FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
ADDRESS AT CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA
June 10, 1940
President Newcomb, my friends at the University of Virginia
...
Every generation of young men and women in America has
questions to ask the world. Most of the time they are the simple but nevertheless
difficult questions-questions of work to do, opportunities to find, ambitions
to satisfy.
But every now and again in the history of the republic
a different kind of question presents itself-a question that asks, not
about the future of an individual or even of a generation, but about the
future of the country, the future of the American people. . . .
There is such a time again today. Again today the young
men and the young women of America ask themselves with earnestness and
with deep concern this same question: "What is to become of the country
we know?"
Now they ask it with even greater anxiety than before.
They ask, not only what the future holds for this republic, but what the
future holds for all peoples and all nations that have been living under
democratic forms of government-under the free institutions of a free people.
It is understandable to all of us, I think, that they
should ask this question. They read the words of those who are telling
them that the ideal of individual liberty, the ideal of free franchise,
the ideal of peace through justice is a decadent idea!
They read the word and hear the boast of those who say
that a belief in force-force directed by self-chosen leaders-is the new
and vigorous system which will overrun the earth. They have seen the ascendancy
of this philosophy of force in nation after nation where free institutions
and individual liberties were once maintained.
It is natural and understandable that the younger generation
should first ask itself what the extension of the philosophy of force to
all the world would lead to ultimately. We see today, for example, in stark
reality some of the consequences of what we call the machine age.
Where control of machines has been retained in the hands
of mankind as a whole, unrelated benefits have accrued to mankind. For
mankind was then the master: The machine was the servant.
But in this new system of force the master of the machine
is not in the hands of mankind. It is in the control of infinitely small
groups of individuals who rule without a single one of the democratic sanctions
that we have known.
The machine in the hands of irresponsible conquerors becomes
the master; mankind is not only the servant, it is the victim too. Such
mastery abandons with deliberate contempt all of the moral values to which
even this young country for more than 300 years has been accustomed and
dedicated.
Surely the new philosophy proves from month to month that
it could have no possible conception of the way of life or the way of thought
of a nation whose origins go back to Jamestown and Plymouth Rock.
And conversely, neither those who sprang from that ancient
stock nor those who have come hither in later years can be indifferent
to the destruction of freedom in their ancestral lands across the sea.
Perception to danger to our institutions may come slowly
or it may come with a rush and shock as it has to the people of the United
States in the past few months. This perception of danger-danger in a worldwide
arena-has come to us clearly and overwhelmingly. We perceive the peril
in this world-wide arena-an arena that may become so narrow that only the
Americans will retain the ancient faiths.
Some indeed still hold to the now somewhat obvious delusion
that we of the United States can safely permit the United States to become
a lone island, a lone island in a world dominated by the philosophy of
force.
Such an island may be the dream of those who still talk
and vote as isolationists. Such an island represents to me and to the overwhelming
majority of Americans today a helpless nightmare, the helpless nightmare
of a people without freedom. Yes, the nightmare of a people lodged in prison,
handcuffed, hungry and fed through the bars from day to day by the contemptuous,
unpitying masters of other continents.
It is natural also that we should ask ourselves how now
we can prevent the building of that prison and the placing of ourselves
in the midst of it.
Let us not hesitate—all of us—to proclaim certain truths.
Overwhelmingly we, as a nation, and this applies to all the other American
nations, we are convinced that military and naval victory for the gods
of force and hate would endanger the institutions of democracy in the Western
World-and that equally, therefore, the whole of our sympathies lie with
those nations that are giving their life blood in combat against those
forces.
The people and Government of the United States have seen
with the utmost regret and with grave disquiet the decision of the Italian
Government to engage in the hostilities now raging in Europe.
More than three months ago the chief of the Italian Government
sent me word that because of the determination of Italy to limit, so far
as might be possible, the spread of the European conflict, more than two
hundred millions of people in the region of the Mediterranean had been
enabled to escape the suffering and the devastation of war.
