Today we are now more realistic. But let us not be calamity-howlers
and discount our strength. Let us have done with both fears and
illusions. On this Sabbath evening, in our homes in the midst of
our American families, let us calmly consider what we have done and
what we must do.
In the past two or three weeks all kinds of stories have been
handed out to the American public about our lack of preparedness.
It has even been charged that the money we have spent on our
military and naval forces during the last few years has gone down
the rat-hole. I think that it is a matter of fairness to the nation
that you hear the facts.
Yes, we have spent large sums of money on the national defense.
This money has been used to make our Army and Navy today the
largest, the best equipped, and the best trained peace-time
military establishment in the whole history of this country.
Let me tell you just a few of the many things accomplished during
the past few years.
I do not propose to go into every detail. It is a known fact,
however, that in 1933, when this administration came into office,
the United States Navy had fallen in standing among the navies of
the world, in power of ships and in efficiency, to a relatively low
ebb. The relative fighting power on the Navy had been greatly
diminished by failure to replace ships and equipment, which had
become out-of-date.
But between 1933 and this year, 1940--seven fiscal years--your
government will have spent one billion, four hundred eighty-seven
million dollars more than it spent on the Navy during the seven
years that preceded 1933.
What did we get for this money?
The fighting personnel of the Navy rose from 79,000 to 145,000.
During this period 215 ships for the fighting fleet have been laid
down or commissioned, practically seven times the number in the
preceding seven-year period.
Of these 215 ships we have commissioned: 12 cruisers; 63
destroyers; 26 submarines; 3 aircraft carriers; 2 gunboats; 7
auxiliaries and many smaller craft. And among the many ships now
being built and paid for as we build them are 8 new battleships.
Ship construction, of course, costs millions of dollars--more in
the United States than anywhere else in the world; but it is a fact
that we cannot have adequate navy defense for all American waters
without ships--ships that sail the surface of the ocean, ships that
move under the surface and ships that move through the air. And,
speaking of airplanes that work with the Navy, in 1933 we had 1,127
useful aircraft and today we have 2,892 on hand and on order.
Nearly all of the old planes of 1933 have been replaced by new
planes because they became obsolete or worn out.
The Navy Is far stronger today than at any peace-time period in the
whole long history of the nation. In hitting power and in
efficiency, I would even make the assertion that it is stronger
today than it was during the World War.
The Army of the United States: In 1933 it consisted of 122,000
enlisted men. Now, in 1940, that number has been practically
doubled. The Army of 1933 had been given few new implements of war
since 1919, and had been compelled to draw on old reserve stocks
left over from the World War.
The net result of all this was that our Army by l933 had very
greatly declined in its ratio of strength with the armies of Europe
and of the Far East.
That was the situation I found.
But, since then, great changes have taken place.
Between 1933 and 1940--these past seven fiscal years--your
government will have spent $1,292,000,000 more than it spent on the
Army the previous seven years.
What did we get for this money?
The personnel of the Army, as I have said, has been almost doubled.
And by the end of this year every existing unit of the present
regular Army will be equipped with its complete requirements of
modern weapons. Existing units of the national Guard will also be
largely equipped with similar items.
Here are some striking examples taken from a large number:
Since 1933 we have actually purchased 5,640 airplanes, including
the most modern type of long-range bombers and fast pursuit planes,
though, of course, many of these which were delivered four, five,
six or seven years ago have worn out through use and been scrapped.
We must remember that these planes cost money--a lot of it. For
example, one modern four-engine long-range bombing plane costs
$350,000; one modern interceptor pursuit plane costs $133,000; one
medium bomber costs $160,000.
In 1933 we had only 355 anti-aircraft guns. We now have more than
1,700 modern anti-craft guns of all types on hand or on order. And
you ought to know that a three-inch anti-aircraft gun costs $40,000
without any of the fire control equipment that goes with it.
In 1933 there were only 24 modern infantry mortars in the entire
Army. We now have on hand and on order more than 1,600.
In 1933 we had only 48 modern tanks and armored cars; today we have
on hand and on order 1,700. Each one of our heavier tanks costs
$46,000.
There are many other items in which our progress since 1933 has
been rapid. And the great proportion of this advance consists of
really modern equipment.
In 1933, on the personnel side we had 1,263 Army pilots. Today the
Army alone has more than 3,000 of the best fighting flyers in the
world, flyers who last year flew more than one million hours in
combat training. That figure does not include the hundreds of
splendid pilots in the national Guard and in the organized
reserves.
