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PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT IN
1937
Quarantine the Aggressor
It follows the full text transcript of
Franklin D. Roosevelt's Quarantine the
Aggressor speech, delivered at Chicago, Illinois -
October 5, 1937.
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I am glad to come
once again to Chicago and especially to have the
opportunity of taking part in the dedication of
this important project of civic betterment. |
On my trip across
the continent and back I have been shown many
evidences of the result of common sense
cooperation between municipalities and the
Federal Government, and I have been greeted by
tens of thousands of Americans who have told me
in every look and word that their material and
spiritual well-being has made great strides
forward in the past few years.
And yet, as I have seen with my own eyes, the
prosperous farms, the thriving factories and the
busy railroads, as I have seen the happiness and
security and peace which covers our wide land,
almost inevitably I have been compelled to
contrast our peace with very different scenes
being enacted in other parts of the world.
It is because the people of the United States
under modern conditions must, for the sake of
their own future, give thought to the rest of
the world, that I, as the responsible executive
head of the Nation, have chosen this great
inland city and this gala occasion to speak to
you on a subject of definite national
importance.
The political situation in the world, which of
late has been growing progressively worse, is
such as to cause grave concern and anxiety to
all the peoples and nations who wish to live in
peace and amity with their neighbors.
Some fifteen years ago the hopes of mankind for
a continuing era of international peace were
raised to great heights when more than sixty
nations solemnly pledged themselves not to
resort to arms in furtherance of their national
aims and policies. The high aspirations
expressed in the Briand-Kellogg Peace Pact and
the hopes for peace thus raised have of late
given way to a haunting fear of calamity. The
present reign of terror and international
lawlessness began a few years ago.
It began through unjustified interference in the
internal affairs of other nations or the
invasion of alien territory in violation of
treaties; and has now reached a stage where the
very foundations of civilization are seriously
threatened. The landmarks and traditions which
have marked the progress of civilization toward
a condition of law, order and justice are being
wiped away.
Without a declaration of war and without warning
or justification of any kind, civilians,
including vast numbers of women and children,
are being ruthlessly murdered with bombs from
the air. In times of so-called peace, ships are
being attacked and sunk by submarines without
cause or notice. Nations are fomenting and
taking sides in civil warfare in nations that
have never done them any harm. Nations claiming
freedom for themselves deny it to others.
Innocent peoples, innocent nations, are being
cruelly sacrificed to a greed for power and
supremacy which is devoid of all sense of
justice and humane considerations.
To paraphrase a recent author "perhaps we
foresee a time when men, exultant in the
technique of homicide, will rage so hotly over
the world that every precious thing will be in
danger, every book and picture and harmony,
every treasure garnered through two millenniums,
the small, the delicate, the defenseless — all
will be lost or wrecked or utterly destroyed."
If those things come to pass in other parts of
the world, let no one imagine that America will
escape, that America may expect mercy, that this
Western Hemisphere will not be attacked and that
it will continue tranquilly and peacefully to
carry on the ethics and the arts of
civilization.
If those days come "there will be no safety by
arms, no help from authority, no answer in
science. The storm will rage till every flower
of culture is trampled and all human beings are
leveled in a vast chaos."
If those days are not to come to pass— if we are
to have a world in which we can breathe freely
and live in amity without fear-the peace-loving
nations must make a concerted effort to uphold
laws and principles on which alone peace can
rest secure.
The peace-loving nations must make a concerted
effort in opposition to those violations of
treaties and those ignorings of humane instincts
which today are creating a state of
international anarchy and instability from which
there is no escape through mere isolation or
neutrality.
Those who cherish their freedom and recognize
and respect the equal right of their neighbors
to be free and live in peace, must work together
for the triumph of law and moral principles in
order that peace, justice and confidence may
prevail in the world. There must be a return to
a belief in the pledged word, in the value of a
signed treaty. There must be recognition of the
fact that national morality is as vital as
private morality.
A bishop wrote me the other day: "It seems to me
that something greatly needs to be said in
behalf of ordinary humanity against the present
practice of carrying the horrors of war to
helpless civilians, especially women and
children. It may be that such a protest might be
regarded by many, who claim to be realists, as
futile, but may it not be that the heart of
mankind is so filled with horror at the present
needless suffering that that force could be
mobilized in sufficient volume to lessen such
cruelty in the days ahead. Even though it may
take twenty years, which God forbid, for
civilization to make effective its corporate
protest against this barbarism, surely strong
voices may hasten the day."
