HERE'S TEXT OF ROOSEVELT DEFENSE SPEECH
Here's Text of Roosevelt Defense Speech The text of Pres. Roosevelt speech follows: "A T THIS moment of sad-±\_ ness throughout most of the world I want to talk with you about a number of subjects...
...Campaigns of group hatred or class struggle have never made much headway among us and are not making headway now...
...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...
...Patriotic Americans of proven merit »nd of unquestioned ability In their special fields are coming to Washington to help the government with their training, experience and capability...
...Nearly all of the 1933 planes have been replaced by new planes because they became obsolete or worn out...
...Men can lose confidence in each other and therefore in the efficacy of their own united action...
...My Resolve and Yours...
...Additional Funds "1 will not hesitate nt any moment to ask for additional funds when they are required...
...Therefore, the air forces should be part of the army and navy...
...I i>m certain that out of the hearts of every man...
...Indeed, that the new speed-up of production will cause many businesses which now pay below the minimum standards to bring their wages up...
...I think it is right on this Sab-beth evening that I should say a word in behalf of women and children and old men- who need help—immediate held in their present distress—help from us across the seas, from us who are still free to give it...
...I know that private business cannot be expected to make all the capital investment required for expansions of plants and factories and personnel which this program calls for at once...
...Spies, Saboteurs, Traitors" "Spies, saboteurs, and traitors are the actors in this new strategy...
...The method is simple...
...We are calling upon the resources, the efficiency, and the ingenuity of American manufacturers of war material of all kinds—airplanes, tanks, guns, ships, and all the hundreds of products that go into this material...
...We now have more than 1,700 modern anti-aircraft guns of all types on hand or on order...
...There are many among us who in the past closed their eyes to events abroad—because they believed in utter good faith what some of their fellow Americans told them—that what was taking place in Europe was none of our business...
...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...
...A group—not too large— a group that may be sectional or racial or political—is encouraged to exploit their prejudices through false slogans and emotional appeals...
...There are many among us who closed their eyes from lack of interest or lack of knowledge...
...today we have on hand and on order 1,700...
...In common affection for all mankind, your prayers join with mine—that God will heal the wounds and the hearts of humanity...
...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...
...It is my hope...
...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...
...Seeks "Unity of Control" "One additional word about aircraft...
...Private industry' will continue to be the source of mast of this material...
...Even as a cruiser slides down the ways, plans for improvement, plans for increased efficiency in the next model are taking shape in the blue-prints of designers...
...The fifth column that betrays a nation unprepared for treachery...
...They stumble on, knowing not where the end of the road will be...
...The soundest policy is for every employer in the country to help give useful employment to the millions who are unemployed...
...We are now more realistic...
...Tonight over the once peaceful roads of Belgium, and France millions are now moving, running from their homes to escape bombs and shells and fire, without shelter, and almost wholly without food...
...Give as generously as you can...
...that no matter what happened over there the United States could always pursue its peaceful and unique course in the world...
...Faith and courage yield to doubt and fear...
...With all of these we must deal vigorously...
...Navy Far Stronger" "Ship construction costs millions of dollars—more in the United States than anywhere else in -he world...
...This capacity today, however, is still inadequate...
...In 1933 we had 1,263 army pilots...
...In this era of swift, merchan-lzed 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...
...But there is an added technique for weakening a nation at its very roots, for disrupting the entire pattern of life of a people...
...The Trojan horse...
...And the great proportion of this advance has been during the last two years...
...It is this that we must continue to build—this that we must continue to defend...
...The policy and the laws providing for collective bargaining are still in force...
...We shall build them to whatever heights the future may require...
...Commingled here are the blood and genius of all the peoples of the world who have sought this promise...
...We ought to avoid the spiral processes of the World war...
...Private industry will have the responsibility of providing the best, speediest, and most efficient mass production of which it is capable...
...And, finally, there are a few among us who have deliberately and consciously closed their eyes because they were determined to be opposed to their government's foreign policy, to be partisan, and to believe that anything that the government did was wholly wrong...
...This money has been used to make our army and navy today the largest, the best equipped, and the best trained peacetime military establishment in the history of this country...
...Among the many ships now being built and paid lor are eight new battleships...
...There Is nothing In our present emergency to justify a breaking down of old age pensions or unemployment Insurance...
...one modern interceptor pursuit plane costs $133,000...
...While cur navy and our airplanes and our guns may be our first line of defxnse, 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...
...Central, and South America could go on living in the midst of their vast resources without reference to, or danger from, other continents of the world...
...It has happened time after time, in nation after nation, during the last two years...
...These dividing forces are undiluted poison...
...For example, one modern four engine long range bombing plane costs $350,000...
...We shall rebuild them swiftly, as the methods of warfare swiftly change...
