Harry, don't you go to the Senate with an inferiority complex. You sit there about 6 months, and you wonder how you got there. And after that you wonder how the rest of them got there.

Now, Therefore, I, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week commencing May 22, 1949, as World Trade Week

It is a simple document, but if it had existed in 1914 and in 1939, supported by the nations who are represented here today, I believe it would have prevented the acts of aggression which led to two world wars.

Even without that agreement, which we still hope for, we shall do as much as we can.

In taking steps to prevent aggression against our own peoples, we have no purpose of aggression against other peoples.

To suggest the contrary is to slander our institutions and defame our ideals and our aspirations.

We rededicate ourselves to that obligation, and propose this North Atlantic Treaty as one of the means to carry it out.

The pact will be a positive, not a negative, influence for peace, and its influence will be felt not only in the area it specifically covers but throughout the world.

What we are about to do here is a neighborly act.

May I offer a toast to the Atlantic Treaty and its success.

We do not believe that there are blind tides of history which sweep men one way or another.

In this pact, we hope to create a shield against aggression and the fear of aggression--a bulwark which will permit us to get on with the real business of government and society, the business of achieving a fuller and happier life for all…

There are those who claim that this treaty is an aggressive act on the part of the nations which ring the North Atlantic.

The treaty we are signing here today is evidence of the path they will follow.

I think we have really passed a milestone in history today.

I think your children and your grandchildren will tell you that, in the days to come.

Existing regulations governing the subject matters of this order, including such regulations prescribed by Executive order, shall, subject to the termination of such Executive order by its own terms, remain in effect until modified…

By virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, it is ordered as follows: