In the end, Soviet communism was destroyed by its own internal contradictions. New leaders with new vision faced the hard truths that their predecessors had long denied. Glasnost, perestroika: They may have been Russian words, but the concepts at their core were universal.

The Soviet Union did not simply lose the cold war; the Western democracies won it. I say this not to gloat but to make a key point. The qualities that enabled us to triumph in that struggle, faith, strength, unity, and above all, American leadership, are those we must call upon now to win the peace.

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I can remember speaking to Boris Yeltsin at that terrible moment of crisis. At times the static on the telephone made it almost impossible to hear him, but there was no mistaking what he wanted to know. He asked where the United States of America stood. And America answered, for all the world to hear, "We stand with you."

Boris Yeltsin to this day hasn't forgotten. Praising our country on his visit to the White House this June, he said George Bush was the first to understand the true scope and meaning of the victory of the Russian people on August 19, 1991. He addressed me, but he was talking about our country, the United States of America.

The free peoples of the world watched; they watched in awe as the Soviet Union collapsed, but they held their breath at what might take its place, wondering who might control its tens of thousands of nuclear weapons. Only America could manage that danger. We acted decisively to help the new leaders reduce their arsenals and gain firm control of those that remain.

Here, then, is the remarkable fact that history will record, a fact that will be studied for years in the library right here at Texas A&M University: The end of a titanic clash of political systems, the collapse of the most heavily armed empire in history, took place without a shot being fired. That should be a source of pride for every American.

From the days after World War II, when fragile European democracies were threatened by Stalin's expansionism, to the last days of the cold war, as our foes became fragile democracies themselves, American leadership has been indispensable. No one person deserves credit for this. America does. It has been achieved because of what we as a people stand for and what we are made of.

Yes, we answered the call, and we triumphed, but today we are summoned again. This time we are called not to wage a war, hot or cold, but to win the democratic peace, not for half a world as before but for people the world over. The end of the cold war, you see, has placed in our hands a unique opportunity to see the principles for which America has stood for two centuries, democracy, free enterprise, and the rule of law, spread more widely than ever before in human history.

For the first time, turning this global vision into a new and better world is, indeed, a realistic possibility. It is a hope that embodies our country's tradition of idealism, which has made us unique among nations and uniquely successful. And our vision is not mere utopianism. The advance of democratic ideals reflects a hard-nosed sense of our own, of American self-interest. For certain truths have, indeed, now become evident: Governments responsive to the will of the people are not likely to commit aggression. They are not likely to sponsor terrorism or to threaten humanity with weapons of mass destruction. Likewise, the global spread of free markets, by encouraging trade, investment, and growth, will sustain the expansion of American prosperity. In short, by helping others, we help ourselves.