gether:

When we met here four years ago, America was bleak in spirit, depressed
by the prospect of seemingly endless war abroad and of destructive
conflict at home.

As we meet here today, we stand on the threshold of a new era of peace
in the world.

The central question before us is: How shall we use that peace? Let
us resolve that this era we are about to enter will not be what other
postwar periods have so often been: a time of retreat and isolation that
leads to stagnation at home and invites new danger abroad.

Let us resolve that this will be what it can become: a time of great
responsibilities greatly borne, in which we renew the spirit and the
promise of America as we enter our third century as a nation.

This past year saw far-reaching results from our new policies for peace.
By continuing to revitalize our traditional friendships, and by our
missions to Peking and to Moscow, we were able to establish the base for
a new and more durable pattern of relationships among the nations of
the world. Because of America's bold initiatives, 1972 will be long
remembered as the year of the greatest progress since the end of World
War II toward a lasting peace in the world.

The peace we seek in the world is not the flimsy peace which is merely
an interlude between wars, but a peace which can endure for generations
to come.

It is important that we understand both the necessity and the
limitations of America's role in maintaining that peace.

Unless we in America work to preserve the peace, there will be no peace.

Unless we in America work to preserve freedom, there will be no freedom.

But let us clearly understand the new nature of America's role, as a
result of the new policies we have adopted over these past four years.

We shall respect our treaty commitments.

We shall support vigorously the principle that no country has the right
to impose its will or rule on another by force.

We shall continue, in this era of negotiation, to work for the
limitation of nuclear arms, and to reduce the danger of confrontation
between the great powers.

We shall do our share in defending peace and freedom in the world. But
we shall expect others to do their share.

The time has passed when America will make every other nation's conflict
our own, or make every other nation's future our responsibility, or
presume to tell the people of other nations how to manage their own
affairs.

Just as we respect the right of e