State of the Union AddressesRoosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)
History
State of the Union Addresses
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
Every normal American prays that neither he nor his sons nor his grandsons
will be compelled to go through this horror again.
Undoubtedly a few Americans, even now, think that this Nation can end this
war comfortably and then climb back into an American hole and pull the hole
in after them.
But we have learned that we can never dig a hole so deep that it would be
safe against predatory animals. We have also learned that if we do not pull
the fangs of the predatory animals of this world, they will multiply and
grow in strength--and they will be at our throats again once more in a
short generation.
Most Americans realize more clearly than ever before that modern war
equipment in the hands of aggressor Nations can bring danger overnight to
our own national existence or to that of any other Nation--or island--or
continent.
It is clear to us that if Germany and Italy and Japan--or any one of them--
remain armed at the end of this war, or are permitted to rearm, they will
again, and inevitably, embark upon an ambitious career of world conquest.
They must be disarmed and kept disarmed, and they must abandon the
philosophy, and the teaching of that philosophy, which has brought so much
suffering to the world.
After the first World War we tried to achieve a formula for permanent
peace, based on a magnificent idealism. We failed. But, by our failure, we
have learned that we cannot maintain peace at this stage of human
development by good intentions alone.
Today the United Nations are the mightiest military coalition in all
history. They represent an overwhelming majority of the population of the
world. Bound together in solemn agreement that they themselves will not
commit acts of aggression or conquest against any of their neighbors, the
United Nations can and must remain united for the maintenance of peace by
preventing any attempt to rearm in Germany, in Japan, in Italy, or in any
other Nation which seeks to violate the Tenth Commandment--"Thou shalt not
covet."
There are cynics, there are skeptics who say it cannot be done. The
American people and all the freedom-loving peoples of this earth are now
demanding that it must be done. And the will of these people shall
prevail.
The very philosophy of the Axis powers is based on a profound contempt for
the human race. If, in the formation of our future policy, we were guided
by the same cynical contempt, then we should be surrendering to the
philosophy of our enemies, and our victory would turn to defeat.
The issue of this war is the basic issue between those who believe in
mankind and those who do not--the ancient issue between those who put their
faith in the people and those who put their faith in dictators and tyrants.
There have always been those who did not believe in the people, who
attempted to block their forward movement across history, to force them
back to servility and suffering and silence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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