Now we must rise to a new test of leadership—­ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention.  Make no mistake about it, it will make our troops safer from chemical attack.  It will help us to fight terrorism.  We have no more important obligations, especially in the wake of what we now know about the Gulf War.

This treaty has been bipartisan from the beginning, supported by Republican and Democratic administrations, and Republican and Democratic members of Congress, and already approved by 68 nations.  But if we do not act by April the 29th, when this convention goes into force—­with or without us—­we will lose the chance to have Americans leading and enforcing this effort.  Together we must make the Chemical Weapons Convention law so that at last we can begin to outlaw poisoned gas from the earth.

Finally, we must have the tools to meet all these challenges.  We must maintain a strong and ready military.  We must increase funding for weapons modernization by the year 2000.  And we must take good care of our men and women in uniform.  They are the world’s finest.

We must also renew our commitment to America’s diplomacy and pay our debts and dues to international financial institutions like the World Bank—­and to a reforming United Nations.  Every dollar—­every dollar we devote to preventing conflicts, to promoting democracy, to stopping the spread of disease and starvation brings a sure return in security and savings.  Yet international affairs spending today is just 1 percent of the federal budget, a small fraction of what America invested in diplomacy to choose leadership over escapism at the start of the cold war.

If America is to continue to lead the world, we here who lead America simply must find the will to pay our way.  A farsighted America moved the world to a better place over these last 50 years.  And so it can be for another 50 years.  But a shortsighted America will soon find its words falling on deaf ears all around the world.

Almost exactly 50 years ago in the first winter of the Cold War President Truman stood before a Republican Congress and called upon our country to meet its responsibilities of leadership.  This was his warning.  He said, “If we falter, we may endanger the peace of the world, and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation.”

That Congress, led by Republicans like Senator Arthur Vandenburg, answered President Truman’s call.  Together, they made the commitments that strengthened our country for 50 years.  Now let us do the same.  Let us do what it takes to remain the indispensable nation, to keep America strong, secure and prosperous for another 50 years.

In the end, more than anything else, our world leadership grows out of the power of our example here at home, out of our ability to remain strong as one America.

All over the world people are being torn asunder by racial, ethnic and religious conflicts that fuel fanaticism and terror.  We are the world’s most diverse democracy, and the world looks to us to show that it is possible to live and advance together across those kinds of differences.  America has always been a nation of immigrants.