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It is a great privilege to be allowed to say these few words to your country as Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, because it is vital that every man, woman, and child in the North Atlantic Community should understand the nature of the task to which the democracies of the Atlantic Community are pledged.
That task can be expressed in four words; to preserve the peace. That is the over-riding aim - peace to-day, peace to-morrow, peace for all time.
It is my conviction that if there had been anything in the nature of a North Atlantic Treaty in the World before 1939, there would have been no second world war. It has been described as "the unnecessary war".
Surely a third world war, immensely more devastating, more agonizing than its prdecessors, is not only the unnecessary, it is the avoidable war. Not only can we avoid it; we must avoid it.
It is in this hope that many European countries have abandoned their historic neutrality; that is why the United States of America have abandoned their historic isolationism from European affairs; that is why all like-minded nations are determined that never again shall an aggressor be given a chance - as Hitler was - of swallowing us one by one.
We are well on our way to achieving our first essential objective, the building up of adequate military power, effectively organized. We recognize that weakness is merely an invitation to an aggressor.
But in building up our military power, we must beware lest we undermine our economic stability. Each member of our alliance must make the greatest contribution that its national economy can afford, right up to the limit. But no further; we cannot run the risk of losing the "cold" war in our efforts to avert the "hot" one.
But because I speak in the first place about defence and because you read of increases in military forces and are required to make sacrifices in order to provide them, let no man think that the North Atlantic Treaty is merely a temporary military alliance, which has been forced on us by the compulsion of an external threat. It is much more than that - much much more. It stands for enduing progress, it stands for the advancement of social welfare, economic progress, friendship between nations, and all those things which make for the happiness and prosperity of our peoples.
I have heard it said that when nations pile up arms, there is a temptation to use them aggressively. There is not the slightest danger that our North Atlantic Community will succumb to that temptations; for the simple reason that the strength at which we aim is the bare minimum for defence. There is no margin whatsoever for aggression of any kind. It never enters our thoughts.
One last word. It is peace that we want. It is peace that we are determined to have. It is peace that we shall have, if we are true to ourselves and to each other.