UN General Assembly
1951

219. There is, finally, yet another cause for encouragement at this time when we are embarking upon our labours in an atmosphere troubled by war crises. All of us have been deeply impressed by the tone of sincerity of the representatives of the great Powers here calling for measures of immediate disarmament. A rise in armaments and in armament expenditures is perhaps, in a way, a symptom and not a cause. As has been said, it is a barometer of international pressures. It seems obvious that until these pressures have been removed, disarmament will not become a reality. Yet it is for this very reason that the almost unanimous appeal for disarmament assumes a force, intensity and sincerity which no one can deny. It is the outward expression of an inflexible resolve, whatever be the obstacles, to cut to the core of the problems that have been threatening the nations of the world, in order to remove those causes which tend to stretch yet further the already over-taut strands of patience.