the institutions built by Truman and Acheson, by Marshall and Vandenberg, have accomplished their task. The cold war is over. The grim certitude of the contest with communism has been replaced by the exuberant uncertainty of international economic competition.