With the free Republics of Latin America I have always felt and our country has always felt-very special ties of interest and affection. It will be the purpose of my administration to strengthen these ties. Together we share and shape the destiny of the new world. In the coming year I hope to pay a visit to Latin America." And I will steadily enlarge our commitment to the Alliance for Progress as the instrument of our war against poverty and injustice in the hemisphere.

In the Atlantic community we continue to pursue our goal of 20 years— a Europe that is growing in strength, unity, and cooperation with America. A great unfinished task is the reunification of Germany through selfdetermination.

This European policy is not based on any abstract design. It is based on the realities of common interests and common values, common dangers and common expectations. These realities will continue to have their way-especially in our expanding trade and especially in our common defense.

Free Americans have shaped the policies of the United States. And because we know these realities, those policies have been, and will be, in the interest of Europe.

Free Europeans must shape the course of Europe. And, for the same reasons, that course has been, and will be, in our interest and in the interest of freedom.

I found this truth confirmed in my talks with European leaders in the last year. I hope to repay these visits to some of our friends in Europe this year.'

In Africa and Asia we are witnessing the turbulent unfolding of new nations and continents.

We welcome them to the society of nations.

We are committed to help those seeking to strengthen their own independence, and to work most closely with those governments dedicated to the welfare of all their people.

* President Johnson did not visit Latin America during 1965.

* President Johnson did not travel to Europe during 1965.

We seek not fidelity to an iron faith but a diversity of belief as varied as man himself. We seek not to extend the power of America but the progress of humanity. We seek not to dominate others but to strengthen the freedom of all people.

I will seek new ways to use our knowledge to help deal with the explosion in world population and the growing scarcity in world resources.

Finally, we renew our commitment to the continued growth and effectiveness of the United Nations. The frustrations of the United Nations are a product of the world that we live in and not of the institution which gives them voice. It is far better to throw these differences open to the assembly of nations than to permit them to fester in silent danger.

These are some of the goals of the American nation in the world in which we live.

For ourselves we seek neither praise nor blame, neither gratitude nor obedience.

We seek peace.

We seek freedom.

We seek to enrich the life of man.

For that is the world in which we will flourish and that is the world that we mean for all men to ultimately have.

Document I-2

Message From the President (Johnson) to the Congress, January 18, 1965 S

The State of

United States Defenses

One hundred seventy-five years ago, in his first annual message, President Washington told the Congress:

Among the many interesting objects which will engage your attention that of

Department of State Bulletin, Feb. 15, 1965, pp. 211-218; also, H. Doc. 54, 89th Cong.

providing for the common defense will merit particular regard. To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.

For the 89th Congress-as for the 1st Congress-those words of the first President remain a timely charge.

In the 20th year since the end of mankind's most tragic war you and I are beginning new terms of service. The danger of war remains ever with us. But if the hope of peace is sturdier than at any other time in these two decades, it is because we -and free men everywhere-have proved preparedness to be "the most effectual means of preserving peace."

Arms alone cannot assure the security of any society or the preservation of any peace. The health and education of our people, the vitality of our economy, the equality of our justice, the vision and fulfillment of our aspirations are all factors in America's strength and well-being.

Today we can walk the road of peace because we have the strength we need. We have built that strength with courage. We have employed it with care. We have maintained it with conviction that the reward of our resolution will be peace and freedom.

We covet no territory; we seek no dominion; we fear no nation; we despise no people. With our arms we seek to shelter the peace of mankind.

In this spirit, then, I wish to consider with you the state of our defenses, the policies we pursue, and -as Commander in Chief-to offer recommendations on our course for the future.

I

THE STATE Of Our DefenSES

I am able to report to you that the United States today is stronger militarily than at any other time in our peacetime history.

Under our free and open society, the American people have succeeded in building a strength of arms greater than that ever assembled by any other nation and greater now than that of any combination of adversaries.

This strength is not the handiwork of any one administration. Our force in being and in place reflects the continuity and constancy of America's purpose under four administrations and eight Congressesand this responsible conduct of our system is, of itself, a source of meaningful strength.