Within the past year the productive capacity of the aviation
industry to produce military planes has been tremendously
increased. In the past year the capacity more than doubled, but
that capacity is still inadequate. However, the government, working
with industry, is determined to increase that capacity to meet our
needs. We intend to harness the efficient machinery of these
manufacturers to the government's program of being able to get
50,000 planes a year.
One additional word about aircraft, about which we read so much.
Recent wars, including the current war in Europe, have demonstrated
beyond doubt that fighting efficiency depends on unity of command,
unity of control.
In sea operations the airplane is just as much an integral part of
the unity of operations as are the submarine, the destroyer and the
battleship, and in land warfare the airplane is just as much a part
of military operations as are the tank corps, the engineers, the
artillery or the infantry itself. Therefore, the air forces should
continue to be part of the Army and Navy.
In line with my request the Congress, this week, is voting the
largest appropriation ever asked by the Army or the Navy in
peacetime, and the equipment and training provided for them will be
in addition to the figures I have given you.
The world situation may so change that it will be necessary to
reappraise our program at any time. And in such case I am confident
that the Congress and the Chief Executive will work in harmony as a
team as they are doing today.
I will not hesitate at any moment to ask for additional funds when
they are required.
In this era of swift, mechanized warfare, we all have to remember
that what is modern today and up-to-date, what is efficient and
practical, becomes obsolete and outworn tomorrow.
Even while the production line turns out airplanes, new airplanes
are being designed on the drafting table.
Even as a cruiser slides down the launching ways, plans for
improvement, plans for increased efficiency in the next model, are
taking shape in the blueprints of designers.
Every day's fighting in Europe, on land, on sea, and in the air,
discloses constant changes in methods of warfare. We are constantly
improving and redesigning, testing new weapons, learning the
lessons of the immediate war, and seeking to produce in accordance
with the latest that the brains of science can conceive.
We are calling upon the resources, the efficiency and the ingenuity
of the American manufacturers of war material of all kinds--
airplanes and tanks and guns and ships, and all the hundreds of
products that go into this material. The government of the United
States itself manufactures few of the implements of war. Private
industry will continue to be the source of most of this materiel,
and private industry will have to be speeded up to produce it at
the rate and efficiency called for by the needs of the times.
I know that private business cannot be expected to make all of the
capital investment required for expansions of plants and factories
and personnel which this program calls for at once. It would be
unfair to expect industrial corporations or their investors to do
this, when there is a chance that a change in international affairs
may stop or curtail future orders a year or two hence.
Therefore, the government of the United States stands ready to
advance the necessary money to help provide for the enlargement of
factories, the establishment of new plants, the employment of
thousands of necessary workers, the development of new sources of
supply for the hundreds of raw materials required, the development
of quick mass transportation of supplies. And the details of all of
this are now being worked out in Washington, day and night.
We are calling on men now engaged in private industry to help us in
carrying out this program and you will hear more of this in detail
in the next few days.
This does not mean that the men we call upon will be engaged in the
actual production of this materiel. That will still have to be
carried on in the plants and factories throughout the land. Private
industry will have the responsibility of providing the best,
speediest and most efficient mass production of which it is
capable. The functions of the businessmen whose assistance we are
calling upon will be to coordinate this program--to see to it that
all of the plants continue to operate at maximum speed and
efficiency.
Patriotic Americans of proven merit and of unquestioned ability in
their special fields are coming to Washington to help the
government with their training, their experience and their
capability.
It is our purpose not only to speed up production but to increase
the total facilities of the nation in such a way that they can be
further enlarged to meet emergencies of the future.
But as this program proceeds there are several things we must
continue to watch and safeguard, things which are just as important
to the sound defense of a nation as physical armament itself. While
our Navy and our airplanes and our guns and our ships may be our
first line of defense, it is still clear that way down at the
bottom, underlying them all, giving them their strength, sustenance
and power, are the spirit and morale of a free people.
For that reason, we must make sure, in all that we do, that there
be no breakdown or cancellation of any of the great social gains
which we have made in these past years. We have carried on an
offensive on a broad front against social and economic inequalities
and abuses which had made our society weak. That offensive should
not now be broken down by the pincers movement of those who would
use the present needs of physical military defense to destroy it.
