Signs of the Times

Mark O. Hatfield

Vital Speeches of the Day

Senator Mark O. Hatfield of Oregon in Vital Speeches of the Day Pelham, New York

The world prays for peace, wants peace, demands peace and expects the organization it created for this purpose to produce peace.

But the world expects too much.

For peace will not come simply because man demands it, or because he recoils at the horror of war, or because he recognizes the futility of force.... We must recognize that peace can only be founded on the cornerstone of cooperation. This is the prerequisite of peace and there will be no shortcut around, or substitute for, international goodwill....

The United Nation's power to prevent war will grow out of peoples' involvement and not out of authority granted only on paper. ... There must be developed a strong sense of world community before there can be an effective delegation of authority to the United Nations....

I believe we can greatly accelerate the development of a sense of community among men by exploiting the fact that people are the common denominator of all nations, of all cultures, and by emphasizing that men share a common heritage of simple human values and are united in their aspirations for brotherhood and peace and adequate sustenance. ... We have conceived and implemented many programs for peace, based upon political power, economic power, military power, even atomic power, but the day of real peace will come only when we mobilize people power....

We must face today, and challenge the future, not only with the idealism tempered by reality but also with realism infused with vision. It was said long ago in the days of Solomon, "Where there is no vision, the people perish."

But the companion of vision must be faith.

People do believe that the goodness which resides in our individual hearts can someday be translated into the nature of society as a whole. People do believe that a world community founded on tolerance and dedicated to peace, is possible.

And it is possible if we make the right choices, now.

Mankind has the power to choose—that power is people power.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit