“ WHY WE FIGHT — WAR COMES TO AMERICA" 1945 FRANK CAPRA DOCUMENTARY FILM (PART 2) 32964

we sat in our theatres unbelieving as motion pictures expose Nazi espionage in America as Germans below that even any guys to be free we must destroy the chain that sighs the whole misery of American politics together have that chain is the United States Constitution could these things really be yes these subversive acts were happening in real life everything German American Bund organized for the purpose of destroying us marched under our very noses I on divided allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the Republic for which it stands one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for in our press we read the news from abroad matches were spending millions arm in Germany to the teeth [Music] we read that the Tokyo diet was appropriating tremendous sum converting Japan into one vast emissions plan we watched the supposedly poor have-not nations spend huge sums for armament and we wondered why arrogantly they told us why they had declared war on us long before the shooting started we have actually been at war is the day when we lift at the back of our revolution against the Democratic world Germans are known as unique great whom was given by the grace of God [Music] the world must come to look up to our Emperor and the great ruler of all nations when the people of these three nations elected to follow their leaders death incorporated they organized to smash personal freedom equality of man [Music] beat him up speech freedom of religion organised to smash the very principles which made us the people we are so in December 1938 when the Gallup poll asked us should the United States increase the strength of its Army Navy and Air Force we answered yes eighty-five percent it was time to look to our defense [Music] gentlemen this is the Military Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives meeting for the purpose of considering national defense the Navy is asking for an increase of 25% an authorized neither tonnage in view of the grave international situation Congress reflecting the voice of the people appropriated the largest sum for military use ever voted during peace in American history we didn't dream that a few years later it would look like peanuts on March 14 1939 and all Hitler broke the pledge he made it Munich he took over all the rest of Czechoslovakia there would be no more peace in our time april seven 1939 as we here in America observed good friday median range of extra paper extra paper Headley attack celfon you [Music] the picture was becoming clear the conquering forces of violence were being set loose in the world where would they stop in a last desperate effort to avert a World War President Roosevelt has a new sent messages to Hitler and Mussolini asking their promise to respect the independence of 33 countries and easy unrar the Roosevelts to add off Hitler this message with a huge joke as he repeated the names to a German Reich starving beating cinema needle of the pigeon hospital Elam ok photographs panel is miles least Stan Luxenberg Romanian Jews novel Ruslan hoegaarden UK here are our audience Union Palestina I this was the only answer the president we see on September the first 1939 the Nazi army smashed into Poland [Music] [Music] England and France had a treaty with poland would they act now at home we listened in suspense at all Hitler's all-out attack on Poland makes the long threaded European war ascertain T Prime Minister Chamberlain of Great Britain gave the Nazi dictator a zero hour for withdrawing his troops from Poland that's zero hour ends now at this time we transfer you to London for an important announcement by the British Prime Minister up to the very nose it would have been quite possible to have arranged a peaceful and honourable settlement between Germany and Poland that Hitler would not have it the situation in which no word given by Germany's ruler could be trusted and no people or country can feel itself safe to become intolerable now may God bless you all and may he defend the right but it is evil things that we should be fighting against and against them I am certain that the right will prevail six hours after great britain declared war on Nazi Germany the Republic of France follow all Frances in a male storm of activity the Maginot Line has already opened fire on the term the sparring is in World War two has begun at home we were as what country do you consider responsible for causing this war Germany eighty-two percent we Americans had no doubt who started it all so we began to fear that this war was going to concern us President Roosevelt called a special session of Congress to reconsider the embargo against selling missions I have asked the congress to reassemble in extraordinary session in order that it may consider and act on changes in our morality law the men of Congress wrestled with their beliefs and our futures they debated and they argued the arms embargo is far too great a security to American feet to permit its surrender with all the last-ditch fight the embargo act as it now stand is one-sided and works entirely to the advantage of one side therefore the Embargo Act should be modified We the People also debated and argued whether we should sell arms and munitions when the question was put to us we had a master should we change the neutrality act so we can sell war supplies yes fifty-seven percent shortly after our representatives change the Neutrality Act we lifted the