US Presidency
1975

The process of negotiation must be sustained, not at a snail's pace, but with demonstrated enthusiasm and visible progress. Nowhere are the challenges and the opportunities greater and more evident than in Europe. That is why this Conference brings us all together. Conflict in Europe shakes the world. Twice in this century we have paid dearly for this lesson; at other times, we have come perilously close to calamity. We dare not forget the tragedy and the terror of those times. Peace is not a piece of paper. But lasting peace is at least possible today because we have learned from the experiences of the last 30 years that peace is a process requiring mutual restraint and practical arrangements. This Conference is a part of that process, a challenge, not a conclusion. We face unresolved problems of military security in Europe; we face them with very real differences in values and in aims.