The addresses are separated by three asterisks: ***
Dates of addresses by Dwight D. Eisenhower in this eBook:
February 2, 1953
January 7, 1954
January 6, 1955
January 5, 1956
January 10, 1957
January 9, 1958
January 9, 1959
January 7, 1960
January 12, 1961
***
State of the Union Address
Dwight D. Eisenhower
February 2, 1953
Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Eighty-third Congress:
I welcome the honor of appearing before you to deliver my first message tothe Congress.
It is manifestly the joint purpose of the congressional leadership and ofthis administration to justify the summons to governmental responsibilityissued last November by the American people. The grand labors of thisleadership will involve:
Application of America's influence in world affairs with such fortitude andsuch foresight that it will deter aggression and eventually secure peace;
Establishment of a national administration of such integrity and suchefficiency that its honor at home will ensure respect abroad;
Encouragement of those incentives that inspire creative initiative in oureconomy, so that its productivity may fortify freedom everywhere; and
Dedication to the well-being of all our citizens and to the attainment ofequality of opportunity for all, so that our Nation will ever act with thestrength of unity in every task to which it is called.
The purpose of this message is to suggest certain lines along which ourjoint efforts may immediately be directed toward realization of these fourruling purposes.
The time that this administration has been in office has been too brief topermit preparation of a detailed and comprehensive program of recommendedaction to cover all phases of the responsibilities that devolve upon ourcountry's new leaders. Such a program will be filled out in the weeks aheadas, after appropriate study, I shall submit additional recommendations foryour consideration. Today can provide only a sure and substantialbeginning.
II.
Our country has come through a painful period of trial and disillusionmentsince the victory of 1945. We anticipated a world of peace and cooperation.The calculated pressures of aggressive communism have forced us, instead,to live in a world of turmoil.
From this costly experience we have learned one clear lesson. We havelearned that the free world cannot indefinitely remain in a posture ofparalyzed tension, leaving forever to the aggressor the choice of time andplace and means to cause greatest hurt to us at least cost to himself.
This administration has, therefore, begun the definition of a new, positiveforeign policy. This policy will be governed by certain fixed ideas. Theyare these:
(1) Our foreign policy must be clear, consistent, and confident. This meansthat it must be the product of genuine, continuous cooperation between theexecutive and the legislative branches of this Government. It must bedeveloped and directed in the spirit of true bipartisanship.
(2) The policy we embrace must be a coherent global policy. The freedom wecherish and defend in E