Introduction Part III - Overall Report

November 22, 1957

PART III

PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES

Heretofore we have concerned ourselves with the broad issues of the present and with the heritage of the past. Now our focus changes; it does not narrow, but it sharpens. We have sought to identify some of the problems and opportunities which the American people confront. Now we must ask what these issues demand from us.

In this task we do not pretend to offer, nor do we seek, a simple catalogue of recommendations. If our analysis has illumined any aspect of the contemporary world crisis and of some of our own internal evolutionary trends, it is that many of the most portentous questions of each do not permit of facile answers. To some of the gravest issues of the future our contribution is limited to an explication of the foreseeable consequences of several lines of action, no one of which is clearly preferable at this moment. To yet other questions our only useful contribution can be no more than a sense of sharpened awareness, or the opening of a wider context in which to view the question. Americans, as pragmatists, do not like to answer questions with questions. There are times, however - and the present is one of these -- when there is greater danger in a pretended understanding than in an honest bafflement. We do not know how we should deal with certain great questions -- such as that of human aspiration -- nor indeed if we can consciously deal with them at all. To pretend otherwise would be to delude ourselves.

of human acquisition -- not indeed if we can reasonably deal with them at all, do not know how we should deal with certain these questions -- such as that greater danger in a pretended understanding than in an honest falsification. We there are times, however - and the present is one of these -- when there is American, as preeminents, do not like to answer questions with questions, awareness, or the opening of a wider context in which to view the questions, questions out only useful contribution can be no more than a sense of abstracted

problems and opportunities which the American people condition. Now we
does not narrow, but it sharpens. We have sought to identify some of the
the present and with the heritage of the past. Now our focus changes: it

Hetsolote we have concerned ourselves with the broad issues of

PROBLEMS AND OPPORTUNITIES

PART III

November 22, 1927
Introduction Part III - Overall Report

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November 22, 1957

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With the great majority of problems, however, we have ventured to suggest a course of conduct which seems to us unambiguously in the national interest. Emerging from over a year and a half of discussions among our Panel members, reinforced by the papers and memoranda of almost 100 (?) *scholars*, we believe our proposals represent as nearly an informed consensus of what America can and should do as it is possible to get.

In no sense is our aim to impose a set of rigid goals for our society nor to encumber our thinking with overly precise recommendations. The final selection of ends is the prerogative of the people. A fussy concentration on the means is apt to be outmoded within a few months by unforeseen developments. Hence our main objective is to sketch out the broad lines of change which seem necessary and proper, to concentrate our thinking about the goals of our national policy, and to suggest general methods of attack for achieving those goals. Our role is to lay before the American public some of the elements which we believe will be useful in arriving at their controlling decisions.

In this orientation to action, the succeeding chapters will take up again many of the problems we have already viewed in a more analytic perspective. We shall begin by turning back to the basic concerns of the American people -- to problems of youth and age, of self-cultivation, of equality and excellence. Thereafter we shall review some of the economic problems of

November 22, 1957

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growth, and thereafter certain areas of socio-economic stress and distress.
This time, however, we approach these problems as challenges for action
rather than as issues to be analysed and understood. In the largest sense,
the subsequent three chapters represent an attempt broadly to answer the
question of how we may rise to the opportunity inherent in our domestic
society.

Following our discussion of domestic opportunities we turn again to
the foreign field, once again to confront the dilemmas of the underdeveloped
nations, the threat of Soviet power, of nuclear warfare, and the vista of the
gradual coalition of a world concert of nations. Again our interest this time
is centered on what we can do and the overarching question is: how can we
rise above the struggle for survival to contribute to the struggle for values?

raise above the static nature for survival of the individual to the aggregate for values it is centered on. We can see and the vacuum in the vacuum is: how can we establish a world concept of nations. Agent on interest time and the threat of Soviet power, of nuclear warfare, and the via of the totalism field, once again to confront the differences of the underdeveloped Following our discussion of domestic opportunities we turn again to society.

discussion of how we may rise to the opportunity inherent in our domestic
the subsequent three chapters represent an attempt broadly to answer the
rather than as issues to be analyzed and understood. In the latter areas,
This time, however, we approach these problems with action
growth, and thereafter cast a shadow of economic areas and diseases.

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Information: Part III - Overall Report
November 22, 1987