哈里．S．杜鲁门
(HARRY S. TRUMAN)

就职演说
Inaugural Address

    只有通过帮助人类大家庭中那些最不幸的成员自助，人类才能过上体面的、令人满意的、人人有权享受的生活。

    哈里．S．杜鲁门(1884－1972)1948年当选爲总统是美国政治史上最大的怪事之一。杜鲁门既战胜了由纽约州州长托马斯．杜威领导的卷土重来的共和党，又克服了他自己党内的分裂。杜鲁门斗志旺盛，信奉平民主义。他击败了杜威、进步党的亨利．华莱士和南部与本党持不同政见的民主党人斯特隆．瑟蒙德，使民意测验工作者和权威评论员们大吃一惊。

     杜鲁门出生于密苏里州一个农场主家庭，他中学毕业，但因经济问题没上大学。他曾从事多种商业冒险事业，均以失败告终。杜鲁门在第一次世界大战中入伍。表现出色，战后在民主党地方组织的支持下成爲当地政治活动家。1934年杜鲁门当选爲美国参议员，1944年当选爲弗兰克林．D．罗斯福的副总统。罗斯福于1945年4月12日去世，杜鲁门遂成爲总统。

     在就职演说中，杜鲁门提出一个大规模的国际方案，以给予拉丁美洲、亚洲、中东和非洲国家经济和技术援助。随着第四点计划的实施，美国开始在国际事务中扮演一个新的角色。

    ……我国历史上的每一时期都遇上其特定的挑战。现在我们所面临的挑战与过去的挑战同样严重。今天这个日子不仅标志着一个新政府的开始，而且标志一个新时期的开端，这一时期对我们、对世界来说都将是重要的，也许是决定性的。

    我们可能有幸经历，在很大程度上带来漫长的人类历史上一个重大转折点。本世纪前半期以人权遭受空前残暴的践踏及历史上最可怕的两次战争爲特征。我们时代的当务之急是让人们学会在安宁和谐中共同生活。

    世界各国人民面对着一个难以预测的未来，它蕴藏着几乎等量的巨大希望和巨大恐惧。在这疑惑不安的时刻，他们比以前更迫切地期待着从美国得到善意、力量和英明的领导。

    因此我们这样做是恰当的：利用这一场合向世界阐明我们赖以生存的信仰所包含的基本原则，向各国人民宣布我们的目标。

   美国人民坚持那始终激励鼓舞这个国家的信仰。我们相信，人人享有在法律面前的平等权利，人人拥有分享公共利益的权利。我们相信，人人有思想和言论自由的权利。我们相信，人人生而平等，因爲人都是按照上帝的形象创造出来的。

    我们抱这一信仰决不动摇。

    美国人民期望而且决心建立一个世界，在那个世界中─一切国家、一切民族可以自由地依照他们认爲合适的方式自治，享受一种体面的、令人满意的生活。首先。我们的人民期望而且决心建立世界和平──一种公正而持久的和平──建筑在平等各方达成的真正协定基础上的和平。

    自战争结束后，美国将它的人力物力投入伟大的具有积极意义的工作，以便在全世界恢复和平、稳定和自由。

    我们从没有领土要求，也从不把自己的意志强加于人。凡我们不想给予他人的特权，我们从不索取。

   我们坚定不移地全力支持联合国及有关机构、从而把民主原则运用于国际关系。我们一贯拥护和依靠以和平方式解决国家间的争端。

    我们不遗余力地争取达成关于对我们最强有力的武器实行有效国际控制的协议，我们爲限制和控制一切军事力量作了不懈的努力。

    我们通过示范和规程鼓励在合理和公正的基础上发展世界贸易。

   差不多一年以前，我们与十六个欧洲自由国家一起提出了历史上最大的经济合作计划。这一空前的尝试目的在于鼓舞和加强欧洲的民主，以使欧洲大陆的自由人民能在文明的前线恢复他们应有的地位，爲世界的安全和幸福再次作出贡献。 

    我们的努力已给全人类带来新的希望。我们已战胜了绝望情绪和失败主义。我们使一批国家免遭丧失自由的厄运。全出界亿万人民现在赞同我们的观点：我们不需要战争──我们能享有和平。……

    在未来的岁月中，我们争取和平与自由的计划将突出四大行动步骤。

   第一，我们将继续坚决支持联合国及其有关机构，我们将继续千方百计加强它们的权威，提高它们的效率。我们相信，由于在按照民主原则走向自治的地区里面，新的国家纷纷建立，联合国将得到加强。

   第二，我们将继续实施争取世界经济复苏的计划。这首先意味着我们必须继续全力支持欧洲复兴计划。我们相信，这一宏大事业在世界复兴的过程中必定取得成功。我们相信，同我们在这项工作中合作的国家将再次取得自立自强的国家地位。

