For me it is a most happy circumstance that my orders to proceed to Washington for temporary duty afforded opportunity to accept the gracious invitation of this city and state to pay here a brief visit. The warmth of your welcome to Mrs. Eisenhower and myself will live with us always. We are most truly and humbly grateful.

It is always a pleasant task to report to Americans upon the character of the service performed by the soldiers our country sent to Europe. My admiration, respect, and affection for the trained American soldier, sailor and airman are without limits. So, it is a special privilege to assure you that your own 26th Division, commanded by a great leader, General Paul, established a record in Europe that measures up fully to the highest American standard. The division was first committed to battle under such conditions of terrain, weather, and enemy resistance as to be classified as frightful. But from its first day of action until the whole job was done, it never faltered, never hesitated. Every man entitled to wear the Y-D of the Yankee Division on his shoulder will do so in honor and in pride for the remainder of his life. I am told that your 43rd Division in the far Pacific established for itself an equally brilliant battle record. The Minute Men of Lexington and Concord would be proud to acclaim the brilliant performances of New England’s representative on numberless battlefields in World War II.

In both hemispheres victory has crowned the efforts of our fighting forces, but in the aftermath of major conflicts there is invariably and inescapably experienced throughout the world a feeling of confusion, uneasiness, doubt and indecision. These create unrest in many fields - industrial, political, financial, and international. Though we in America do not wholly escape these universal problems, we are, in one vital aspect, extremely fortunate. We know, at the very least, that each of us has the treasured opportunity to exert his own influence in seeking solutions. We, any of us, may express freely our own convictions in the confidence that the will of the majority, peaceably expressed, will prevail, and that the right of the minority will not suffer thereby.

It is in the role of a citizen exercising this American right that I venture to address to you today a few thoughts which, in my trip across the Atlantic, I have attempted to reduce to writing in order that I might not trespass too excessively upon your time.

As a preliminary I should like to suggest the importance of remembering, always - though with undiminished appreciation and obligation for the vital work of our great Allies - the accomplishments of this country in the late war. Undismayed by the black outlook of the early months, when it seemed that the all-conquering hordes of Germany, Japan and their partners were in an unassailable position, you, by your sweat, your blood and your undaunted spirit contributed mightily and decisively to the greatest global victory of all time.

Never has more dismal prospect been transformed into more glorious result. The conclusion is that when America clearly visualizes the task she has to do, so that all may rally as one toward its accomplishment, there are few things that for her can logically be classed as impossible. She, and her Allies, can even win the peace!

In Europe there were more than three million Americans on the day of victory. The final division to reach us disembarked last April and promptly participated in battle to hasten and clinch the victory. In passing, it is significant to note that this division came into action three years and four months after Pearl Harbor day, a fact that gives some inkling of the tremendous task and the time involved in gearing a nation to the requirements of the battlefield.

Within six weeks after the arrival of this final fighting division, the entire process of pouring our resources into Europe was reversed. The business of tearing down that mighty battle machine properly began, so as to provide additional strength in the Pacific and to return our uniformed men to their pursuits of peace. Ever since that day the War Department has constantly accelerated the pace of demobilization, using every ounce of energy at its command to restore those men to their family circles, where you are so anxious to welcome them. Up to a certain, definite point this process of disintegration is wise, commendable, necessary! But a conviction that I want to leave with you today is that there is developing a situation that is bringing that limiting point into sharp focus.

Peace did not descend upon Central Europe with the cessation of hostilities. It marked the end of killing and it provided an opportunity to begin the laborious business of restoring order from chaos; of imposing upon a conquered people methods and processes which we consider appropriate to peaceful pursuit; of cooperating with our Allies in regulating the economy, the industry, the education - indeed, every activity of the conquered country - and to compel democratic reform and virtual rebirth of the German people.

Enforcement of this intricate program requires military strength. If disintegration of our forces proceeds too far, it will become quickly evident to the Germans, who are expert in this type of appraisal. If we become incompetent or unequal to the task not only will we be humiliated and shamed but America’s influence in building the foundations of an enduring peace in Europe will disappear and the great costs of the war may have been paid in vain.

May I point out that in addition to all the normal tasks devolving upon an occupational force in a thickly populated, hostile country, we cannot neglect our responsibilities to millions of unfortunate people that we call displaced persons.

The agonies they have suffered, the injustices they have helplessly borne, have left them a charge upon the democratic world. They are exceedingly grateful for what the American Government and soldiers have done and are doing for them. But the sad fact is that that job will be a continuing one until those people can return to their homes, or, have been given opportunity, in some spot upon the earth, to develop for themselves a respectable standard of self-sustained living.

Beyond all these tasks there is another one for our soldiers that touches upon our immediate interests. In Europe there are now more than six million tons of valuable American property. The processes of hasty redeployment have necessarily left much of it in condition where only deterioration and destruction will result if we are robbed completely of our own men to take care of it and to provide for its orderly disposal. Though we are making in those areas the maximum use of local civilian labor, responsibility in this task can be faithfully discharged by no one except Americans, the owners of the property. We must take care of our own.

All of these tasks are now largely being performed by soldiers. Some of them will always have to be, as long as the task remains.

The plain and unpalatable fact is that accomplishment of America’s war purposes - which I take to be the establishment of an enduring peace - requires, for a period of which the length cannot now clearly be foreseen, the maintenance of adequate American military forces in Europe.

Moreover, you and I, all of us, should help in making those men understand the depth of our appreciation for the distasteful but vitally necessary work they are doing for us.

Please do not think that I would agree to any unconscionable delay ins ending back to his home the man who has borne the brunt of the battle. No one, anywhere, could have greater concern that I for the human desire and the logical right of the American who has faced the fury of the enemy in the field to have further military duties carried on by those who have not been so exposed. Certainly, we must recognize and plan for realization of this rightful desire.

In outlining this problem I am merely pointing out to you that a day of critical decision is rushing upon the American people. That decision in simplest terms is merely this: Are we going so far in weakening ourselves in Europe as to turn our backs upon a problem critically involving the future peace of the world, including this country? Are we going to abandon, unfulfilled, the great purposes for which we fought this war? Or, are we going sanely and logically to provide the means and the strength in Europe that will see that job through to the end?

In my opinion there can be no temporizing, no compromising, with this issue. I feel that I owe it to every man who loyally, uncomplainingly and successfully carried out the tasks that I placed before him in Europe - particularly I owe it to those and to the families of those who gave their all that America’s purposes might be served - to urge the instant adoption of a system whereby America’s wartime soldiers may be returned to their homes but under which America’s obligations to the world and to herself may, in this regard, be satisfactorily met.

It is not easy, but it can, it must, be done.

As the representative of all the men you sent across the Atlantic and vigorously supported as they helped to crush Hitlerism and restore peace, I express our confidence that you, again, will meet the challenge.