There is nothing in our present emergency to justify making the
workers of our nation toil for longer hours than now limited by
statute. As more orders come in and as more work has to be done,
tens of thousands of people, who are now unemployed, will, I
believe, receive employment.
There is nothing in our present emergency to justify a lowering of
the standards of employment. Minimum wages should not be reduced.
It is my hope, indeed, that the new speed-up of production will
cause many businesses which now pay below the minimum standards to
bring their wages up.
There is nothing in our present emergency to justify a breaking
down of old age pensions or of unemployment insurance. I would
rather see the systems extended to other groups who do not now
enjoy them.
There is nothing in our present emergency to justify a retreat from
any of our social objectives--from conservation of natural
resources, assistance to agriculture, housing, and help to the
underprivileged.
Conversely, however, I am sure that responsible leaders will not
permit some specialized group, which represents a minority of the
total employees of a plant or an industry, to break up the
continuity of employment of the majority of the employees. Let us
remember that the policy and the laws that provide for collective
bargaining are still in force. I can assure you that labor will be
adequately represented in Washington in the carrying out of this
program of defense.
Also, our present emergency and a common sense of decency make it
imperative that no new group of war millionaires shall come into
being in this nation as a result of the struggles abroad. The
American people will not relish the idea of any American citizen
growing rich and fat in an emergency of blood and slaughter and
human suffering.
And, last of all, this emergency demands that the consumers of
America be protected so that our general cost of living can be
maintained at a reasonable level. We ought to avoid the spiral
processes of the World War, the rising spiral of costs of all
kinds. The soundest policy is for every employer in the country to
help give useful employment to the millions who are unemployed. By
giving to those millions an increased purchasing power, the
prosperity of the whole nation will rise to a much higher level.
Today's threat to our national security is not a matter of military
weapons alone. We know of new methods of attack.
The Trojan Horse. The Fifth Column that betrays a nation unprepared
for treachery.
Spies, saboteurs and traitors are the actors in this new strategy.
With all of these we must and will deal vigorously.
But there is an added technique for weakening a nation at its very
roots, for disrupting the entire pattern of life of a people. And
it is important that we understand it.
The method is simple. It is, first, a dissemination of discord. A
group--not too large--a group that may be sectional or racial or
political--is encouraged to exploit its prejudices through false
slogans and emotional appeals. The aim of those who deliberately
egg on these groups is to create confusion of counsel, public
indecision, political paralysis and eventually, a state of panic.
Sound national policies come to be viewed with a new and
unreasoning skepticism, not through the wholesome political debates
of honest and free men, but through the clever schemes of foreign
agents.
As a result of these new techniques, armament programs may be
dangerously delayed. Singleness of national purpose may be
undermined. Men can lose confidence in each other, and therefore
lose confidence in the efficacy of their own united action. Faith
and courage can yield to doubt and fear. The unity of the State can
be so sapped that its strength is destroyed.
All this is no idle dream. It has happened time after time, in
nation after nation, during the last two years. Fortunately,
American men and women are not easy dupes. Campaigns of group
hatred or class struggle have never made much headway among us, and
are not making headway now. But new forces are being unleashed,
deliberately planned propaganda to divide and weaken us in the face
of danger as other nations have been weakened before.
These dividing forces are undiluted poison. They must not be
allowed to spread in the New World as they have in the Old. Our
morale and our mental defenses must be raised up as never before
against those who would cast a smokescreen across our vision.
The development of our defense program makes it essential that each
and every one of us, men and women, feel that we have some
contribution to make toward the security of our nation.
At this time, when the world--and the world includes our own
American Hemisphere--when the world is threatened by forces of
destruction, it is my resolve and yours to build up our armed
defenses.
We shall build them to whatever heights the future may require.
We shall rebuild them swiftly, as the methods of warfare swiftly
change.
For more than three centuries we Americans have been building on
this continent a free society, a society in which the promise of
the human spirit may find fulfillment. Commingled here are the
blood and genius of all the peoples of the world who have sought
this promise.
We have built well. We are continuing our efforts to bring the
blessings of a free society, of a free and productive economic
system, to every family in the land. This is the promise of
America.
It is this that we must continue to build--this that we must
continue to defend.
It is the task of our generation, yours and mine. But we build and
defend not for our generation alone. We defend the foundations laid
down by our fathers. We build a life for generations yet unborn. We
defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for
all mankind. Ours is a high duty, a noble task.
