Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-08-02

which would not bring terrible
destruction to itself.
In this age any leader who Is
so insane as to even think of
starting a war should well heed
your proverb-"Do not dig a
pit for another: You may fall
into it yourself"
Why then is there any doubt
that the American Government
and people are just as dedi-
Gated to peace as the people Of
the USSR?
I think part of the answer is
to be found In another question
which was often asked Of me
on this trip and which Mr..
Khrushchev himself raised in
this manner in his speech Of
July % at Dnepropetrovsk. IF
you believe in the peaceful in
tentions of our country, why
do you continue the arms race,
why do you construct new mill
tary bases around our borders?"
In answering this question,
let me first point out that these
bases are not maintained for
purposes Of attacking you but
for the purposes Of defending
ourselves and our allies.
AggreSsions Recalled
Why did we think it was nee
essary to set up bases? Let
us look at the record. We dis
armed rapidly after World War
II. Then came a series Of
events which threatened our
friends abroad as well as our
selves. The Berlin blockade and
the war in Korea are typical
of the actions which led the
United States and our Allies
to rearm so that we could de-
fend ourselves against agrees
sion.
We also must remember
that these events occurred be-
fore the goth Party Congress
changed the line to the one Mr..
Khrushchev enunciated again
in his speech at Dnepropetrovsk
that Communism will now try
to achieve its international OBJ
jectives by peaceful means ra-
ther than by force. I could
cite statement after statement
made by previous leaders of
the USSR which advocated
and threatened the use of force
against nom Communist coun-
tries in order to achieve Com
munist detectives.
A striking illustration of why
we maintain bases and strong
military forces is the fact that
one fourth of the entire pro-
duction OF the USSR goes into
ornaments. This, in effect,
means that every worker in the
Soviet Union works one day
out of four for ornaments. And
we in our country are also
bearing a heavy burden of ar
maments. Think what it would
mean to both of our countries
if we. could lift this burden
from the backs of our people.
Why Continue Bases?
Some may ask why don't we
get rid of the bases since the
Soviet government declares to-
day that it has only peaceful
intentions? The answer is that
whenever the fears and suspi-
cion that caused us and our
allies to take measures for
collective self-defense are re-
moved, the reason for our
maintaining bases will be re-
moved. In other words, the only
possible solution of this prob
lem lies in mutual rather
than unilateral action leading
toward disarmament.
/ Another question which was
often asked was why won't the
United States agree to stop the
tests OF atomic weapons? The
answer in a nutshell is that
the question is not whether we
both should enter into an
agreement to stop tests but
whether that agreement is one
which will make sure that the
tests actually are stopped.
That is why we say that if
both sides honestly want to
stop tests. we must first agree
to set up inspection procedures
In both of our countries which
will make certain that the
agreement is not violated. We
believe this position is the only
one that gives assurance of ac-
complishing the objective of
stopping tests rather than Just
signing an agreement to do so.
Progress Seen in Talks
We are encouraged by the
fact that at least in this area
we are presently engaged in
serious negotiations which have
made some progress. know
that I express the sentiments
OF the people of both of our
countries when / say that I am
hopeful that these negotiations
will finally end in agreement
! Another question that has
often been asked me went
something like this: The United
States says it is for peace but
what the world wants are
deeds not words and the United
States is short on deeds and
long on words.
Nothing could be further
from the truth. 1t is possible
that many of you listening to
me are not aware of the posi-
tive programs the United
States has proposed which
were designed to contribute to
peace. Let me tell you about
Just a few of them and what
happened to them:
We had a monopoly on the
ofnVain toV,oI u,Iov1 m luna IA