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I commend the leadership of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the College of William and Mary, and the Los Alamos National Laboratory for organizing this conference on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Atoms for Peace.

President Eisenhower demonstrated remarkable vision in presenting his remarks to the United Nations 50 years ago. At that time the framework of the challenge confronting the world with nuclear technologies was only dimly visible. But with that speech, he launched this nation and the world on a quest to harness the atom solely for purposes of peace—a quest that remains unmet today.
 
At the time of his speech, our nation had conducted 42 test explosions and used two weapons to end the catastrophic Second World War. The Soviet Union had demonstrated their nuclear weapons capability. But the dimensions of the Cold War, which President Eisenhower hoped to avoid, were only vaguely defined. Nevertheless, his words ring true today:

"Let no one think that the expenditure of vast sums for weapons and systems of defense can guarantee absolutely safety for the cities and the citizens of any nation. The awful arithmetic of the atomic bomb does not permit of such an easy solution."

The President further noted that the ability of the U.S. to lay waste to an aggressor would be a hollow victory indeed–hardly befitting the founding principles and ideals of this nation. He noted that such reasoning would be:

"to accept helplessly the probability of civilization destroyed–the annihilation of the irreplaceable heritage of mankind handed down to us generation from generation–and the condemnation of mankind to begin all over again the age old struggle upward from savagery toward decency and right and justice."