embargo on arms and mission now we would sell if purchases would pay and take the stuff away in their own ships American ships were still barred from combat zone meanwhile on the other side of the globe Japan was busy trying to bomb shoot and terrorize the Chinese into submission we began to realize that if Japan conquered 400 million Chinese she might become so strong as to run us right out of the city [Music] you will remember that two years earlier in September 1937 when we were asked in the present fight between Japan and China are your sympathies with either side only forty-three percent were with timing most of us were undecided in june nineteen thirty-nine when we were asked the same question seventy-four percent said we were with china now our minds were later when we loaded our scrap iron on Japanese ships our citizens protested let mr. Atchison Assistant Secretary of State tell us the inside of the story so until the middle of 1940 the restriction of exports to Japan took the form of moral embargoes of aeroplanes and direct munitions then Congress passed the Export Control Act an increasing cut-offs of scrap iron aviation gasoline and other strategic items follow exports were curtailed to the limit which those responsible for our defense were willing to risk it was a fearful responsibility on one side was the possibility impact probability but one day these materials might be used against us on the other side was the possibility in fact the probability that the cut them off would provoke an attack which we were not then prepared to resist finally in the summer of nineteen forty one as it became clear that Japan was turning her back upon every possibility of reconciliation and adjustment and was determined upon her great gamble of conquest all exports ceased on april nine nineteen forty the leaders of nazi germany shifted their war machine into high gear they over ran into denmark they smashed into Norway on may the 10th 1940 they blitzed into Holland and Belgium the Nazis are marching ahead at the fastest speed a conquering army has moved in all history all roads and France had choked with slow moving masses of refugees Nazi Stuka dive-bombers a strafing and bombing thousands of helpless women and children mr. Kelton gorg good evening everybody tonight it seems clearly apparent that the first great phase of the war in the West has been won by Germany the army of French and British has made a valiant battle in its effort to retreat the gun / where there is some slight chance that some part of it will be evacuated Adolf Hitler's mechanized forces are racing toward Paris as French Resistance collapses on this 10th day of june nineteen hundred and forty the hand that held the dagger as crooked into the back of its neighbors this is William elshire speaking from the forests of Pompeii we're at all Hitler today is ending his armistice terms to plan it is 315 p.m. Adolphe Hitler strides slowly toward a little clearing I can see his faith then grave solemn yet brimming with revenge off to one side the large statue of marshal foes Hitler does not appear to see it now we see the French walking down the Avenue led by General hunsinger Hitler and the other German leaders rise as the French Evan general title reads the preamble to the German armistice terms this whole ceremony is over in a quarter of an hour [Music] my Oh but I had gone [Music] Oh No [Music] conquering armies now stood on the shores of the Atlantic [Music] the danger was suddenly closed countries conquered by the Nazis had possessions outside of Europe some of these possessions are in America with the matches demand the French naval units of Martinique with the Nazis moving to the Dutch oil fields at Curacao with the Nazi sees the French naval base of the car for invasion of south america already in Brazil there were over 1 million Germans who lived exactly as they did in Germany 1,200 German schools with Nazi textbooks and not see teachers that's a newspaper perished German pilots were reserve officers of the loop on the German transport planes had bombed racks already built-in in Argentine German Athletic Club similar to the Hitler Youth movement had been organised exclusively for Germany's here was a fifth column ready to take over in Havana we met with 20 other American Republic's Thomas not be a shadow of a doubt anyway as to the determination of the American missions not to permit the invasion of their hemisphere by the armed forces of any power or any possible combination of power 20 American Nations stood firm the Americas would not allow any European colony in this hemisphere to be transferred to a non-american power we said keep out we meant we must increase production facilities for everything needed for the army and navy for national defense I believe that this nation should plan at this time a program that will provide us with 50,000 military and naval claim to protect our shores we authorized construction of a to ocean may be the greatest of world has ever known at least it would be the greatest Navy when completed in 1944 but then in nineteen forty it was only a Paper Navy our fighting forces at that time consisted of an army of a hundred and eighty seven thousand men a navy of a hundred and twenty thousand and this dot was the Air Corps 22,000 and 387 strong all told three hundred and thirty thousand men we had makeshift suppliers makeshift equipment stove pipes for Canada the bags of flour for bombs and trucks were labeled tanks our infantry had exactly 488 machine gunners