...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...
...Within the past year the productive capacity of the aviation industry to produce military planes has been tremendously increased...
...In 1940 that has been practically doubled...
...Let us have done with both fears and illusions...
...Asks Aid to Red Cross "I remind you of these people because each one of you that is listening to me tonight has a way of helping them...
...The relative fighting power of the navy had been greatly diminished by failure to replace ships and '?quipment which had become out of date...
...It Is said that we are defenseless...
...The unity of the state is so sapped that its strength is destroyed...
...The devolpoment of our defense program makes it essential that each and every one of us feel that we have some contribution to make toward the security of our country...
...but ft is a fact that we cannot have adequate naval 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...
...Please—I beg you—give according to your means to your nearest Red Cross chapter...
...It is not necessary that I, the President, ask the American people to pray in behalf of such a cause—I know you are praying with me...
...Obviously, a defense policy based on that is merely to invite " future attack...
...Source: Private Industry "The government of the United States itself manufactures few of the implements of war...
...During this period 2! alps for ihe fighting fleet hi icen in id down or commission' ac tically seven times the number in the preceding similar period...
...or seven years ago have worn out through use and been scrapped...
...Between 1933 and 1940—seven fiscal years—your government will have spent $1,487,000,000 more than it spent on the navy during the seven years before 1933...
...We now have on hand and on order more than 1,600...
...The details of this are now being worked out In Washington, day and night...
...We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone but for all mankind...
...For All Mankind" "It's the task of our generation...
...Things to Watch" "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...
...I do not share these fears...
...I think that it is a matter of fairness to the nation that you hear the facts...
...For more than three centuries we have been building on this continent a free society, a society in which the promise of the human spirit may find fulfilment...
...Fortunately, American men and women are not easy dupes...
...Let us sit down again, together, you and I, to consider our own present problems that confront us...
...They have last the illusion that we are remote and isolated and, therefore, secure against the dangers from which no other land is free...
...It is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our ?;ays of life, can we build our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors...
...We defend the foundations laid by our fathers...
...The personnel of the army has been almost doubled...
...I would rather see the system extended to other groups who do not now en-Joy them...
...that all of us beg that suffering and starving, that death sind destruction may end— and that peace may return to the world...
...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...
...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 the next few days...
...It is a known fact, however, that in 1933...
...We build a life for generations yet unborn...
...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...
...But new forces are being unleashed, deliberately planned propagandas to divide and weaken as in the face of danger as other nations have been weakened before...
...Existing units of the National Guard will also be largely equipped with similar items...
...We have carried on an offensive on a broad front against social and economic inequalities and abuses which had made our society weak...
...First, discord...
...I ask this in the name of our common humanity...
...This is the promise of America...
...Blames "Minority Groups'' "There are some among us who were persuaded by minority groups that we could maintain our physical safety by retiring within our continental boundaries —the Atlantic on the east, the Pacific on the west, Canada on the north, and Mexico on the south...
...Between 1933 and 1940—seven fiscal years—your government will have spent $1,292,000,000 more than it spent on the army the previous seven years...
...Every day's fighting in Europe, on land, on sea, and in the air, discloses constant changes in methods of warfare...
...The world situation may so change that it will be necessary to reappraise our program at any time...
...By giving to those millions an increased purchasing power, the prosperity of the whole country will rise to a much higher level...
...Singleness of national purpose may be undermined...
...There Is nothing In our present emergency to justify a retreat from any of our social objectives —conservation of resources, assistance to agriculture, housing, and help to the under-privileged...
...I did not share those illusions...
...At this time, when the world— and the world includes our own American hemisphere—is threatened by forces of destruction, it is my resolve and yours to build up our amed defenses...
...Let me tell you just a few of the many things accomplished during the last few years...
...But we build and defend not for our generation alone...
...Of these we have commissioned 12 cruisers, 63 destroyers, 26 submarines, 3 aircraft carriers, 2 gunboats, 7 auxiliaries, and many smaller craft...
...honestly and sincerely thinking that the many miles of salt water made the American hemisphere so remote that the people of North...
...In sea operations the airplane is just as much an integral part of unity of operations as are the submarine, the destroyer, and the battleship...
...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 functions of the business men whose assistance we are calling upon ".'ill be to coordinate this program—to see to It that all of the plants continue to operate at maximum speed and efficiency...
...In 1933 we had only 48 modern tanks and armored cars...
...Roosevelt speech follows: "A T THIS moment of sad-±\_ ness throughout most of the world I want to talk with you about a number of subjects that directly affect the future of the United States, We are shocked by the almost incredible stories that come to us of what is happening at this moment to the civilian populations of Norway and Holland and Belgium and Luxemburg and France...
...and private indus;ry will have to be speeded up to produce it at the rate and efficiency called for by the needs of the times...
