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Over and over again the American Legion has repudiated the philosophy that wars are inevitable. We have substituted for that philosophy a constructive planning for peace-not a peace built on the sand of wishful thinking but on the rock of self-reliance, good will, and international law internationally enforced. Three million Legionnaires are convinced that without an orderly world there can be no tranquility, no liberty worthy of the name, no lasting prosperity or happiness. Without order there is chaos; and out of chaos spring godlessness, oppression, and war.

Peace in the constructive sense has been the main objective of our foreign policy. This has been coupled with insistence upon national security and national independence, since international madmen or criminals will be a menace until international law enforcement is strong enugh to cope with them.

For such international law enforcement, the United Nations was created; but it is not functioning as it should. With this in mind, 10 days ago the Legion's national executive committee unanimously adopted as part of its foreign policy a resolution advocating amendment of the United Nations Charter.

The development of the Legion's policy relative to the United Nations is pertinent as the basis for what we recommend here. That policy was no mushroom growth, but the result of careful, constructive thinking. Indeed, it was only 9 months after Pearl Harbor that our Kansas City Convention of 1942, looking through the smoke of war into the future, issued this pronouncement [reading]:

The American Legion demands that when total victory has been won, this Nation assert its leadership in the establishment and maintenance of world-wide, enduring peace through association of free and sovereign nations.

The very next year, there was added an 11-word clause which we believe is the key to the problem under discussion today-namely, that that association of nations should be:

implemented with whatever force may be necessary to maintain world peace. To which we later added:

When peace has been restored to the world, we must be ever vigilant to protect it.

Bitter experience of the past proves that peace cannot be preserved unless aggressor nations are promptly and sternly suppressed at the very beginning.

The American Legion took an active interest in organizing the United Nations. Then, only a short 5 months after the United Nations Charter had been signed, we sensed the existence of serious internal weaknesses which might threaten its very existence and, while reiterating our hearty support, voiced a warning which unhappily has proved to be prophetic [reading]:

We believe that the United Nations Organization, in its efforts to make an end of war, can succeed only through the utter good faith of all member nations.

Our hope of this good faith was shaken as vetoes multiplied. Almost parallel with those vetoes, the freedom of small nation after small nation was threatened. Naturally this brought the United Nations under serious attack. However, as we diagnosed the situation, the blame rested much less upon the United Nations than upon the attitude and acts of certain member nations, one in particular.

Stating the matter bluntly, we concluded that it was a case of deliberate sabotage. Therefore, when many of its erstwhile friends began to desert it, we not only stood firm in our fidelity to the United Nations but sought to apply a constructive remedy. We urged then, as we urge now, "that its Charter be strengthened in the immediate future." Appreciating the complexity as well as the vital importance of the problem, our San Francisco Convention of 1946 referred three proposed Charter amendments to our standing commission on foreign relations. After hearing a group of Legionnaires from Middletown, Ohio, the majority of them veterans of World War II-and one of them is here today-the subject was studied intensively and debated vigorously. The result was a pruning down which strengthened the whole. This draft in turn was discussed with a special committee and further amended. In that form it met the acid test applied by the national executive committee, and in November of 1946 became part of the Legion's official policy.

I have here copies of that 1946 resolution, if you desire it.

Subsequently this group of proposed amendments was printed, with explanatory matter, in a pamphlet issued by the Legion entitled "Twice is Too Often." Certain of the House resolutions now before your honorable committee present an interesting comparison.

The purpose of these proposed amendments was to preserve the United Nations from deteriorating into a weak edition of the League of Nations, without power or substantial usefulness for peace. We realize that this young organization is undergoing the extraordinary stress of extraordinary world conditions; and, rather than cast aside the thought, effort and sacrifice which have gone into it, consider it good sense to do something to make it effective. We believe that the car has a good engine, but that its brakes are locked; and we have chosen, as a remedy, releasing the brakes rather than scrapping the car. Furthermore, being convinced that this great instrument for good is being veto-sabotaged, we are the more determined that the attempt shall not succeed and propose that the Charter be strengthened to that end.

As we have faced these problems, we have felt deeply our responsibility and the need of dependence upon a wisdom higher than our own. We freely concede that no method can by itself accomplish the results desired. We agree with those who lay emphasis upon the vital need of good faith and cooperation by the participants. But we cannot agree that nothing should be done to aid those who are ready to act in good faith or deter those who act in bad faith. Certainly the situation should not be allowed to drift from bad to worse. Patience is a virtue, but not inaction. The plain fact is that there exists a sitdown strike which the framers of the Charter never contemplated. Now if a log jam can be broken by normal means, very good. if extraordinary means are essential to the survival of all, then extraordinary means must be adopted. Fortunately, in the history of human log jams, a firm approach often brings results before more drastic methods need be applied.