we possess 235 pieces of field artillery 10 light and 18 medium tanks that was the army of the United States in May nineteen forty the month in which the Nazis over and France so we called our Minuteman the National Guard to the 48 states and place them into Federal service and most important congress passed the Selective Service Act for the first time in our history we began mobilizing an army while still at peace the first number is serial number 158 [Music] the second number which has just been drawn is 192 [Music] like the Merrick night yo but he [Music] No [Music] they're in I'm in a band [Music] hey or and people are you [Music] it wasn't too soon time was running out the Nazis had begun their shattering blitz on Britain hello America this is Edward Murrow speaking from London there were more German planes over the coast of Britain today than at any time since the war began anti-aircraft guns were in action along the southeast coast today back on Main Street USA daily we followed Britain's life struggle for her Britain died we would be in grave peril our first line of defense in the Atlantic the British fleet might go to Nazi Germany we would be unprotected our shores our people our homes and danger Britain must not fall in our harbors idle and rotting ley ancient destroyers they had been dipped for world war one but this was World War two this gave us an idea 50 tired / aids destroyers will revitalize transferred to Great Britain in return we acquired for the protection of our shores we received a chain of basis stretching from Newfoundland to british guiana these bases through a steel wall around the Caribbean these bases gave new safety to the Panama Canal it was now clear to the aggressors that we were conscious of the threat they represented to our country mr. Burley assistant secretary of state will tell us how they got together and tried to scare us off from 1936 on it became increasingly clear to the world that Germany Italy and Japan were pursuing a common pattern of aggression both in Europe and in the Far East on sep tember 27 1940 three powers sign so-called pact of Berlin or tripartite pact a treaty of far-reaching alliance by that pretty it was provided that the three countries would assist one another with called political economic and military means when one of the pars was attacked most particularly the use of the word attacked by a power not then involved in the European war or in the Chinese Japanese conflict the last of these provisions was aimed directly at the United States Tokyo celebrated [Music] wrong chair Berlin hile itself force it was clear now that the three axis countries definitely stood against us more anxious than ever we watched the life-and-death struggle for the possession of the skies over Britain [Music] despite the propaganda and confusion of recent months it is now obvious that England is losing more England will not only survive England will win [Music] so when we were asked should we keep out of war or a Briton even at the risk of war a Briton even at the risk of war sixty-eight percent thus the march of conquest of the self term master raisins changed our national attitude from 1936 when only one out of 20 Americans thought we would be involved in war 2 1941 when 14 out of 20 Americans were willing to risk war if war was necessary to ensure access to beat I asked this Congress for authority and for funds sufficient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds to be turned over to those nations which are now in actual war with aggressor nation our most useful and immediate role is to act as an Arsenal for them as well as for ourselves we shall send in ever increasing numbers ships planes tanks gun that is our purpose and our pledge by an overwhelming majority Congress passed lend-lease bill number seventeen seventy-six another declaration of independence independence and tyranny 1941 style on april six 1941 the nazi juggernaut over ran into Yugoslavia and Greece on june the 22nd 1941 the success crazy nazis took their longest step toward world conference without any declaration of war they blitzed into Russia we were determined not to let down any nations defending themselves against unprovoked attack so we extended land lease to these new victims now the lend-lease products of our factories were being unloaded in the bomb ports of great britain at the Red Sea ports for the British in Africa lend-lease was being hauled over the Burma Road to China lend-lease was piling up in Murmansk and Iran for Russia why did we supply war materials to the country's defending themselves against taxes aggression was it our natural sympathies for people unwilling to lose their freedom was at our ancient antagonism to conquerors imposing their rule on others by force yes partly but principally it was because the American people had become certain that they were on the list of free nations to be conquered who well sign conflict two philosophies of life one of these two worlds must break asunder and we were the leading example of that free world that Hitler was committed to breaking asunder what would have been our defensive position if the aggressors had succeeded in conquering Britain Russia and China German conquest of Europe and Africa would bring all their raw materials plus their entire industrial development under one control of the two billion people in the world the Nazis would rule roughly one-quarter the 500 million people of Europe and Africa forced into slavery to labor for German German conquest of