US Presidency
1945

Outside of the right to establish necessary bases for our own protection, we look for nothing which belongs to any other power. We do need this kind of armed might, however, for four principal tasks: First, our Army, Navy, and Air Force, in collaboration with our allies, must enforce the terms of peace imposed upon our defeated enemies. Second, we must fulfill the military obligations which we are undertaking as a member of the United Nations Organization, to support a lasting peace, by force if necessary. Third, we must cooperate with other American nations to preserve the territorial integrity and the political independence of the nations of the Western Hemisphere. Fourth, in this troubled and uncertain world, our military forces must be adequate to discharge the fundamental mission laid upon them by the Constitution of the United States, to provide for the common defense of the United States. These four military tasks are directed not toward war, not toward conquest, but toward peace. We seek to use our military strength solely to preserve the peace of the world.