 Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States. The nations of NATO are rich in physical resources, but they are even richer in their accumulated wisdom and their experience of the world today. And in fashioning America's policies, we need the benefit of that wisdom and that experience. 1945. As the Western armies sweep across Germany, voices crackle on the field radios speaking in English and in Russian. Until finally, those allied in the struggle come together at the river Elbe. For Europe and the world, an unforgettable moment. And if only all had continued to act in the spirit of that moment, what a Europe, what a world might then have emerged. West of the Elbe runs the river Rhine for centuries the highway, yet the divide. The river of the Goths and Romans, Christians and Pagans, free men and slaves. The river with a history of strife, for it runs through the heartland of Europe. The continent so long torn between races and factions that only dreamers like Charlemagne could visualize it as a peaceful human. But in spite of the bloodshed, most of it so recent, one Europe is at last becoming a fact born out of the very dragon's teeth of war, a harvest from the seeds of Europe's own destruction. 1945, and the end of yet another European war. And who has won when in fact all have lost? A war in which more civilians died than fighting men, not in hundreds, but in millions. But they at least were spared the aftermath. Much was gone forever and what was in its place in the aftermath but mere existence where an undamaged roof made a palace, a loaf of bread, a banquet, a long lineup with want always at the head of the line. What a Europe to grow old in. What a Europe to grow up in. A black market where even pride was for sale to the highest bidder. A Europe in which degradation had brought the end of self-respect and human values hopped back to the jungle. But in order that wheels could turn again, some had to put faith in others. They had to trust and sit around the same table to find by agreement the means of putting Europe and indeed the whole world to rights. Already it was evident that the Europe of 1939 had gone forever. The annexation of the Baltic states, the huge advance of the Red Armies had placed enormous areas of Eastern Europe under Soviet domination. And Marshal Stalin was hardly the man to yield over the table that which he had seized in battle. Nevertheless he had agreed on free elections and amid the ruin of countries such as Poland, they were held. Though how free they were was a matter of opinion. With communists already in key posts, it was little surprise that things went their way. And if anything else was needed to make their victory certain, there was always the presence of the secret police and the number of soldiers of the occupying Red Army. And peoples exhausted by war were hardly likely to resist such coercion with determination. For all their energies were engaged putting one brick back upon another. In Western Europe where destruction had been lighter, morale was much higher. Here regimentation had been accepted only because without it, winning the war would not have been possible. Now with the end of that war, the essential freedoms of democracy burst out with new vigor. There was determination to see to it that such a disaster would never happen again. And for the more reflective there was to the realization that to be done with insecurity Europe must be reunited. But how could these Europeans be united when they were all so different? Here was the blood of many races, nationalities each with their own conditions and ways of life, not to mention the scores of different languages. They might smile at each other, but as neighbors they seemed to have little in common. Sometimes the frontier was a natural barrier, a river or a channel, but more often than not it was merely an invisible line across fields or streets, a natural line and an attitude of mind. Yet even in this time of preoccupation with essentials, there were those who realized already what must be done. It's not a movement of parties, but a movement of people. By the heartfelt wish and vehement majority of all the people in all the parties, in all the freedom loving countries, no matter where they dwell or how they vote. American statesmen were awakening to our plight, but their words alone could not drive away our disillusionment. Was this the earth in which to plant such seeds? At such a time, unity was well down the list of priorities. Anyway, unity was supposed to stem from the United Nations, and their lack of progress was such that when delegates from east and west sat down together, votes were so thin that even they were cynical about it. How could there be accord when the east blocked every move in its direction? In the economic chaos of this post-war period, communism saw its greatest chance. Wherever there was dissatisfaction, there they could fan the flames of revolt. In World Revolution, the end justified any means. While their wartime allies had demobilized, they had retained their armies. Here was a powerful factor in any argument. In an attempt to gain control over the vital Bosphorus, the