Dwight D. Eisenhower on Peace
← Back to Dwight D. Eisenhower ProfileIn a 1956 address concerning crises in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, President Eisenhower articulated a vision of peace rooted in global justice and the rule of law.
“The peace we seek and need means much more than mere absence of war. It means the acceptance of law, and the fostering of justice, in all the world.”
Speaking to Prime Minister Macmillan in 1959, President Eisenhower expressed his faith in the power of popular desire for peace to eventually supersede governmental obstacles.
“I like to believe that people, in the long run, are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days governments had better get out of the way and let them have it.”
“Respecting the United Nations as the living sign of all people's hope for peace, we shall strive to make it not merely an eloquent symbol but an effective force. And in our quest for an honorable peace, we shall neither compromise, nor tire, nor ever cease.”