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The construction of the Canal should be undertaken by the United
States, but the project should in a meaningful way be made into an
Inter-American venture -- for it will serve the defense and the
trade and the economy of the whole Hemisphere. Therefore I recom-
mend that the United States invite representatives of all the Latin
governments to sit on an advisory board for the construction of a
new canal.

The decision to build a new canal demands of the United States govern-
ment a commitment to use peaceful nuclear explosives for excavation
purposes -- which would reduce the cost of the canal by over 75%.
Such a commitment demands in turn, two reversals of current U.S.
policy.

-- First, the experimentation with peaceful nuclear explosives
under Project Plowshare should go forward at full speed rather
than be subjected to the unwise budget cuts proposed by President
Johnson.

-- Second, the United States should publicly declare that it does
not interpret the Test Ban Treaty to prohibit the use of clean
nuclear explosives for peaceful purposes. It is unfortunate that
this declaration was not made last summer as I suggested then.

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15. The nations of the Hemisphere should join together in a comprehensive program to find an economic means for the desalinization of sea water. Such a program might include the establishment of processing plants in Peru and Chile. This is among the most exciting adventures of the current search of science for the keys to a better life for all men. To make today's deserts into rich and fertile land is not an unreal dream -- it is possible, in our lifetime. And it must be made a blessing for all men. The peoples of all our countries must be able to look ahead with confidence to the day when science not only serves the urge to destory, but as productively the urge to create.

[c]

IV. DEMOCRACY IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.

Much of the discussion of Western Hemispheric relations concerns economic
development. But economic development, vital as it is, is not enough. Neither
technical competence, nor organization, nor highways, nor food, nor the march of
science by themselves can assure freedom.

Those who argue that economic development automatically produces
democracy, and those who say that all we should care for is stability and
economic progress, regardless of the government which brings it about, do no
service to our nation and our Hemisphere -- for theirs is a counsel of despair.

In the first place, efficiency can never be the only goal for free peoples.
By itself, materialism destroys liberty. Despite all wishful thinking, there is
no inevitable connection between material well-being and democratic values.
Imperial Japan was the most industrialized nation in Asia; Hitler's Germany the
most industrialized on the European continent.

The historical fact is that in each of the great Western democracies, the
process of industrialization was preceded by the acceptance of democratic values.
The process of industrialization, to be sure, strengthened those values, but they
were there to be strengthened. When democratic values are unknown, even more
where they are actively suppressed, industrialization may merely refine the tools
of tyranny.

And secondly, we greatly underestimate human nature if we believe that the
people of Latin America seek only material comfort. We must not be so naive as
to think that the appeal of Communism is merely "something for nothing." On the
contrary, it is the appeal of a system that offers philosophical answers. It
offers "truth" to peoples in search of stability.

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[c]

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However fallacious they are, we cannot fight ideas by offering merely
more material well-being. All people want these. But they want also values
which give meaning to their physical existence. We cannot afford to let freedom
and democracy fail in America.

In his recent provocative speech, Senator Fulbright suggested that this
country should think of the struggle with Communism in empirical rather than moral
terms. But it is not the mechanization or affluence of our society that inspire
others. It is the values of human dignity which we hold dear.

We should not be embarrassed to affirm that Democracy can be the wave of
the future;

-- If we make it a more real idea in our own land;

-- If we show to all visitors from abroad a faith which can sustain
them in the creativity their lands require;

-- If we measure its worth in spiritual and not in material terms;

-- If we find in it the cause for imagination and initiative and industry
that it gave our forefathers.

In short, I reject the comforting doctrine that the triumph of the free
is inevitable. We should talk less of our destiny and more of our opportunities.
As the richest and most powerful country in the Western Hemisphere, we have a
special obligation to see and proclaim those opportunities. We cannot turn our
back on this challenge for the sake of comfort; for, if we do, we will lose first
our soul and then our comfort, too.

But our policy must always be consistent with the dignity and self-respect
of our partners. We must earn their confidence and trust.

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Negotiating partners cannot reach mutual agreement if one stays silent for fear of giving offense. Neither can they reach agreement if one insists that his ideas alone have merit.

Economic partners cannot be successful if one partner ignores his experience and makes no suggestions for fear of insulting others. But neither can economic development be promoted when he causes mistrust.

Partners in the preservation of freedom will fail if the specter of hurt feelings denies them the historical perspective of any member. But neither is freedom real when one partner dictates, or tries to dictate, or seems to dictate all wisdom to the Hemisphere.

To those who warm that the quest is futile -- or the journey too long -- or the destination too uncertain -- we must reply that great things have not been done by the timid or the doubting or the weary. The future belongs to those who embrace it in the present.

Let the historians write a story of how free men met their challenges. Let us, here and now, put our hearts and our minds and our energies together to the tasks of building a secure and expanding New World in this Hemisphere for the benefit of all free men.