    另外，我们必须实施自己的消除国际贸易壁垒和增加国际贸易的计划。经济复苏及和平本身有赖于国际贸易的增长。

    第三，我们将加强爱好自由的国家反对侵略威胁的力量。我们正与一批国家一起草拟一个旨在巩固北大西洋地区安全的联合协议。该协议将采取在联合国宪章范围内集体防务计划的形式。……

    第四，我们必须开始实施一项大胆的新计划以使我们的科学发展和工业进步成果造福于不发达地区的改良和发展。

    全球半数以上的人民生活相当困苦。他们食不果腹，疾病缠身。他们的经济生活原始落后，停滞不前。他们的穷困不仅对他们自己，而且对较繁荣的地区是一种障碍和威胁。

    历史上人类第一次有了把这些人从痛苦中解救出来的知识和技能。

   在工业和科学技术的发展方面美国走在各国的前列。我们可用于支持别国人民的物质资源有限，但我们在技术知识方面无法估量的资源正不断增长，取之不尽用之不竭。

   我认爲，我们应当让我们丰富的技术知识造福于爱好和平的各国人民，以帮助他们实现改善生活的愿望。而且，我们应当与其它国家合作，促进对需要发展的地区的投资。

   我们的目标是帮助世界自由的各国人民通过他们自己的努力去生産更多的食品、更多的衣服、更多的建筑材料，以及更多的用以减轻他们劳累的机械力量。

    我们邀请其它国家在这项事业中投入并分享它们的技术资源。它们的贡献将受到热情欢迎。这应是一项合作的事业，所有国家通过联合国及其特定机构在一切可行的地方共同工作。它应该是一种世界规模的爲取得和平、富裕和自由的努力。……

    所有的国家，包括我们自己的国家，将从──更好地利用世界人力和自然资源的建设性计划中得到很大的益处。经验告诉人们，当其它国家在工业和经济上取得进步时，我们与它们的贸易也就随之扩展。 

   发展生产是繁荣与和平的关键。而发展生产的关键在于更广泛、更积极地应用现代科技知识。

    只有通过帮助人类大家庭中那些最不幸的成员自助，人类才能过上体面的、令人满意的、人人有权享受的生活。

    唯民主才能产生活力，推动世界各国人民采取行动，不仅去战胜压迫他们的人，而且去战胜他们的宿敌──饥饿、苦难和绝望。

    在这四大行动步骤的基础上，我们希望协力创造条件以最终实现全人类的个人自由和幸福。……

附注：

l      第四点计划：    美国向不发达国家提供技术和经济援助的政策，因杜鲁门总统在1949年的就职演说中把它列爲第四点，故名。

. . . .Each period of our national history has had its special challenges. Those that confront us now are as momentous as any in the past. Today marks the beginning not only of a new administration, but of a period that will be eventful, perhaps decisive, for us and for the world.

    It may be our lot to experience, and in large measure to bring about, a major turning point in the long history of the human race. The first half of this century, has been marked by unprecedented and brutal attacks on the rights of man, and by the two most frightful wars in history. The supreme need of our time is for men to learn to live together in peace and harmony.

    The peoples of the earth face the future with grave uncertainty, composed almost equally of great hopes and great fears. In this time of doubt, they look to the United States as never before for good will, strength, and wise leadership.

    It is fitting, therefore, that we take this occasion to proclaim to the world the essential principles of the faith by which we live, and to declare our aims to all peoples.

    The American people stand firm in the faith which has inspired this Nation from the beginning. We believe that all men have a right to equal justice under law and equal opportunity to share in the common good. We believe that all men have the right to freedom of thought and expression. We believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God.

    From this faith we will not be moved.

    The American people desire, and are determined to work for, a world in which all nations and all peoples are free to govern themselves as they see fit and to achieve a decent and satisfying life. About all else, our people desire, and are determined to work for, peace on earth－a just and lasting peace－based on genuine agreement freely arrived at by equals.

    In the pursuit of these aims, the United States and other like-minded nations find themselves directly opposed by a regime with contrary aims and a totally different concept of life.

    That regime adheres to a false philosophy which purports to offer freedom, security, and greater opportunity to mankind. Misled by this philosophy, many peoples have sacrificed their liberties only to learn to their sorrow that deceit and mockery, poverty and tyranny, are their reward.

    That false philosophy is communism.

    Communism is based on the belief that man is so weak and inadequate that he is unable to govern himself, and therefore requires the rule of strong masters.

    Democracy is based on the conviction that man has the moral and intellectual capacity, as well as the inalienable right, to govern himself with reason and justice.