Russians had offered to renew a treaty with Turkey only if they could have bases within her frontiers. By standing firm, the Turks called the bluff. But their neighbors in Greece were not so lucky. In Greece, the Communist stage opened revolt, a desperate struggle in which the government kept control only after bitter fighting. Our impoverished people were brought to the very limits of hunger, suffering, and despair. The method of settlement might be with guns, but what good were guns without bread? What good were guns against backwardness? What good were guns against the malaria that sapped the strength of whole peoples? What good were guns against the tuberculosis, the rickets, the squalor and filth? Feed the needy children, but what are their hungry mothers, fathers, grandparents? Now was the time to lift the stone and reveal the horrors that lay beneath them. Far from Europe's shores, there were those who cherished what they owed to their European origins. And these were people never prone to let human suffering exist without protest. True, they gave from a wealth which was the greatest in the world, but this in no way detracts from their desire to help their neighbors. George C. Marshall made known the principles of the plan that was later to bear his name. The whole situation is critical in the extreme, but there's no doubt whatever in my mind that if we decide to do this thing, we can do it successfully. And there's also no doubt in my mind that the whole world hangs in the balance as to what it is to be in connection with what we're endeavoring to put forward here. Thank you. Later, President Truman drove to the capital to put the Marshall Plan for European aid before Congress. I'm here today to report to you on the critical nature of the situation in Europe and to recommend action for your consideration. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States. In Europe, the response had been immediate. In Paris, world statesmen met to discuss how and where the proper American aid could best be applied. Among the delegates was Soviet Russia's Mr. Molotov, for the Marshall Plan took no regard to politics, only human need. But for the communists, human need was their stock in trade. Such a plan could only put back their own plans of revolution by means of economic chaos. And so out of the Paris conference stalked Mr. Molotov to be followed by the delegates from communist Poland and Czechoslovakia. But a few dissenters could not call a halt to the greatest humanitarian step in history. And so the cargoes began to move across the Atlantic, food, grain, and raw materials. And it wasn't just a matter of feeding the hungry. From Chicago, Illinois to Wade, France, a giant press for steel production, not only to put French mills back on their feet, but also to make them among the most modern. Truly, the power of the new world had come to redress the balance of the old one. In Paris, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation set up a council of 16 nations whose task it was to ensure that Marshall Plan aid was used to the best possible advantage. To rebuild a better economy and to reestablish inter-European trade on the basis of strength. By their agreement, for instance, Holland could import three-quarters of a cotton needed to keep her textile looms in full production. By their recommendation, Britain could receive the carbon black she needed to make tires for her all-important automobile industry. Thus could France bring into her ports the sulfur needed to make fertilizers to maintain her world-famous vineyards at their best. Then there were tractors and other equipment for Turkey to bring her agriculture into line with that of her more fortunate neighbors. Then steel for the shipyards of Italy, for Trieste, Genoa and Naples. But the Communist agitators' aim was down with the Marshall Plan. By strikes on rest and even sabotage, alarmed by Soviet and communist treachery, statesmen of Western Europe came together to discuss common defense. Only five nations signed the Brussels Treaty. But in terms of European unity, it was an historic step and the continent owes much to the foresight of those five. The next hotspot, the city of Berlin, occupied by French, British, Americans and Russians. Ever since the failure to establish free elections throughout the whole city, Berlin's situation between east and west had grown steadily more uncomfortable. Now the Soviets felt strong enough to take action. Their efforts to starve the western population were frustrated, as all the world knows, by the famed Berlin era. But in a few short years of peace, the Soviet area of domination had spread alarmingly over Europe. How could the Brussels powers alone halt further advance? And so for war-weary Europe, talk of war yet again and one brick hardly back upon another. What hopes now for the Marshall Plan? And so it wasn't surprising that the Europeans read their paper with not a little cynicism and despair. And then they read how in Washington twelve nations had signed what came to be known as the North Atlantic Treaty. And if they had doubts about the new organization, NATO, the need for it was proved