Day and night I pray for the restoration of peace in this mad world
of ours. It is not necessary that I, the President, ask the
American people to pray in behalf of such a cause--for I know you
are praying with me.
I am certain that out of the hearts of every man, woman and child
in this land, in every waking minute, a supplication goes up to
Almighty God; that all of us beg that suffering and starving, that
death and destruction may end--and that peace may return to the
world. In common affection for all mankind, your prayers join with
mine--that God will heal the wounds and the hearts of humanity.
September 11, 1941.
My Fellow Americans:
The Navy Department of the United States has reported to me that on
the morning of September fourth the United States destroyer GREER,
proceeding in full daylight towards Iceland, had reached a point
southeast of Greenland. She was carrying American mail to Iceland.
She was flying the American flag. Her identity as an American ship
was unmistakable.
She was then and there attacked by a submarine. Germany admits that
it was a German submarine. The submarine deliberately fired a
torpedo at the GREER, followed later by another torpedo attack. In
spite of what Hitler's propaganda bureau has invented, and in spite
of what any American obstructionist organization may prefer to
believe, I tell you the blunt fact that the German submarine fired
first upon this American destroyer without warning, and with
deliberate design to sink her.
Our destroyer, at the time, was in waters which the government of
the United States had declared to be waters of self-defense--
surrounding outposts of American protection in the Atlantic.
In the North of the Atlantic, outposts have been established by us
in Iceland, in Greenland, in Labrador and in Newfoundland. Through
these waters there pass many ships of many flags. They bear food
and other supplies to civilians; and they bear material of war, for
which the people of the United States are spending billions of
dollars, and which, by Congressional action, they have declared to
be essential for the defense of our own land.
The United States destroyer, when attacked, was proceeding on a
legitimate mission.
If the destroyer was visible to the submarine when the torpedo was
fired, then the attack was a deliberate attempt by the Nazis to
sink a clearly identified American warship. On the other hand, if
the submarine was beneath the surface of the sea and, with the aid
of its listening devices, fired in the direction of the sound of
the American destroyer without even taking the trouble to learn its
identity--as the official German communique would indicate--then
the attack was even more outrageous. For it indicates a policy of
indiscriminate violence against any vessel sailing the seas--
belligerent or non-belligerent.
This was piracy--piracy legally and morally. It was not the first
nor the last act of piracy which the Nazi government has committed
against the American flag in this war. For attack has followed
attack.
A few months ago an American flag merchant ship, the ROBIN MOOR,
was sunk by a Nazi submarine in the middle of the South Atlantic,
under circumstances violating long-established international law
and violating every principle of humanity. The passengers and the
crew were forced into open boats hundreds of miles from land, in
direct violation of international agreements signed by nearly all
nations including the government of Germany. No apology, no
allegation of mistake, no offer of reparations has come from the
Nazi government.
In July, 1941, nearly two months ago an American battleship in
North American waters was followed by a submarine which for a long
time sought to maneuver itself into a position of attack upon the
battleship. The periscope of the submarine was clearly seen. No
British or American submarines were within hundreds of miles of
this spot at the time, so the nationality of the submarine is
clear.
Five days ago a United States Navy ship on patrol picked up three
survivors of an American-owned ship operating under the flag of our
sister Republic of Panama--the S. S. SESSA. On August seventeenth,
she had been first torpedoed without warning, and then shelled,
near Greenland, while carrying civilian supplies to Iceland. It is
feared that the other members of her crew have been drowned. In
view of the established presence of German submarines in this
vicinity, there can be no reasonable doubt as to the identity of
the flag of the attacker.
Five days ago, another United states merchant ship, the STEEL
SEAFARER, was sunk by a German aircraft in the Red Sea two hundred
and twenty miles south of Suez. She was bound for an Egyptian port.
So four of the vessels sunk or attacked flew the American flag and
were clearly identifiable. Two of these ships were warships of the
American Navy. In the fifth case, the vessel sunk clearly carried
the flag of our sister Republic of Panama.
In the face of all this, we Americans are keeping our feet on the
ground. Our type of democratic civilization has outgrown the
thought of feeling compelled to fight some other nation by reason
of any single piratical attack on one of our ships. We are not
becoming hysterical or losing our sense of proportion. Therefore,
what I am thinking and saying tonight does not relate to any
isolated episode.
Instead, we Americans are taking a long-range point of view in
regard certain fundamentals and to a series of events on land and
on sea which must be considered as a whole--as a part of a world
pattern.
