WASHINGTON: President Truman said last night [July 5] that the world faced a long period of “great international danger” even if peace came in Korea. In an Independence Day speech, the President said it was still too early to say whether the Communist rulers really wanted a Korean peace. The United States must be “vigilant and ready for whatever may come”, he added.

A Korean settlement would still leave in [existence] the greatest threat to world peace — the tremendous armed power of the Soviet Union, he said. Therefore, the United States must continue to rearm rapidly, help other free nations to build defences, restrain inflation and combat with “truth and fair dealing” Russian efforts to dominate the world by “lies,” threats and subversion”, he said.

Mr Truman said the very idea of self-government for which the United States severed its political ties with England nearly two centuries ago “is being put to the test in the world today as it has never been tested before”. He reprimanded pessi-mists as “prophets of doom” and expressed confidence that the “whole great experiment which began in 1776” would succeed.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2026