In promoting democracy, we are not attempting to impose our values on anyone else. In fact, this is not possible. Because democracy, by definition, enables citizens within a country to shape their own destinies in accordance with their own convictions and ideals. Make no mistake. In any country, at any time, dictatorship is an imposition.
Democracy is a choice.
As we have learned during the last 55 years, the U.N. provides no guarantee of global peace or prosperity. But it can play a vital role as catalyst and coordinator, and as a bridge connecting the contributions of one to another. To those who would judge it harshly, I would respond not by pointing first to the deliberations of diplomats such as myself, in surroundings such as this. This is, I expect, my last official speech to a U.N. audience. And as I stand before you, I am deeply conscious not only of our many accomplishments, but also of the tasks not yet completed.