But

Let me at this point make it emphatically clear that we are opposed to bluster, just as we are opposed to appeasement. Appeasement and bluster are equally ineffective and dangerous. Jingoism and pacifism have caused many wars. Firmness in the right is the surest road to

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peace. Let me further add that the American Legion does not seek to have the United States avoid any of its national or individual responsibilities by overreliance upon the United Nations. Whether in war or in peace, reliance must be placed chiefly upon our own efforts, our own sacrifices; and it is vital that there be continuity of effort and policy.

Without question, the best hope of world peace ought to lie in the United Nations. It was created to avert world chaos. Unhappily, however, there is chaos in the United Nations. To bring order out of that chaos is the need and duty of the moment. To accomplish this, the American Legion proposes amendments which would eliminate the veto in matters pertaining to aggression and provide means of law enforcement, while of course maintaining our own national strength until this can be accomplished.

Specifically, our program strengthens the Security Council and the World Court. It provides for an international police force backed by national quotas, along with appropriate armaments. And, in the interest of world preservation, it expressly provides for inspection of atomic and other major weapons and their rigid limitation and control. Our program, as first adopted in 1946, consisted of four short resolutions accompanied by a number of suggestions. These resolutions are basic. The suggestions embody important details, some very important, but being details we avoided being categorical about them. The essentials are briefly restated in our commission's report of 10 days ago to which reference has been made. That report centered upon three activities in the field of foreign affairs where the Legion has taken the initiative, namely: Implementing the European recovery program and its ramifications; enlightening the world as to the democratic methods and ideals of the United States; and strengthening the United Nations Charter in the interests of world peace.

Our recommendations on strengthening the Charter, adopted by the national executive committee on May 3, expressly refer to resolutions in both Houses of Congress in furtherance of such amendment; and in particular [reading]:

(a) Removal of the veto in matters of aggression or preparation for aggression; also the strengthening of the International Court of Justice by giving it the power to interpret aggresion and preparation for aggression with appropriate jurisdiction over individuals, corporations, and nations in these matters.

(b) In connection with this, the limitation of world arms production through the establishment of arms quotas guaranteed through a system of positive international inspection, and the adoption of United States proposals for international control of atomic energy.

(c) Establishment of an effective world police force to consist of an inde pendent active force, presumably to be recruited from the small nations, under the direct control of the Security Council; and a reserve force made up of national contingents of the five major powers.

In respectfully requesting that steps be taken to give these amendments immediate effect, let me again point out that their main objective is to achieve that peace under law which alone can be a just and lasting peace. We have not advocated a federation of nations. We have not insisted upon democracy as a prerequisite, although hopeful that in the course of time that the United Nations may become a training school for world-wide democracy. Our purpose is not national defense, since we must always rely upon ourselves for that. And we would make it clear that we are not seeking by these amendments to

2. Delegation to the Security Council of adequate powers to suppress aggression and prevent preparation for aggression. Suggested details would include

(a) To establish an atomic development authority responsible to the reorganized Security Council for the rigid control of atomic weapons, with proper safeguards. The same or a similar authority to have like responsibility as to biological, chemical, and other means of mass destruction existing or hereafter developed, with like safeguards.

(b) In the case of other heavy armament, such as warplanes, warships, rockets, and heavy artillery, the Security Council be empowered and directed to limit the total quantity to be produced in the world annually and to allot to each of the five major powers an individual production quota, which it may not exceed, and to allot to the remaining member states a collective production quota which shall be produced within their territories solely by a nonprofit armament authority to be operated under the Security Council; these production quotas preferably to be specified in the United Nations Charter after they have been arrived at by previous agreement. Such production quotas might be: United States, Britain, and Russia, 20 percent each; France and China, 10 percent each; the smaller member states, through the armament authority, a collective quota of 20 percent. In event of actual invasion, the invaded state may exceed its quota and take all other steps to resist.