at once by the virulence of the Soviet and communist reaction. This was driving a rift between east and west. This was an affront to all peace-loving peoples. They paraded the dove as a symbol of peace and peace was their slogan. But was this the peace for which so many had died in Normandy, at El Alamein in front of Stalingrad, in the hills of Italy and the streets of Paris? Was this the aftermath they had envisioned? So the peoples of western Europe pondered the new step and decided that it was indeed the only way. They backed the Atlantic Pact and gave strength to its council, for they saw that there were worse things than war and that to avert war they had to be prepared for it. Europe took the move towards defensive rearmament very calmly and in spite of all the threats when NATO's first supreme commander, Dwight D. Eisenhower, arrived in Paris to take his post, the planned demonstrations came to naught. In the temporary headquarters in Paris staff of the Alliance began their task of building the continent's defenses and although they didn't realize it they were taking the first steps to a western unity that was to extend far beyond the military field. Soldiers of many nations working together in peacetime for a common cause. Both of NATO's strength moved to pace with the progress of the Marshall Plan so that mingled with the goods pouring into European ports were created weapons and other armaments. The goods for peace and goods to safeguard that peace and as well as the goods, men, soldiers, sailors and airmen from across the Atlantic, from Canada and the United States here this time to prevent the guns from sounding. Month after month the build-up continued the build-up for war to prevent war and as the camps and airfields began to mushroom on her landscape all Europe took it all in her stride. For those from overseas who visited her in those critical days there was plenty to see. Farmers from the Middle West for instance who came over to see whether France's farm products were all they were cracked up to be and found they were and then some. But for all visitors whatever their mission one thing was obvious the changing face of Europe. The nations receiving Marshall aid dollars were putting their own currency freed by those dollars the counterpart funds to good work. Roads, railways, bridges, dams, hydroelectric schemes everywhere the rattle of cranes and concrete mixes and in the factories from Turin to Aberdeen there was ever growing roar and bustle. The Marshall plan was the stimulant. NATO was the shield. But the effort itself came from hundreds of thousands of men and women on both sides of the Atlantic who worked now with a will because they saw a mighty purpose in store. Now they were working for peace, working for themselves and working for tomorrow. In Strasbourg the Council of Europe was meeting regularly and at its conferences many European nations, NATO members and others discussed the future of their continents. The council had no executive powers and its members could only advise their governments of the general trend of its thinking. But it was at least a common meeting place somewhere where Europe could be viewed as a whole. A start, but there was a long way to go. The arteries of the continent might be throbbing now with new life, yet still the age-old barriers loomed up. It seemed that little short of atomic bombs could shift the walls of rubber stamps, secure and rock-like as Cologne Cathedral or the Citadel of Cacasson. And yet the solution was easier than anyone imagined for a necessity for unity affected millions where it hurt most in their pockets. The means of trade and the higher standard of living were the factors that finally pushed down the walls. Once the steelworks and coal mines of the Tsar, the Ruhr and Lorraine were the crucibles of war. From them came all the cannon and without them war would have reverted to an affair of bows and arrows. And then in one step by one agreement all were brought together under one community. The European community of coal and steel, the dream of Schumann and Jean Monnet turned into reality. In the city of Luxembourg, the community set up its headquarters and went quietly to work. In point of fact, the idea was purely an economic one. Six Western European nations who dealt in coal and steel decided to cooperate to prevent overlapping, waste of effort and unrealistic prices. To establish in this field one common market, a phrase that the world was soon to hear more of. Their reasons were economic, yet by this one act a handful of practical visionaries had done more for European unity than all those who had striven by blood and force throughout centuries. The business of making swords had been turned into making plowshares because there was little future in swords. In the meantime, at NATO headquarters in Paris equally important moves had been made. The project to form a true European army to include forces from Western Germany had failed. But in its place by general agreement of all the NATO nations, the Federal Republic of Germany was invited to become their 15th ally. A step vital to the alliance. A step vital, too, for European