Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
The steady aim of this Nation, as of all enlightened nations, should be
to strive to bring ever nearer the day when there shall prevail
throughout the world the peace of justice. There are kinds of peace
which are highly undesirable, which are in the long run as destructive
as any war. Tyrants and oppressors have many times made a wilderness
and called it peace. Many times peoples who were slothful or timid or
shortsighted, who had been enervated by ease or by luxury, or misled by
false teachings, have shrunk in unmanly fashion from doing duty that
was stern and that needed self-sacrifice, and have sought to hide from
their own minds their shortcomings, their ignoble motives, by calling
them love of peace. The peace of tyrannous terror, the peace of craven
weakness, the peace of injustice, all these should be shunned as we
shun unrighteous war. The goal to set before us as a nation, the goal
which should be set before all mankind, is the attainment of the peace
of justice, of the peace which comes when each nation is not merely
safe-guarded in its own rights, but scrupulously recognizes and
performs its duty toward others. Generally peace tells for
righteousness; but if there is conflict between the two, then our
fealty is due-first to the cause of righteousness. Unrighteous wars are
common, and unrighteous peace is rare; but both should be shunned. The
right of freedom and the responsibility for the exercise of that right
can not be divorced. One of our great poets has well and finely said
that freedom is not a gift that tarries long in the hands of cowards.
Neither does it tarry long in the hands of those too slothful, too
dishonest, or too unintelligent to exercise it. The eternal vigilance
which is the price of liberty must be exercised, sometimes to guard
against outside foes; although of course far more often to guard
against our own selfish or thoughtless shortcomings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account