President Hayes, distinguished guests, ladies and
gentlemen:

I am here to sound a note of hope about the future
of our foreign policy despite the fact that we are now
going through a period of adversity.

A nation facing setbacks can submerge itself in
acrimony, looking for scapegoats rather than lessons.

It can ignore or gloss over its difficulties and
fatuously proceed as if nothing serious had happened.

Or it can examine its situation dispassionately, draw
appropriate conclusions, and chart its future with realism
and hope.

President Ford has chosen this latter course. A
week ago he called upon Congress and the American
people to turn this time of difficulty into a demonstration

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of spirit -- to prove once again our devotion and our
courage, and to put these into the service of building a
better world.

For the entire post-war period our strength and
our leadership have been essential in preserving peace and
promoting progress. If either falters, major shifts in
political alignments will occur all around the world. The
result will be new dangers for America's security and
economic well-being. The Middle East war and oil
embargo of 1973 demonstrated how distant events can
threaten world peace and global prosperity simultaneously.
A reduction of American influence in key areas can
have disastrous consequences.

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How other nations perceive us is thus a matter of
major consequence. Every day I see reports from our
embassies, relaying anguished questions raised by
our friends. What do events in Indochina, the southern
flank of NATO and the Middle East signify for America's
competence -- constancy -- credibility -- coherence?
How will Americans react? What are the implications
for future American policy?

We can be certain that potential adversaries are
asking themselves the same questions -- not with
sympathy, but to estimate their opportunities.

It is fashionable to maintain that pointing to
dangers produces a self-fulfilling prophecy; that the

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prediction of consequences brings them about. Unfortunately,
life is not that simple. We cannot achieve credibility
by rhetoric; we cannot manufacture coherence by
proclamation and we cannot change facts by not talking
about them.

We can do little about the world's judgment of our
past actions. But we have it within our power to take
charge of our future: if the United States responds to
adversity with dignity, if we make clear to the world
that we continue to hold a coherent perception of a
constructive international role and mean to implement it,
we can usher in a new era of creativity and accomplishment.

We intend to do just that.

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I know that it is not easy for a people that faces major
domestic difficulties to gear itself up for new international
efforts. But our economic future is bound up with the rest
of the world -- and with international developments in
energy, trade and economic policy. Our economic health
depends on the preservation of American leadership abroad.

This country has no choice. We must, for our own
sake, play a major role in world affairs. We have strong assets --
a sound foreign policy design, major international achievements
in recent years, and the enormous capacities of an
industrious and gifted people. We have the resources --
and the will -- to turn adversity into opportunity.

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Indochina

Let me start with our most tragic and immediate
problem.

I can add nothing to the President's request for
military and humanitarian assistance for the anguished
people of South Vietnam. I support this appeal and have
testified at length to that effect before Congressional
committees over the past several days.

The time will come when it will be clear that no
President could do less than to ask aid for those whom
we encouraged to defend their independence and at whose
side we fought for over a decade. Then Americans will be
glad that they had a President

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who refused to abandon those who desperately sought help
in an hour of travail.

In Indochina our nation undertook a major
enterprise for almost fifteen years. We invested enormous
prestige; tens of thousands died and many more were
wounded, imprisoned and lost; we spent over 150 billion
dollars; and our domestic fabric was severely
strained.

Whether or not this enterprise was well-
conceived does not now change the nature of our
problem. When such an effort founders, it is an
event of profound significance -- for ourselves and
for others.

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I, for one, do not believe that it was ignoble to
have sought to preserve the independence of a small
and brave people. Only a very idealistic nation could
have persevered in the face of so much discouragement.

But where so many think that the war was a dreadful
mistake, where thousands grieve for those they loved
and others sorrow over their country's setback -- there
has been sufficient heartache for all to share.

The Vietnam debate has now run its course. The
time has come for restraint and compassion. The
Administration has made its case. Let all now abide by
the verdict of the Congress -- without recrimination or
vindictiveness.

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The Design

Let us therefore look to the future. We start with a
sound foreign policy structure.

[ We are convinced that a continuing, strong American
role is indispensable to global stability and progress.

Therefore, the central thrust of our foreign policy has been
to adjust our role in the world and the conceptions, methods,
and commitments which define it to the conditions of a new
era -- including an America fatigued by Indochina.

The post war order of international relations ended
with the last decade. No sudden upheaval marked the
passage of that era, but the cumulative change by the end
of the 1960's was profound. Gone was the rigid bipolar
confrontation of the Cold War. In its place was a more fluid

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and complex world--with many centers of power, more
subtle dangers, and new hopeful opportunities. Western
Europe and Japan were stronger and more self-confident;
our alliances needed to be adjusted towards a more equal
partnership. The Communist world had fragmented over
doctrine and national interests; there were promising
prospects for more stable relations based on restraint
and negotiation. And many of our friends in other parts of
the globe were now better prepared to shoulder responsibility
for their security and well-being, but they needed our
assistance during the period of transition.

At home, the American people and Congress were
weary from two decades of global exertion and years of
domestic turmoil. They were not prepared for confrontation

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unless all avenues toward peace had been explored. The
challenge for our foreign policy has been to define an
effective but more balanced US role in the world, reducing
excessive commitments without swinging toward precipitate
and dangerous withdrawal.

We have come a long way.

Our major allies in the Atlantic world and Japan have
grown in strength politically and economically; our alliances
are firm anchors of world security and prosperity. They
are the basis for close cooperation on a range of
unprecedented new problems -- from détente to energy.

We have launched a hopeful new dialogue with Latin
America.

We are looking to a new era of relations with Africa.

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We have taken historic steps to stabilize and improve our relations with our major adversaries. We have reduced tensions, deepened dialogue, and reached a number of major agreements.

We have begun the process of controlling the rival strategic arms programs which, unconstrained, threaten global security. When the Vladivostok agreement is completed a ceiling will have been placed for the first time on the level of strategic arsenals of the superpowers.

We have helped to ease long-standing political conflicts in such sensitive areas as Berlin and the Middle East.

And we have taken the major initiatives to mobilize the international response to new global challenges such as energy, food, the environment and the law of the sea.