For the past 4 years, the focus of national effort has been upon assuring an indisputable margin of superiority for our defenses. I can report today that effort has succeeded.

Our strategic nuclear power on alert has increased threefold in 4 years.

Our tactical nuclear power has been greatly expanded.

Our forces have been made as versatile as the threats to peace are various.

Our Special Forces, trained for the undeclared, twilight wars of today, have been expanded eightfold.

Our combat-ready Army divisions have been increased by 45 percent.

Our Marine Corps has been increased by 15,000 men.

Our airlift capacity to move these troops rapidly anywhere in the world has been doubled.

Our tactical Air Force firepower to support these divisions in the field has increased 100 percent.

This strength has been developed to support our basic military strategy-a strategy of strength and readiness, capable of countering aggression with appropriate force from ballistic missiles to guerrilla bands.

Our forces are balanced and ready, mobile and diverse. Our allies trust our strength and our adversaries respect it. But the challenge is unceasing. The forms of conflict become more subtle and more complex every day. We must-and we shall-adapt our forces and our tactics to fulfill our purposes.

If our military strength is to be fully usable in times requiring adaptation and response to changing challenges, that strength must be so

velop a much smaller, more efficient, nuclear powerplant for possible use in our future aircraft carriers.

4. While confident that our present strength will continue to deter a thermonuclear war, we must always be alert to the possibilities for limiting destruction which might be inflicted upon our people, cities, and industry-should such a war be forced upon us.

Many proposals have been advanced for means of limiting damage and destruction to the United States in the event of a thermonuclear war. Shifting strategy and advancing technology make the program of building adequate defenses against nuclear attack extremely complex.

Decisions with respect to further limitation of damage require complex calculations concerning the effectiveness of many interrelated elements. Any comprehensive program would involve the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars. We must not shrink from any expense that is justified by its effectiveness, but we must not hastily expend vast sums on massive programs that do not meet this test.

It is already clear that without fallout shelter protection for our citizens, all defense weapons lose much of their effectiveness in saving lives. This also appears to be the least expensive way of saving millions of lives, and the one which has clear value even without other systems. We will continue our existing programs and start a program to increase the total inventory of shelters through a survey of private homes and other small structures.

We shall continue the research and development which retains the options to deploy an anti-ballisticmissile system, and manned interceptors and surface-to-air missiles against bombers.

5. Our military forces must be so organized and directed that they can be used in a measured, controlled, and deliberate way as a versatile instrument to support our foreign policy.

Military and civilian leaders alike are unanimous in their conviction that our armed might is and always must be so controlled as to permit

measured response in whatever crises may confront us.

We have made dramatic improvements in our ability to communicate with and command our forces, both at the national level and at the level of the theater commanders. We have established a national military command system, with the most advanced electronic and communications equipment, to gather and present the military information necessary for top level management of crises and to assure the continuity of control through all levels of command. Its survival under attack is insured by a system of airborne, shipborne, and other command posts, and a variety of alternative protected communications.

We have developed and procured the post-attack command control system of the Strategic Air Command, to assure continued control of our strategic forces following a nuclear attack.

We have installed new safety procedures and systems designed to guarantee that our nuclear weapons are not used except at the direction of the highest national authority.

This year we are requesting funds to extend similar improvements in the survivability and effectiveness of our command and control to other commands in our oversea theaters.

6. America will continue to be first in the use of science and technology to insure the security of its people.

We are currently investing more than $6 billion per year for military research and development. Among other major developments, our investment has recently produced antisatellite systems that can intercept and destroy armed satellites that might be launched, and such revolutionary new aircraft as the F-111 fighter-bomber and the SR-71 supersonic reconnaissance aircraft. Our investment has effected an enormous improvement in the design of antiballistic-missile systems. We will pursue our program for the development of the Nike X antimissile system, to permit deployment of this antiballistic missile should the national security require. Research will continue on even more advanced antimissile components and concepts.