I informed the chief of the Italian Government that this
desire on the part of Italy to prevent the war from spreading met with
full sympathy and response on the part of the government and the people
of the United States, and I expressed the earnest hope of this government
and of this people that this policy on the part of Italy might be continued.
I made it clear that in the opinion of the Government of the United States
any extension of hostilities in the region of the Mediterranean might result
in the still greater enlargement of the scene of the conflict, the conflict
in the Near East and in Africa, and that if this came to pass no one could
foretell how much greater the theatre of the war eventually might become.
Again, upon a subsequent occasion, not so far ago, recognizing
that certain aspirations of Italy might form the basis of discussions between
the powers most specifically concerned, I offered, in a message addressed
to the chief of the Italian Government, to send to the Governments of France
and Great Britain such specific indications of the desires of Italy to
obtain readjustments with regard to her position as the chief of the Italian
Government might desire to transmit through me.
While making it clear that the government of the United
States in such an event could not and would not assume responsibility for
the nature of the proposals submitted nor for agreements which might thereafter
be reached, I proposed that if Italy would refrain from entering the war
I would be willing to ask assurances from the other powers concerned that
they would faithfully execute any agreement so reached, and that Italy's
voice in any future peace conference would have the same authority as if
Italy had actually taken part in the war as a belligerent.
Unfortunately, unfortunately to the regret of all of us,
and to the regret of humanity, the chief of the Italian Government was
unwilling to accept the procedure suggested, and he has made no counter-proposal.
This government directed its efforts to doing what it could to work for
the preservation of peace in the Mediterranean area, and it likewise expressed
its willingness to endeavor to cooperate with the government of Italy when
the appropriate occasion arose for the creation of a more stable world
order, through the reduction of armaments and through the construction
of a more liberal international economic system which would assure to all
powers equality of opportunity in the world markets and in the securing
of raw materials on equal terms.
I have likewise, of course, felt it necessary in my communications
to Signor Mussolini to express the concern of the government of the United
States because of the fact that any extension of the war in the region
of the Mediterranean would inevitably result in great prejudice to the
ways of life and government and to the trade and commerce of all the American
republics.
The government of Italy has now chosen to preserve what
it terms its "freedom of action" and to fulfill what it states are its
promises to Germany. In so doing it has manifested disregard for the rights
and serenity of other nations, disregard for the lives of the peoples of
those nations which are directly threatened by the spread of this war;
and has evidenced its unwillingness to find the means through pacific negotiations
for the satisfaction of what it believes are its legitimate aspirations.
On this 10th day of June, 1940, the hand that
held the dagger has struck it into the back of its neighbor.
On this 10th day of June, 1940, in this university
founded by the first great American teacher of democracy we send forth
our prayers and our hopes to those beyond the seas who are maintaining
with magnificent valor their battle for freedom.
In our unity, in our American unity, we will pursue two
obvious and simultaneous courses; we will extend to the opponents of force
the material resources of this nation and, at the same time, we will harness
and speed up the use of those resources in order that we ourselves in the
Americas may have equipment and training equal to the task of any emergency
and every defense.
All roads leading to the accomplishment of these objectives
must be kept clear of obstructions. We will not slow down or detour. Signs
and signals call for speed-full speed ahead.
Yes, it is right that each new generation should ask questions.
But in recent months the principal question has been somewhat simplified.
Once more the future of the nation and the future of the American people
is at stake.
We need not and we will not, in any way, abandon our continuing
efforts to make democracy work within our borders. Yes, we still insist
on the need for vast improvements in our own social and economic life.
But that, that is a component part of national defense
itself.
The program unfolds swiftly and into that program will
fit the responsibility and the opportunity of every man and woman in the
land to preserve our heritage in days of peril.
I call for effort, courage, sacrifice, devotion. Granting
the love of freedom, all of these are possible.
And the love of freedom is still fierce, still steady
in the nation today.