It would be unworthy of a great nation to exaggerate an isolated
incident, or to become inflamed by some one act of violence. But it
would be inexcusable folly to minimize such incidents in the face
of evidence which makes it clear that the incident is not isolated,
but is part of a general plan.
The important truth is that these acts of international lawlessness
are a manifestation of a design which has been made clear to the
American people for a long time. It is the Nazi design to abolish
the freedom of the seas, and to acquire absolute control and
domination of these seas for themselves.
For with control of the seas in their own hands, the way can
obviously become clear for their next step--domination of the
United States--domination of the Western Hemisphere by force of
arms. Under Nazi control of the seas, no merchant ship of the
United States or of any other American Republic would be free to
carry on any peaceful commerce, except by the condescending grace
of this foreign and tyrannical power. The Atlantic Ocean which has
been, and which should always be, a free and friendly highway for
us would then become a deadly menace to the commerce of the United
States, to the coasts of the United States, and even to the inland
cities of the United States.
The Hitler government, in defiance of the laws of the sea, in
defiance of the recognized rights of all other nations, has
presumed to declare, on paper, that great areas of the seas--even
including a vast expanse lying in the Western Hemisphere--are to be
closed, and that no ships may enter them for any purpose, except at
peril of being sunk. Actually they are sinking ships at will and
without warning in widely separated areas both within and far
outside of these far-flung pretended zones.
This Nazi attempt to seize control of the oceans is but a
counterpart of the Nazi plots now being carried on throughout the
Western Hemisphere--all designed toward the same end. For Hitler's
advance guards--not only his avowed agents but also his dupes among
us--have sought to make ready for him footholds, and bridgeheads in
the New World, to be used as soon as he has gained control of the
oceans.
His intrigues, his plots, his machinations, his sabotage in this
New World are all known to the government of the United States.
Conspiracy has followed conspiracy.
For example, last year a plot to seize the government of Uruguay
was smashed by the prompt action of that country, which was
supported in full by her American neighbors. A like plot was then
hatching in Argentina, and that government has carefully and wisely
blocked it at every point. More recently, an endeavor was made to
subvert the government of Bolivia. And within the past few weeks
the discovery was made of secret air-landing fields in Colombia,
within easy range of the Panama Canal. I could multiply instance
upon instance.
To be ultimately successful in world mastery, Hitler knows that he
must get control of the seas. He must first destroy the bridge of
ships which we are building across the Atlantic and over which we
shall continue to roll the implements of war to help destroy him,
to destroy all his works in the end. He must wipe out our patrol on
sea and in the air if he is to do it. He must silence the British
Navy.
I think it must be explained over and over again to people who like
to think of the United States Navy as an invincible protection,
that this can be true only if the British Navy survives. And that,
my friends, is simple arithmetic.
For if the world outside of the Americas falls under Axis
domination, the shipbuilding facilities which the Axis powers would
then possess in all of Europe, in the British Isles and in the Far
East would be much greater than all the shipbuilding facilities and
potentialities of all of the Americas--not only greater, but two or
three times greater--enough to win. Even if the United States threw
all its resources into such a situation, seeking to double and even
redouble the size of our Navy, the Axis powers, in control of the
rest of the world, would have the manpower and the physical
resources to outbuild us several times over.
It is time for all Americans, Americans of all the Americas to stop
being deluded by the romantic notion that the Americas can go on
living happily and peacefully in a Nazi-dominated world.
Generation after generation, America has battled for the general
policy of the freedom of the seas. And that policy is a very simple
one--but a basic, a fundamental one. It means that no nation has
the right to make the broad oceans of the world at great distances
from the actual theatre of land war, unsafe for the commerce of
others.
That has been our policy, proved time and time again, in all of our
history.
Our policy has applied from the earliest days of the Republic--and
still applies--not merely to the Atlantic but to the Pacific and to
all other oceans as well.
Unrestricted submarine warfare in 1941 constitutes a defiance--an
act of aggression--against that historic American policy.
It is now clear that Hitler has begun his campaign to control the
seas by ruthless force and by wiping out every vestige of
international law, every vestige of humanity.
His intention has been made clear. The American people can have no
further illusions about it.
No tender whisperings of appeasers that Hitler is not interested in
the Western Hemisphere, no soporific lullabies that a wide ocean
protects us from him--can long have any effect on the hard-headed,
far-sighted and realistic American people.
