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Mr.
President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Congress of the United
States:
The gravity of the situation
which confronts the world today necessitates my appearance before a
joint session of the Congress. The foreign policy and the national
security of this country are involved.
One aspect of the present
situation, which I wish to present to you at this time for your
consideration and decision, concerns Greece and Turkey.
The United States has received
from the Greek Government an urgent appeal for financial and
economic assistance. Preliminary reports from the American Economic
Mission now in Greece and reports from the American Ambassador in
Greece corroborate the statement of the Greek Government that
assistance is imperative if Greece is to survive as a free nation.
I do not believe that the
American people and the Congress wish to turn a deaf ear to the
appeal of the Greek Government.
Greece is not a rich country.
Lack of sufficient natural resources has always forced the Greek
people to work hard to make both ends meet. Since 1940, this
industrious and peace loving country has suffered invasion, four
years of cruel enemy occupation, and bitter internal strife.
When forces of liberation entered
Greece they found that the retreating Germans had destroyed
virtually all the railways, roads, port facilities, communications,
and merchant marine. More than a thousand villages had been burned.
Eighty-five per cent of the children were tubercular. Livestock,
poultry, and draft animals had almost disappeared. Inflation had
wiped out practically all savings.
As a result of these tragic
conditions, a militant minority, exploiting human want and misery,
was able to create political chaos which, until now, has made
economic recovery impossible.
Greece is today without funds to
finance the importation of those goods which are essential to bare
subsistence. Under these circumstances the people of Greece cannot
make progress in solving their problems of reconstruction. Greece is
in desperate need of financial and economic assistance to enable it
to resume purchases of food, clothing, fuel and seeds. These are
indispensable for the subsistence of its people and are obtainable
only from abroad. Greece must have help to import the goods
necessary to restore internal order and security, so essential for
economic and political recovery.
The Greek Government has also
asked for the assistance of experienced American administrators,
economists and technicians to insure that the financial and other
aid given to Greece shall be used effectively in creating a stable
and self-sustaining economy and in improving its public
administration.
The very existence of the Greek
state is today threatened by the terrorist activities of several
thousand armed men, led by Communists, who defy the government's
authority at a number of points, particularly along the northern
boundaries. A Commission appointed by the United Nations security
Council is at present investigating disturbed conditions in northern
Greece and alleged border violations along the frontier between
Greece on the one hand and Albania, Bulgaria, and Yugoslavia on the
other.
Meanwhile, the Greek Government
is unable to cope with the situation. The Greek army is small and
poorly equipped. It needs supplies and equipment if it is to restore
the authority of the government throughout Greek territory. Greece
must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and
self-respecting democracy.
The United States must supply
that assistance. We have already extended to Greece certain types of
relief and economic aid but these are inadequate.
There is no other country to
which democratic Greece can turn.
No other nation is willing and
able to provide the necessary support for a democratic Greek
government.
The British Government, which has
been helping Greece, can give no further financial or economic aid
after March 31. Great Britain finds itself under the necessity of
reducing or liquidating its commitments in several parts of the
world, including Greece.
We have considered how the United
Nations might assist in this crisis. But the situation is an urgent
one requiring immediate action and the United Nations and its
related organizations are not in a position to extend help of the
kind that is required.
It is important to note that the
Greek Government has asked for our aid in utilizing effectively the
financial and other assistance we may give to Greece, and in
improving its public administration. It is of the utmost importance
that we supervise the use of any funds made available to Greece; in
such a manner that each dollar spent will count toward making Greece
self-supporting, and will help to build an economy in which a
healthy democracy can flourish.
No government is perfect. One of
the chief virtues of a democracy, however, is that its defects are
always visible and under democratic processes can be pointed out and
corrected. The Government of Greece is not perfect. Nevertheless it
represents eighty-five per cent of the members of the Greek
Parliament who were chosen in an election last year. Foreign
observers, including 692 Americans, considered this election to be a
fair expression of the views of the Greek people.
The Greek Government has been
operating in an atmosphere of chaos and extremism. It has made
mistakes. The extension of aid by this country does not mean that
the United States condones everything that the Greek Government has
done or will do. We have condemned in the past, and we condemn now,
extremist measures of the right or the left. We have in the past
advised tolerance, and we advise tolerance now.
Greece's neighbor, Turkey, also
deserves our attention.
The future of Turkey as an
independent and economically sound state is clearly no less
important to the freedom-loving peoples of the world than the future
of Greece. The circumstances in which Turkey finds itself today are
considerably different from those of Greece. Turkey has been spared
the disasters that have beset Greece. And during the war, the United
States and Great Britain furnished Turkey with material aid.
Nevertheless, Turkey now needs
our support.
Since the war Turkey has sought
financial assistance from Great Britain and the United States for
the purpose of effecting that modernization necessary for the
maintenance of its national integrity.
