Treaties and Congressional-Executive or Presidential Agreements: Interchangeable Instruments of National Policy: I

Above the holocaust of the present war has arisen a demand from the people of the United States for a foreign policy that will do everything humanly possible to prevent future wars and to secure their other interests in the contemporary world. The people have made up their minds as to the general kind of foreign policy they want. In elections and by-elections extending over a period of five years, in Congressional resolutions, and in the platforms and speeches of party candidates, a line of policy has been laid down as precisely as the processes of voting and popular expression permit. Firmly, deliberately, and in large majority, the people have said that they want a foreign policy which continues our war-time alliances and which seeks to create upon that foundation both a new general security organization, with the United States as a leading member, and all the other supporting institutions necessary to secure the full advantages—such as economic well-being and the promotion of health, knowledge, and the maintenance of human dignity—that can flow from the free and peaceful cooperation of the peoples of the world