(c) To delegate to the Security Council the power and responsibility of enforcing all the provisions of these amendments. The Security Council to maintain staffs of inspectors and establish branches of the atomic development authority throughout the world. The inspectors shall have full access to all sources of raw material, plants, and research centers within the scope of their authority, and full information as to any substantial concentration or training of armed forces. Refusal by the government of a member state to submit to inspection or to recognize the authority of the Security Council and World Court shall constitute an act of preparation for aggression.

(d) Effective provision which this committee does not attempt to elaborate shall be considered and made effective as to nonmember states, to the end that they may acquire no advantage by nonmembership. 3. Establishment of a strong world police force organized and equipped to support impartially and effectively the powers of the Security Council. Suggested details would include

(a) The world police force to consist of one active international contingent, and five national contingents ready to operate as reserves whenever needed.

(b) The Security Council shall establish and maintain under its direct control the active international contingent composed of volunteers from the smaller member states only, recruited in national units; this to constitute a professional army, highly paid and highly trained and disciplined. They shall owe their allegiance to the Security Council only and shall be equipped with the collective heavy weapons produced by the armament authority in the smaller member states, namely, 20 percent of the world's production, or equal to that assigned to the United States, Britain, or Russia, respectively.

(c) The Security Council shall cause the international contingent to move against any state found guilty by the World Court of preparation for aggression. In event of actual aggression the international contingent shall move immediately to resist the aggressor. The international contingent may be stationed temporarly in Germany or any other occupied enemy territory as troops of occupation.

(d) The national contingents shall consist of the national armed forces of the five major powers and shall be equipped with the heavy weapons allotted to them in their respective quotas. These shall help and reenforce the international contingent whenever needed, and such need shall be determined by majority vote of the Security Council. In case

the national contingents shall not suffice to repel the aggression, further national contingents may be called out but only with the consent of their respective governments.

Mr. RICHARDS. You did not come to your decision with regard to this proposal just offhand; it was carefully considered at many committee meetings and also at your conventions, was it not?)

Mr. McCook. That is why, Mr. Congressman, I went into some of the history of it, to show that this was not a mushroom growth. It was very carefully studied.

I think the spearpoint came from a small group of World War II men who had been through the mill, some of them terribly wounded, in Middletown, Ohio. They made up their minds, apparently, that they would try to do something to prevent something in the future. They got the idea before their district; and then the department of Ohio, in turn, brought it to my committee.

My committee was definitely from Missouri. We studied it, and it came up at the San Francisco convention.

We again had hearings with them and pruned it down. We tried to get our feet on the ground. We tried to see as far as we could into the future, of course, but remain on what seemed basically sound.

Then the national executive committee appointed a special committee of World War I and World War II men, three of each, who sat down with us and worked it out, and this resolution resulted.

Mr. VORYS (presiding). The resolution referred to will be included in the record at this point.

(The resolution referred to is as follows:)

RESOLUTION OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN LEGION, NOVEMBER 1946, ON STRENGTHENING OF THE UNITED NATIONS

Resolved, That the national executive committee of the American Legion, meeting in Indianapolis. Ind., November 21, 22, 23, 1946, urgently recommends the immediate strengthening of the United Nations Organization by the adoption of three amendments to the United Nations Charter to provide for

1. Reorganization of the United Nations Security Council and the World Court with a more effective representation of the nations, and a final decision by majority vote in all matters involving aggression or preparation for aggression. Also the abolishment of the veto power in all matters involving aggression or preparation for aggression only, while retaining it elsewhere. Suggested details would include

(a) To reorganize the Security Council to consist of 10 members, 2 each from the United States, Britain, and Russia; 1 each from France and China; and 2 selected collectively by the remaining member states. (b) To abolish the present veto right in cases of aggression or preparation for aggression. In all such cases, decisions of the Security Council shall be made by a majority of 6 out of 10. In other matters, the present veto right of the 5 major powers to be retained.

(c) To define in the United Nations Charter aggression and preparation for aggression. Aggression, or aggressive war, shall include an attack with weapons of violence by the government of a sovereign state, or by its citizens with its acquiescence, against the territory or citizens of another sovereign state. Preparation for aggression shall include production of weapons beyond previously agreed quotas, or refusal to submit to authorized inspection, or the massing of excessive bodies of troops at another nation's border.

(d) To reorganize the International Court of Justice or World Court, with power to interpret the revised UN Charter and to determine when preparation for aggression exists. Its composition shall be similar to that of the reorganized Security Council, except that its members will serve for life or for a substantial term. Its decisions shall be by majority vote and shall, within the scope of its authority, be binding upon governments, corporations, and individuals.

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