Russia would add the vast raw materials and the production facilities of another of the world's industrial areas and of the world's people another 200 million would be added to the Nazi labor pile japanese conquest to the Ori would pour into their factory the almost unlimited resources of that area under the peoples of the earth a thousand million would come under their rule slaves for their industrial machine we in North and South America would be left with the raw materials of three tenths of the earth's surface against the axes with the resources of seven pence we would have won industrial region against their three industrial regions we would have won eight of the world's population against their seven eight if we together with the other nations of North and South America could mobilize 30 million fully equipped men the axis could mobilize 200 million thus an axis Victory in Europe and Asia would leave us alone and virtually surround facing enemies ten times stronger than ourselves these are the reasons that led us the American people to change the neutrality air to send aid to Britain to Russia to China to make ourselves the arsenal of democracy these are the reasons why now the first American troops set forth into the Atlantic to occupy new bases in Greenland and Iceland with the consent of their local governments in our hands basis of defects in Nazi hands basis of offense I will allow closed down without the Germans open unrestricted submarine warfare [Music] [Music] if today stop Navy should make secure the Seas for the delivery of our munitions to Great Britain it will render as great a service to our country and to the preservation of American freedom as it has ever rendered in all its glorious history we want those cargos protected arouse Congress repealed the entire neutrality we armed our merchant and for the first time they steamed the combat zones to deliver lend-lease while this was going on in the Atlantic the Japs by so-called agreement with the puppet government of medieval France moved in on Indochina [Music] there were now only two threats to their plan for conquest of Greater East Asia first was their northern neighbor Russia the only military power within striking distance of Japan the Nazis were taking care of Russian the second threat to japanese conquest was us japanese southward expansion was too dangerous to attempt with our bases still standing in the philippines and our supply lines open to wake to Midway and in our life we were in their way we had to be removed but in the Japanese Way off to Washington went special ambassador curacao on what the Japs said was the mission of peace but carefully synchronized with his departure from Tokyo was the departure of a [ __ ] task force under sealed orders not on a mission of peace on November 14th mr. kurosu arrived in San Francisco smiling his toothy smile as he sang the old song of Japanese friendship the Japanese were a peace-loving people there hold policy was devoted to the establishment of permanent peace in Asia our aid to China was delaying the establishment of that piece our refusal to sell them oil and strap was interfering with the establishment of that piece our objections to their taking over the East Indies Greater East Asia was an interruption in the establishment of that piece all they wanted was peace on november seventeenth mr. Caruso and Japanese ambassador Nomura were received by the president in the presence of the Secretary of State Cordell Hull it very quickly became clear that the Japanese had brought no new proposals and that the Japanese intended to continue their campaign to conquer China and all East Asian however on November 26th our Secretary of State presented the Japanese with the basis for peaceful agreement between the two nations the proposal was forwarded to Tokyo the Japs had to stall for time but only a short time task force was nearing its goal sunday december 7 1941 ready [Music] right [Music] [Music] 1 p.m. eastern standard time the Japanese emissaries are expected at the State Department to keep a one o'clock appointment they had requested in order to present their answers to our proposals 15 p.m. the Japanese planes are approaching Hawaii one 10pm the japanese emissaries telephoned to postpone their appointment until 145 120 p.m. [Music] [Music] 2pm the Japanese em boys smiling and correct arrived at the State Department 220 p.m. [Music] Japanese planes had been sowing death and destruction for an hour on American outpost in the Pacific when the Japanese n boys presented a memorandum to mr. Hall gear is the memorandum sent it to me as you can see it is quite a lengthy document I read it hurry discovering that it contained the recital of masters accusations against the United States charging it among other things with hook scheming for the extension of the law we find to attack Germany and Italy to power striving to establish a new order in pure and ignoring Japan sacrifices in the four years of the China of fact menacing the Empire's existence itself and disparaging its honor and questioning after reading the note i said to the japanese emissaries i have never seen a doc that was more crowded with infamous falsehoods and distortions on a scale show you and I never imagined that any government on this planet was capable of uttering [Music] i ask that the congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by japan on sunday december 7 1941 a state of war has existed between the united states and the japanese empire [Music] you [Music]