There is a solidarity and interdependence about
the modern world, both technically and morally,
which makes it impossible for any nation
completely to isolate itself from economic and
political upheavals in the rest of the world,
especially when such upheavals appear to be
spreading and not declining. There can be no
stability or peace either within nations or
between nations except under laws and moral
standards adhered to by all International
anarchy destroys every foundation for peace. It
jeopardizes either the immediate or the future
security of every nation, large or small. It is,
therefore, a matter of vital interest and
concern to the people of the United States that
the sanctity of international treaties and the
maintenance of international morality be
restored.
The overwhelming majority of the peoples and
nations of the world today want to live in
peace. They seek the removal of barriers against
trade. They want to exert themselves in
industry, in agriculture and in business, that
they may increase their wealth through the
production of wealth-producing goods rather than
striving to produce military planes and bombs
and machine guns and cannon for the destruction
of human lives and useful property.
In those nations of the world which seem to be
piling armament on armament for purposes of
aggression, and those other nations which fear
acts of aggression against them and their
security, a very high proportion of their
national income is being spent directly for
armaments. It runs from thirty to as high as
fifty percent. We are fortunate. The proportion
that we in the United States spend is far less-
eleven or twelve percent.
How happy we are that the circumstances of the
moment permit us to put our money into bridges
and boulevards, dams and reforestation, the
conservation of our soil and many other kinds of
useful works rather than into huge standing
armies and vast supplies of implements of war.
I am compelled and you are compelled,
nevertheless, to look ahead. The peace, the
freedom and the security of ninety percent of
the population of the world is being jeopardized
by the remaining ten percent. who are
threatening a breakdown of all international
order and law. Surely the ninety percent who
want to live in peace under law and in
accordance with moral standards that have
received almost universal acceptance through the
centuries, can and must find some way to make
their will prevail.
The situation is definitely of universal
concern. The questions involved relate not
merely to violations of specific provisions of
particular treaties; they are questions of war
and of peace, of international law and
especially of principles of humanity. It is true
that they involve definite violations of
agreements, and especially of the Covenant of
the League of Nations, the Briand-Kellogg Pact
and the Nine Power Treaty. But they also involve
problems of world economy, world security and
world humanity.
It is true that the moral consciousness of the
world must recognize the importance of removing
injustices and well-founded grievances; but at
the same time it must be aroused to the cardinal
necessity of honoring sanctity of treaties, of
respecting the rights and liberties of others
and of putting an end to acts of international
aggression.
It seems to be unfortunately true that the
epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading.
When an epidemic of physical disease starts to
spread, the community approves and joins in a
quarantine of the patients in order to protect
the health of the community against the spread
of the disease.
It is my determination to pursue a policy of
peace. It is my determination to adopt every
practicable measure to avoid involvement in war.
It ought to be inconceivable that in this modern
era, and in the face of experience, any nation
could be so foolish and ruthless as to run the
risk of plunging the whole world into war by
invading and violating, in contravention of
solemn treaties, the territory of other nations
that have done them no real harm and are too
weak to protect themselves adequately. Yet the
peace of the world and the welfare and security
of every nation, including our own, is today
being threatened by that very thing.
No nation which refuses to exercise forbearance
and to respect the freedom and rights of others
can long remain strong and retain the confidence
and respect of other nations. No nation ever
loses its dignity or its good standing by
conciliating its differences, and by exercising
great patience with, and consideration for, the
rights of other nations.
War is a contagion, whether it be declared or
undeclared. It can engulf states and peoples
remote from the original scene of hostilities.
We are determined to keep out of war, yet we
cannot insure ourselves against the disastrous
effects of war and the dangers of involvement.
We are adopting such measures as will minimize
our risk of involvement, but we cannot have
complete protection in a world of disorder in
which confidence and security have broken down.
If civilization is to survive the principles of
the Prince of Peace must be restored. Trust
between nations must be revived.
Most important of all, the will for peace on the
part of peace-loving nations must express itself
to the end that nations that may be tempted to
violate their agreements and the rights of
others will desist from such a course. There
must be positive endeavors to preserve peace.
America hates war. America hopes for peace.
Therefore, America actively engages in the
search for peace.
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