Because of these episodes, because of the movements and operations
of German warships, and because of the clear, repeated proof that
the present government of Germany has no respect for treaties or
for international law, that it has no decent attitude toward
neutral nations or human life--we Americans are now face to face
not with abstract theories but with cruel, relentless facts.
This attack on the GREER was no localized military operation in the
North Atlantic. This was no mere episode in a struggle between two
nations. This was one determined step towards creating a permanent
world system based on force, on terror and on murder.
And I am sure that even now the Nazis are waiting to see whether
the United States will by silence give them the green light to go
ahead on this path of destruction.
The Nazi danger to our Western world has long ceased to be a mere
possibility. The danger is here now--not only from a military enemy
but from an enemy of all law, all liberty, all morality, all
religion.
There has now come a time when you and I must see the cold
inexorable necessity of saying to these inhuman, unrestrained
seekers of world conquest and permanent world domination by the
sword: "You seek to throw our children and our children's children
into your form of terrorism and slavery. You have now attacked our
own safety. You shall go no further."
Normal practices of diplomacy--note writing--are of no possible use
in dealing with international outlaws who sink our ships and kill
our citizens.
One peaceful nation after another has met disaster because each
refused to look the Nazi danger squarely in the eye until it had
actually had them by the throat.
The United States will not make that fatal mistake.
No act of violence, no act of intimidation will keep us from
maintaining intact two bulwarks of American defense: First, our
line of supply of material to the enemies of Hitler; and second,
the freedom of our shipping on the high seas.
No matter what it takes, no matter what it costs, we will keep open
the line of legitimate commerce in these defensive water.
We have sought no shooting war with Hitler. We do not seek it now.
But neither do we want peace so much, that we are willing to pay
for it by permitting him to attack our naval and merchant ships
while they are on legitimate business.
I assume that the German leaders are not deeply concerned, tonight
or any other time, by what we Americans or the American government
say or publish about them. We cannot bring about the downfall of
Nazism by the use of long-range invective.
But when you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait
until he has struck before you crush him.
These Nazi submarines and raiders are the rattlesnakes of the
Atlantic. They are a menace to the free pathways of the high seas.
They are a challenge to our own sovereignty. They hammer at our
most precious rights when they attack ships of the American flag--
symbols of our independence, our freedom, our very life.
It is clear to all Americans that the time has come when the
Americas themselves must now be defended. A continuation of attacks
in our own waters or in waters that could be used for further and
greater attacks on us, will inevitably weaken our American ability
to repel Hitlerism.
Do not let us be hair-splitters. Let us not ask ourselves whether
the Americas should begin to defend themselves after the first
attack, or the fifth attack, or the tenth attack, or the twentieth
attack.
The time for active defense is now.
Do not let us split hairs. Let us not say: "We will only defend
ourselves if the torpedo succeeds in getting home, or if the crew
and the passengers are drowned".
This is the time for prevention of attack.
If submarines or raiders attack in distant waters, they can attack
equally well within sight of our own shores. Their very presence in
any waters which America deems vital to its defense constitutes an
attack.
In the waters which we deem necessary for our defense, American
naval vessels and American planes will no longer wait until Axis
submarines lurking under the water, or Axis raiders on the surface
of the sea, strike their deadly blow--first.
Upon our naval and air patrol--now operating in large number over a
vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean--falls the duty of maintaining
the American policy of freedom of the seas--now. That means, very
simply, very clearly, that our patrolling vessels and planes will
protect all merchant ships--not only American ships but ships of
any flag--engaged in commerce in our defensive waters. They will
protect them from submarines; they will protect them from surface
raiders.
This situation is not new. The second President of the United
States, John Adams, ordered the United States Navy to clean out
European privateers and European ships of war which were infesting
the Caribbean and South American waters, destroying American
commerce.
The third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, ordered
the United States Navy to end the attacks being made upon American
and other ships by the corsairs of the nations of North Africa.
My obligation as President is historic; it is clear. It is
inescapable.
It is no act of war on our part when we decide to protect the seas
that are vital to American defense. The aggression is not ours.
Ours is solely defense.
But let this warning be clear. From now on, if German or Italian
vessels of war enter the waters, the protection of which is
necessary for American defense, they do so at their own peril.
The orders which I have given as Commander-in-Chief of the United
States Army and Navy are to carry out that policy--at once.