That integrity is essential to
the preservation of order in the Middle East.
The British government has
informed us that, owing to its own difficulties can no longer extend
financial or economic aid to Turkey.
As in the case of Greece, if
Turkey is to have the assistance it needs, the United States must
supply it. We are the only country able to provide that help.
I am fully aware of the broad
implications involved if the United States extends assistance to
Greece and Turkey, and I shall discuss these implications with you
at this time.
One of the primary objectives of
the foreign policy of the United States is the creation of
conditions in which we and other nations will be able to work out a
way of life free from coercion. This was a fundamental issue in the
war with Germany and Japan. Our victory was won over countries which
sought to impose their will, and their way of life, upon other
nations.
To ensure the peaceful
development of nations, free from coercion, the United States has
taken a leading part in establishing the United Nations, The United
Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and
independence for all its members. We shall not realize our
objectives, however, unless we are willing to help free peoples to
maintain their free institutions and their national integrity
against aggressive movements that seek to impose upon them
totalitarian regimes. This is no more than a frank recognition that
totalitarian regimes imposed on free peoples, by direct or indirect
aggression, undermine the foundations of international peace and
hence the security of the United States.
The peoples of a number of
countries of the world have recently had totalitarian regimes forced
upon them against their will. The Government of the United States
has made frequent protests against coercion and intimidation, in
violation of the Yalta agreement, in Poland, Rumania, and Bulgaria.
I must also state that in a number of other countries there have
been similar developments.
At the present moment in world
history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of
life. The choice is too often not a free one.
One way of life is based upon the
will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions,
representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual
liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political
oppression.
The second way of life is based
upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It
relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio;
fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the
policy of the United States to support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.
I believe that we must assist
free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
I believe that our help should be
primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to
economic stability and orderly political processes.
The world is not static, and the
status quo is not sacred. But we cannot allow changes in the status
quo in violation of the Charter of the United Nations by such
methods as coercion, or by such subterfuges as political
infiltration. In helping free and independent nations to maintain
their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the
principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
It is necessary only to glance at
a map to realize that the survival and integrity of the Greek nation
are of grave importance in a much wider situation. If Greece should
fall under the control of an armed minority, the effect upon its
neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion and
disorder might well spread throughout the entire Middle East.
Moreover, the disappearance of
Greece as an independent state would have a profound effect upon
those countries in Europe whose peoples are struggling against great
difficulties to maintain their freedoms and their independence while
they repair the damages of war.
It would be an unspeakable
tragedy if these countries, which have struggled so long against
overwhelming odds, should lose that victory for which they
sacrificed so much. Collapse of free institutions and loss of
independence would be disastrous not only for them but for the
world. Discouragement and possibly failure would quickly be the lot
of neighboring peoples striving to maintain their freedom and
independence.
Should we fail to aid Greece and
Turkey in this fateful hour, the effect will be far reaching to the
West as well as to the East.
We must take immediate and
resolute action.
I therefore ask the Congress to
provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount
of $400,000,000 for the period ending June 30, 1948. In requesting
these funds, I have taken into consideration the maximum amount of
relief assistance which would be furnished to Greece out of the
$350,000,000 which I recently requested that the Congress authorize
for the prevention of starvation and suffering in countries
devastated by the war.
In addition to funds, I ask the
Congress to authorize the detail of American civilian and military
personnel to Greece and Turkey, at the request of those countries,
to assist in the tasks of reconstruction, and for the purpose of
supervising the use of such financial and material assistance as may
be furnished. I recommend that authority also be provided for the
instruction and training of selected Greek and Turkish personnel.
Finally, I ask that the Congress
provide authority which will permit the speediest and most effective
use, in terms of needed commodities, supplies, and equipment, of
such funds as may be authorized.
If further funds, or further
authority, should be needed for purposes indicated in this message,
I shall not hesitate to bring the situation before the Congress. On
this subject the Executive and Legislative branches of the
Government must work together.
This is a serious course upon
which we embark.
I would not recommend it except
that the alternative is much more serious. The United States
contributed $341,000,000,000 toward winning World War II. This is an
investment in world freedom and world peace.
The assistance that I am
recommending for Greece and Turkey amounts to little more than 1
tenth of 1 per cent of this investment. It is only common sense that
we should safeguard this investment and make sure that it was not in
vain.
The seeds of totalitarian regimes
are nurtured by misery and want. They spread and grow in the evil
soil of poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the
hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope
alive.
The free peoples of the world
look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms.
If we falter in our leadership,
we may endanger the peace of the world -- and we shall surely
endanger the welfare of our own nation.
Great responsibilities have been
placed upon us by the swift movement of events.
I am confident that the Congress
will face these responsibilities squarely.
  
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