unity. For it placed the Federal Republic in partnership with the Western democracies. That was 1955, and since then old Europe has seen much. Profitless summit meetings, frustration, Hungary, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, and yet all the while the changing face. Now in the heartland of Europe the site of NATO's defensive forces on maneuver is a familiar one, but familiarity does not always breed contempt. Many of the observers were born in a very packed with sign. Naturally they are more interested in how things work than why, and why is not quite so clear as it once was. Why in the heartland can there still be seen men and women wearing uniforms of states far across the sea? Why NATO today? NATO members prospered economically and politically behind the security of the NATO shield. The alliance demonstrated its abiding respect for the sovereign rights of each member in response to France's request for relocation of military installations from her soil. In 1966, construction of a headquarters for SHAPE, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, was begun at Casto near Brussels on a site provided by the Belgian government. A parade of Belgian troops preceded the unveiling of a plaque erected on commemoration of the historic event. An unknown town was to become internationally known, as SHAPE assumed its operational role at Casto. The Belgian Prime Minister introduced General Lyman L. Lemnitzer, who was then Supreme Allied Commander Europe. Prime Minister, excellent days, distinguished guests, members of the Belgian Armed Forces, ladies and gentlemen, this group of people with me today illustrates better than I could ever put into words that the SHAPE team is truly an international one. Working toward a common end, we are collectively proud of the many accomplishments of NATO in Europe. The greatest of which is the preservation of peace and security. Belgium can indeed claim to be the world's center for international understanding and cooperation. SHAPE, from its new headquarters in Belgium, maintains deterrence against any would-be aggressor. This site, here at Casto, can be developed into a headquarters which will be the pride of all members of this great alliance. With such cooperation and support, SHAPE will be fully capable of carrying out its vital role as important today as ever in the defense of NATO Europe. Today, the Rhine is bridged in more ways than one. The tanks of NATO exercises are ferried across not for the purpose of conquering the other side, but merely to practice how to cross water. For now, the NATO allies all work together to safeguard not only the heartland, but the whole of Western Europe. And now, there are more than just ruins to defend. Today, on the sleek new international trains, there are still those who must examine passports and ask if you have anything to declare, but they do it rather half-heartedly while the express runs at full speed. Prosperity cannot wait. And here in Brussels, something new was added. Out of that first idea of the coal and steel community, there has emerged an even more ambitious move. Here in Brussels is the headquarters of European communities, including the Common Market. International cooperation across the table in terms of practically everything men produce or consume. Six nations today, but tomorrow, a wider membership stretching to the perimeter of Western Europe. Their success and safety, however, depend on NATO. The men and equipment keeping 24-hour guard by land, sea and air. For still only a few miles east of Hamburg and Frankfurt, men toil ceaselessly to add yet more miles of wire to the already enormous web of the iron curtain. A wall of shame dividing peoples and families without rhyme or reason. This is why NATO today. Just in case those beyond the wall who sneer and smile might still be tempted to do something desperate. But for us, there's no time for wars because Europe is now moving ahead so fast there is real danger of being left behind. On the occasion of the commemorative session, marking the 20th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, President Nixon summarized the alliance's importance. NATO meet more than arms and troop levels and consultative bodies and treaty commitments. All these are necessary. But what makes them relevant to the future? It's what the alliance stands for. To discover what this Western alliance means today, we have to reach back not across two decades, but through the centuries to the very roots of the Western experience. And when we do, we find that we touch a set of elemental ideals, eloquent in their simplicity, majestic in their humanity, ideals of decency and justice and liberty and respect for the rights of our fellow men. Simple yes. And to us, they seem obvious. But our forebears struggled for centuries to win them. And in our own lifetimes, we have had to fight to defend them. These ideals are what NATO was created to protect. And it is to these ideals on this proud anniversary that we are privileged to consecrate the alliance anew. These ideals and the firmness of our dedication to them give NATO's concept its nobility and NATO's backbone its steel.