The sole responsibility rests upon Germany. There will be no
shooting unless Germany continues to seek it.
That is my obvious duty in this crisis. That is the clear right of
this sovereign nation. This is the only step possible, if we would
keep tight the wall of defense which we are pledged to maintain
around this Western Hemisphere.
I have no illusions about the gravity of this step. I have not
taken it hurriedly or lightly. It is the result of months and
months of constant thought and anxiety and prayer. In the
protection of your nation and mine it cannot be avoided.
The American people have faced other grave crises in their
history--with American courage, and with American resolution. They
will do no less today.
They know the actualities of the attacks upon us. They know the
necessities of a bold defense against these attacks. They know that
the times call for clear heads and fearless hearts.
And with that inner strength that comes to a free people conscious
of their duty, and conscious of the righteousness of what they do,
they will--with Divine help and guidance--stand their ground
against this latest assault upon their democracy, their
sovereignty, and their freedom.
December 9, 1941.
My Fellow Americans:
The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Japanese in the
Pacific provide the climax of a decade of international immorality.
Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war
upon the whole human race. Their challenge has now been flung at
the United States of America. The Japanese have treacherously
violated the long-standing peace between us. Many American soldiers
and sailors have been killed by enemy action. American ships have
been sunk; American airplanes have been destroyed.
The Congress and the people of the United States have accepted that
challenge.
Together with other free peoples, we are now fighting to maintain
our right to live among our world neighbors in freedom, in common
decency, without fear of assault.
I have prepared the full record of our past relations with Japan,
and it will be submitted to the Congress. It begins with the visit
of Commodore Perry to Japan eighty-eight years ago. It ends with
the visit of two Japanese emissaries to the Secretary of State last
Sunday, an hour after Japanese forces had loosed their bombs and
machine guns against our flag, our forces and our citizens.
I can say with utmost confidence that no Americans, today or a
thousand years hence, need feel anything but pride in our patience
and in our efforts through all the years toward achieving a peace
in the Pacific which would be fair and honorable to every nation,
large or small. And no honest person, today or a thousand years
hence, will be able to suppress a sense of indignation and horror
at the treachery committed by the military dictators of Japan,
under the very shadow of the flag of peace borne by their special
envoys in our midst.
The course that Japan has followed for the past ten years in Asia
has paralleled the course of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and in
Africa. Today, it has become far more than a parallel. It is actual
collaboration so well calculated that all the continents of the
world, and all the oceans, are now considered by the Axis
strategists as one gigantic battlefield.
In 1931, ten years ago, Japan invaded Manchukuo--without warning.
In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia--without warning. In 1938, Hitler
occupied Austria--without warning.
In 1939, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia--without warning.
Later in '39, Hitler invaded Poland--without warning.
In 1940, Hitler invaded Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium
and Luxembourg--without warning.
In 1940, Italy attacked France and later Greece--without warning.
And this year, in 1941, the Axis Powers attacked Yugoslavia and
Greece and they dominated the Balkans--without warning.
In 1941, also, Hitler invaded Russia--without warning.
And now Japan has attacked Malaya and Thailand--and the United
States--without warning.
It is all of one pattern.
We are now in this war. We are all in it--all the way. Every single
man, woman and child is a partner in the most tremendous
undertaking of our American history. We must share together the bad
news and the good news, the defeats and the victories--the changing
fortunes of war.
So far, the news has been all bad. We have suffered a serious
setback in Hawaii. Our forces in the Philippines, which include the
brave people of that Commonwealth, are taking punishment, but are
defending themselves vigorously. The reports from Guam and Wake and
Midway Islands are still confused, but we must be prepared for the
announcement that all these three outposts have been seized.
The casualty lists of these first few days will undoubtedly be
large. I deeply feel the anxiety of all of the families of the men
in our armed forces and the relatives of people in cities which
have been bombed. I can only give them my solemn promise that they
will get news just as quickly as possible.
This government will put its trust in the stamina of the American
people, and will give the facts to the public just as soon as two
conditions have been fulfilled: first, that the information has
been definitely and officially confirmed; and, second, that the
release of the information at the time it is received will not
prove valuable to the enemy directly or indirectly.
Most earnestly I urge my countrymen to reject all rumors. These
ugly little hints of complete disaster fly thick and fast in
wartime. They have to be examined and appraised.
