No--that
is putting it too weakly--it is my intention to do all that I
humanly can as President and Commander-in-Chief to see to it that
these tragic mistakes shall not be made again.
There have always been cheerful idiots in this country who believed
that there would be no more war for us, if everybody in America
would only return into their homes and lock their front doors
behind them. Assuming that their motives were of the highest,
events have shown how unwilling they were to face the facts.
The overwhelming majority of all the people in the world want
peace. Most of them are fighting for the attainment of peace--not
just a truce, not just an armistice--but peace that is as strongly
enforced and as durable as mortal man can make it. If we are
willing to fight for peace now, is it not good logic that we should
use force if necessary, in the future, to keep the peace?
I believe, and I think I can say, that the other three great
nations who are fighting so magnificently to gain peace are in
complete agreement that we must be prepared to keep the peace by
force. If the people of Germany and Japan are made to realize
thoroughly that the world is not going to let them break out again,
it is possible, and, I hope, probable, that they will abandon the
philosophy of aggression--the belief that they can gain the whole
world even at the risk of losing their own souls.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311