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
Nations like individuals do not always see alike or think alike, and
international cooperation and progress are not helped by any Nation
assuming that it has a monopoly of wisdom or of virtue.
In the future world the misuse of power, as implied in the term "power
politics," must not be a controlling factor in international relations.
That is the heart of the principles to which we have subscribed. We cannot
deny that power is a factor in world politics any more than we can deny its
existence as a factor in national politics. But in a democratic world, as
in a democratic Nation, power must be linked with responsibility, and
obliged to defend and justify itself within the framework of the general
good.
Perfectionism, no less than isolationism or imperialism or power politics,
may obstruct the paths to international peace. Let us not forget that the
retreat to isolationism a quarter of a century ago was started not by a
direct attack against international cooperation but against the alleged
imperfections of the peace.
In our disillusionment after the last war we preferred international
anarchy to international cooperation with Nations which did not see and
think exactly as we did. We gave up the hope of gradually achieving a
better peace because we had not the courage to fulfill our responsibilities
in an admittedly imperfect world.
We must not let that happen again, or we shall follow the same tragic road
again--the road to a third world war.
We can fulfill our responsibilities for maintaining the security of our own
country only by exercising our power and our influence to achieve the
principles in which we believe and for which we have fought.
In August, 1941, Prime Minister Churchill and I agreed to the principles of
the Atlantic Charter, these being later incorporated into the Declaration
by United Nations of January 1, 1942. At that time certain isolationists
protested vigorously against our right to proclaim the principles--and
against the very principles themselves. Today, many of the same people are
protesting against the possibility of violation of the same principles.
It is true that the statement of principles in the Atlantic Charter does
not provide rules of easy application to each and every one of this
war-torn world's tangled situations. But it is a good and a useful thing--
it is an essential thing--to have principles toward which we can aim.
And we shall not hesitate to use our influence--and to use it now--to secure
so far as is humanly possible the fulfillment of the principles of the
Atlantic Charter. We have not shrunk from the military responsibilities
brought on by this war. We cannot and will not shrink from the political
responsibilities which follow in the wake of battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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