University of Arkansas Commencement Address, February 1952

-6- improvement in their living conditions. Our way of living, our Americanism, can compete with the ideas advanced by the Soviet Union only if we are able to show how we can offer greater opportunities for improvement in the lives of these people. Bringing masses of people to realize the possibilities of a way of life based upon religion and democracy is a difficult problem. We can be successful only if we realize that no one can be converted to religion and democracy by military action. The best that we can hope for through the use of military force is that we may have time to plan for the conversion--a con- version which must be based on intellectual effort and sincerity rather than on force. We cannot conquer Russia and Asia by military action, although we might win a war. But if we can understand our basic problems clearly, we may be able to influence the world greatly through the use of ideas. Up until this time our record in regard to the use of ideas is very poor indeed, and I am afraid that our approach to world problems has been, for the most part, a negative approach and in many instances insincere like so much of our everyday living. At times it has been naive also. This is true especially of our thought that we can sell religion and democracy to the rest of the world when so much of our own living is irreligious and undemocratic that people everywhere must be inclined to doubt our belief in these principles. After all, religion and democracy are not merely philosophies to which lip service alone is adequate. They are ways of life. They are like muscles which must be used constantly if they are to be kept strong. The