US Presidency
1963

We should increase the resort to special missions of factfinding and conciliation, make greater use of the International Court of Justice, and accelerate the work of the International Law Commission. The United Nations can not survive as a static organization. Its obligations are increasing as well as its size. Its Charter must be changed as well as its customs. The authors of that Charter did not intend that it be frozen in perpetuity. The science of weapons and war has made us all, far more than 18 years ago in San Francisco, one world and one human race, with one common destiny. In such a world, absolute sovereignty no longer assures us of absolute security. The conventions of peace must pull abreast and then ahead of the inventions of war. The United Nations, building on its successes and learning from its failures, must be developed into a genuine world security system. But peace does not rest in charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people.