US-Europe World Affairs

Excerpts from the speech of NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, April 9th 2026

“If peace is to have a chance, if the hope for freedom is to be kept alive, the United States must play a powerful and active role in world affairs.

When President Reagan offered those words at a gathering of the Reserve Officers Association on January 27, 1988, the world was a very different place. 

The Berlin Wall still held people’s hopes and dreams captive.  More than 100 million men, women, and children lived in European countries behind an Iron Curtain.

Those differences notwithstanding, what President Reagan knew then, and what I know today, is quite simple:

American leadership is absolutely essential if freedom is to be the rule and not the exception.

As Prime Minister of the Netherlands and now as Secretary General of NATO, I have developed an unflinching appreciation for the value of American leadership.” ©NATO