As an example, I can tell you frankly that until further surveys
are made, I have not sufficient information to state the exact
damage which has been done to our naval vessels at Pearl Harbor.
Admittedly the damage is serious. But no one can say how serious,
until we know how much of this damage can be repaired and how
quickly the necessary repairs can be made.
I cite as another example a statement made on Sunday night that a
Japanese carrier had been located and sunk off the Canal Zone. And
when you hear statements that are attributed to what they call "an
authoritative source," you can be reasonably sure from now on that
under these war circumstances the "authoritative source" is not any
person in authority.
Many rumors and reports which we now hear originate with enemy
sources. For instance, today the Japanese are claiming that as a
result of their one action against Hawaii they hare gained naval
supremacy in the Pacific. This is an old trick of propaganda which
has been used innumerable times by the Nazis. The purposes of such
fantastic claims are, of course, to spread fear and confusion among
us, and to goad us into revealing military information which our
enemies are desperately anxious to obtain.
Our government will not be caught in this obvious trap--and neither
will the people of the United States.
It must be remembered by each and every one of us that our free and
rapid communication these days must be greatly restricted in
wartime. It is not possible to receive full and speedy and accurate
reports front distant areas of combat. This is particularly true
where naval operations are concerned. For in these days of the
marvels of the radio it is often impossible for the Commanders of
various units to report their activities by radio at all, for the
very simple reason that this information would become available to
the enemy and would disclose their position and their plan of
defense or attack.
Of necessity there will be delays in officially confirming or
denying reports of operations, but we will not hide facts from the
country if we know the facts and if the enemy will not be aided by
their disclosure.
To all newspapers and radio stations--all those who reach the eyes
and ears of the American people--I say this: You have a most grave
responsibility to the nation now and for the duration of this war.
If you feel that your government is not disclosing enough of the
truth, you have every right to say so. But in the absence of all
the facts, as revealed by official sources, you have no right in
the ethics of patriotism to deal out unconfirmed reports in such a
way as to make people believe that they are gospel truth.
Every citizen, in every walk of life, shares this same
responsibility. The lives of our soldiers and sailors--the whole
future of this nation--depend upon the manner in which each and
every one of us fulfills his obligation to our country.
Now a word about the recent past--and the future. A year and a half
has elapsed since the fall of France, when the whole world first
realized the mechanized might which the Axis nations had been
building up for so many years. America has used that year and a
half to great advantage. Knowing that the attack might reach us in
all too short a time, we immediately began greatly to increase our
industrial strength and our capacity to meet the demands of modern
warfare.
Precious months were gained by sending vast quantities of our war
material to the nations of the world still able to resist Axis
aggression. Our policy rested on the fundamental truth that the
defense of any country resisting Hitler or Japan was in the long
run the defense of our own country. That policy has been justified.
It has given us time, invaluable time, to build our American
assembly lines of production.
Assembly lines are now in operation. Others are being rushed to
completion. A steady stream of tanks and planes, of guns and ships
and shells and equipment--that is what these eighteen months have
given us.
But it is all only a beginning of what still has to be done. We
must be set to face a long war against crafty and powerful bandits.
The attack at Pearl Harbor can be repeated at any one of many
points, points in both oceans and along both our coast lines and
against all the rest of the Hemisphere.
It will not only be a long war, it will be a hard war. That is the
basis on which we now lay all our plans. That is the yardstick by
which we measure what we shall need and demand; money, materials,
doubled and quadrupled production--ever-increasing. The production
must be not only for our own Army and Navy and air forces. It must
reinforce the other armies and navies and air forces fighting the
Nazis and the war lords of Japan throughout the Americas and
throughout the world.
I have been working today on the subject of production. Your
government has decided on two broad policies.
The first is to speed up all existing production by working on a
seven day week basis in every war industry, including the
production of essential raw materials.
The second policy, now being put into form, is to rush additions to
the capacity of production by building more new plants, by adding
to old plants, and by using the many smaller plants for war needs.
Over the hard road of the past months, we have at times met
obstacles and difficulties, divisions and disputes, indifference
and callousness. That is now all past--and, I am sure, forgotten.
The fact is that the country now has an organization in Washington
built around men and women who are recognized experts in their own
fields. I think the country knows that the people who are actually
responsible in each and every one of these many fields are pulling
together with a teamwork that has never before been excelled.
On the road ahead there lies hard work--grueling work--day and
night, every hour and every minute.