Atoms for Peace Persuasive Speech
Madame President, Members of the General Assembly:
When Secretary General Hammarskjold’s invitation to address this General Assembly reached me
in Bermuda, I was just beginning a series of conferences with the Prime Ministers and Foreign
Ministers of Great Britain and of France. Our subject was some of the problems that beset our
world.
During the remainder of the Bermuda Conference, I had constantly in mind that ahead of me lay a
great honor. That honor is mine today, as I stand here, privileged to address the General Assembly
of the United Nations.
Never before in history has so much hope for so many people been gathered together in a single
organization. Your deliberations and decisions during these somber years have already realized
part of those hopes.
But the great tests and the great accomplishments still lie ahead. And in the confident expectation of
those accomplishments, I would use the office which, for the time being, I hold, to assure you that
the Government of the United States will remain steadfast in its support of this body.
I feel impelled to speak today in a language that in a sense is new—one which I, who have spent so
much of my life in the military profession, would have preferred never to use. That new language is
the language of atomic warfare.
The atomic age has moved forward at such a pace that every citizen of the world should have some
comprehension, at least in comparative terms, of the extent of this development, of the utmost
significance to every one of us.
Clearly, if the peoples of the world are to conduct an intelligent search for peace, they must be
armed with the significant facts of today’s existence.
The United States knows that if the fearful trend of atomic military build-up can be reversed, this
greatest of destructive forces can be developed into a great boon, for the benefit of all mankind.
The United States would be more than willing—it would be proud—to take up with other nations the
development of plans whereby such peaceful use of atomic energy would be expedited.
The United States would seek more than the mere reduction or elimination of atomic materials for
military purposes. It is not enough to take this weapon out of the hands of the soldiers. It must be
put into the hands of those who will know how to strip its military casing and adapt it to the arts of
peace.