    Communism subjects the individual to arrest without lawful cause, punishment without trial, and forced labor as the chattel of the state. It decrees what information he shall receive, what art he shall produce, what leaders he shall follow, and what thoughts he shall think.

    Democracy maintains that government is established for the benefit of the individual, and is charged with the responsibility of protecting the rights of the individual and his freedom in the exercise of his abilities.

    Communism maintains that social wrongs can be corrected only by violence.

    Democracy has proved that social justice can be achieved through peaceful change.

    Communism holds that the world is so deeply divided into opposing classes that war is inevitable.

    Democracy holds that free nations can settle differences justly and maintain lasting peace.

    These differences between communism and democracy do not concern the United States alone. People everywhere are coming to realize that what is involved is material well-being, human dignity, and the right to believe in and worship God.

     I state these differences, not to draw issues of belief as such, but because the actions resulting from the Communist philosophy are a threat to the efforts of free nations to bring about world recovery and lasting peace.

    Since the end of hostilities, the United States has invested its substance and its energy in a great constructive effort to restore peace, stability, and freedom in the world.

    We have sought no territory and we have imposed our will on none. We have asked for no privileges we would not extend to others.

    We have constantly and vigorously supported the United Nations and related agencies as a means of applying democratic principles to international relations. We have consistently advocated and relied upon peaceful settlement of disputes among nations.

    We have made every effort to secure agreement on effective international control of our most powerful weapon, and we have worked steadily for the limitation and control of all armaments.

    We have encouraged, by precept and example, the expansion of world trade on a sound and fair basis.

    Almost a year ago, in company with 16 free nations of Europe, we launched the greatest co-operative economic program in history. The purpose of that unprecedented effort is to invigorate and strengthen democracy in Europe, so that the free people of that continent can resume their rightful place in the forefront of civilization and can contribute once more to the security and welfare of the world.

    Our efforts have brought new hope to all mankind. We have beaten back despair and defeatism. We have saved a number of countries from losing their liberty. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world now agree with us, that we need not have war－that we can have peace....

    In the coming years, our program for peace and freedom will emphasize four major courses of action.

    First. We will continue to give unfaltering support to the United Nations and related agencies, and we will continue to search for ways to strengthen their authority and increase their effectiveness. We believe that the United Nations will be strengthened by the new nations which are being formed in lands now advancing toward self-government under democratic principles.

    Second. We will continue our programs for world economic recovery.

    This means, first of all, that we must keep our full weight behind the European recovery program. We are confident of the success of this major venture in world recovery. We believe that our partners in this effort will achieve the status of self-supporting nations once again.

    In addition, we must carry out our plans for reducing the barriers to world trade and increasing its volume. Economic recovery and peace itself depend on increased world trade.

    Third. We will strengthen freedom-loving nations against the dangers of aggression. We are now working out with a number of countries a joint agreement designed to strengthen the security of the North Atlantic area. Such an agreement would take the form of a collective defense arrangement within the terms of the United Nations Charter. . . .

    Fourth. We must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas.

    More than half the people of the world are living in conditions approaching misery. Their food is inadequate. They are victims of disease. Their economic life is primitive and stagnant. Their poverty is a handicap and a threat both to them and to more prosperous areas.

    For the first time in history humanity possesses the knowledge and the skill to relieve the suffering of these people.

    The United States is preeminent among nations in the development of industrial and scientific techniques. The material resources which we can afford to use for the assistance of other peoples are limited. But our imponderable resources in technical knowledge are constantly growing and are inexhaustible.

    I believe that we should make available to peace-loving peoples the benefits of our store of technical knowledge in order to help them realize their aspirations for a better life. And, in cooperation with other nations, we should foster capital investment in areas needing development.

    Our aim should be to help the free peoples of the world, through their own efforts, to produce more food, more clothing, more materials for housing, and more mechanical power to lighten their burdens.

    We invite other countries to pool their technological resources in this undertaking. Their contributions will be warmly welcomed. This should be a cooperative enterprise in which all nations work together through the United Nations and its specialized agencies wherever practicable. It must be a world-wide effort for the achievement of peace, plenty, and freedom. ...

   All countries, including our own, will greatly benefit from a constructive program for the better use of the world's human and natural resources. Experience shows that our commerce with other countries expands as they progress industrially and economically.

    Greater production is the key to prosperity and peace. And the key to greater production is a wider and more vigorous application of modern scientific and technical knowledge.

    Only by helping the least fortunate of its members to help themselves can the human family achieve the decent, satisfying life that is the right of all people.

    Democracy alone can supply the vitalizing force to stir the peoples of the world into triumphant action, not only against their human oppressors, but also against their ancient enemies－hunger, misery, and despair.

    On the basis of these four major courses of action we hope to help create the conditions that will lead eventually to personal freedom and happiness for all mankind. . . .