...I illustrated the futility— the impossibility—of that idea in my message to the congress last week...
...It Is Important that we understand it...
...Recent wars, including the current war in Europe, have demonstrated beyond doubt that fighting efficiency depends on unity of control...
...That was the situation I found...
...Even while the production line turns out airplanes, new ones are being designed on the drafting table...
...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...
...All this is no idle dream...
...There Is nothing in our present emergency to justify making the workers of our nation toil for longer hours than now limited by statute...
...And, finally, this emergency demands that the consumers of America be protected so that our general cost of living can be maintained at a reasonable level...
...Since then great changes have taken place...
...Our moral and mental defenses must be raised as never before against those who would cast a smoke screen across our vision...
...The net result of all this was that our army by 1933 had very greatly declined in its ratio of strength with the armies of Europe and the far east...
...As more orders come in and as more work has to be done, tens of thousands of people, who are now unemployed, will receive employment...
...No War Millionaires" "Also, our present emergency and a common sense of decency make it imperative that no new group of war millionaire come into being in this nation as a result of the struggles abroad...
...Up to Private Plants "This does not mean that the men we call upon will be engaged in the actual production of this material...
...one medium bomber costs $160,000...
...I do not propose to go into every detail...
...These planes cost money—a lot of it...
...We have built well...
...In the last two or three weeks all kinds of stories have been handed out to the American public about our lack of preparedness...
...And labor will be adequately represented in Washington in this defense program...
...This does not include the hundreds of splendid pilots in the National Guard and organized reserves...
...Day and night I pray for the restoration of peace in this mad world of ours...
...and the equipment and training provided by them will be in addition to the figures I have given you...
...As a result of these new techniques armament programs may be dangerously delayed...
...The navy, is far stronger today than at any peacetime period in the whole long history of the nation...
...That will still have to be carried on in the plants and factories throughout the land...
...Concerning Wages "There Is nothing In our present emergoncy to justify a lowering of the standards of employment...
...Today the army alone has more than 3,200 of the best fighting flyers in the world, who last year flew more than one million hours in combat training...
...We have spent large sums of money on the national defense...
...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 the*e which were delivered four, five...
...Today's threat to our national security is not a matter of military weapons alone...
...The army of the United States in 1933 consisted of 122.000 enlisted men...
...What did we get for this money...
...And you ought to know that a three inch antiaircraft gun costs $40,000 without a#y of the fire control equipment that goes with it...
...It !s 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...
...Minimum wages should not be reduced...
...The fighting personnel of the navy rose from 79,000 to 14r,.ooo...
...And by the end of this year every existing unit of the present regular army will be equipped with its complete requirements of modem weapons...
...But the government, working with in-dustryi is determined to increase this capacity to meet our needs...
...In 1933 we had only 355 antiaircraft guns...
...In hitting power and In efficiency I would even make the assertion that it is stronger today than it was during the world war...
...Conversely, however, I am sure that responsible leaders will not permit some specialized group, which represents a minority of the total employes of a plant or industry, to break up the continuity of employment of the majority of the employes...
...They must not be allowed to spread in the new world as they have in the old...
...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...
...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...
...What did we get for this money...
...It would be unfair to expect industrial corporations to do this, when there is a chance that a change in international affairs may stop future orders...
...But let us not be calamity howlers and discount our strength...
...What Did We Get...
...We are constantly improving and redesigning, testing new weapons and seeking to produce In accordance with the latest that the brains of science conceive...
...There are many other items in which our progress since 1933 has been rapid...
...Mortar Strength Increased "In 1933 there were only 24 modern infantry mortars in the entire army...
...For that reason, we must make sure, in all that we do, that there can be no breakdown or cancellation of any of the great social gains which we have made in these past years...
...In such a case I am confident that the congress and the chief executive will work In harmony as a team—as they are doing today...
...woman and child tn this land, in every waking minute, a supplication goes up to Almighty God...
...Sound national polcies 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 scheme of foreign agents...
...To those who have closed their eyes for any of these many reasons, to those who would not admit the possibility of the approaching storm—to all of them the past two weeks have meant the shattering of many illusions...
...and in land warfare the airplane Is just as much a part of military operations as are the tank corps, the engineers, Ihe artillery, or the infantry itself...
...Each one of our heavier tanks costs $46,000...
...Bordering on Panic" "In some quarters, with this rude awakening, has come fear bordering on panic...
...Ours is a high duty, a noble task...
...At my request the congress la voting the largest appropriation ever asked by the army or the navy In peacetime...
...We know of new methods of attack...
...The Amercian Red Cross, which represents each of us, is rushing food, clothing and medical supplies to these destitute millions...
Vol. 10 • June 1940 • No. 22
