WHY WE FIGHT — WAR COMES TO AMERICA

[Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] in the jungles of New Guinea on the barren shores of the Aleutian and the tropic heat of the Pacific island in the sub-zero cold of the skies over Germany in Burma and Iceland the Philippines and Iran France in China and Italy American fighting fighting over an area extending 7/8 of the way around the world men from the green hills of New England the sun-baked claims of the Middle West the cotton fields of the South the close-packed streets of Manhattan Chicago the teeming factories of Detroit Los Angeles the endless stretching distances of the Southwest men from the hills and from the plane from the villages and from the cities bookkeeper so Dodgers mechanics college students rich man poor man beggar man thief lawyer Richard chief now veteran fighting yet two years ago many had never fired a gun or seen the ocean or been off the ground fighting for their country while half a world away from fighting for their country and for more than their country fighting for an idea the idea bigger than the country without the idea the country might have remained only a wilderness without the country the idea might have remained only a dream [Music] over the social 1607 Jamestown 1620 Plymouth laughs here was America the sea the sky the virgin continent we came in search of freedom facing unknown dangers rather than bend the knee or bow to tyranny [Music] out of the native oak entirely built a house a church a watchtower we cleared a field and there grew up a colony of free citizens we carved new States out of the green wilderness Virginia Massachusetts Rhode Island Carolina then came the first test in the defense of that Liberty 1775 Lexington our leaders spoke our deepest needs colonists are by the law of nature Freeborn has indeed all men are it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government these are the times that try men's souls but as for me give me liberty or give me death in the midst of battle it happened the idea drew the idea took form something new was expressed by men a new and revolutionary doctrine the greatest creative force in human relations all men are created equal all men are entitled to the blessings of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that's the goal we set for ourselves defeat meant hanging victory met a world in which American rule themselves 1777 Valley Forge we fought and froze suffered and died for what for the future freedom of all Americans a few of us doubted and despair most of us play and in do it all 1781 Yorktown now we were a free independent nation the new idea had won its first test now to pass it on to future Americans the Constitution the sacred charter of We the People the blood and sweat of We the People the life liberty and happiness of We the People the people were to rule not some of the people not the best people or the worst not the rich people or the tour but we the people [Applause] in this Brotherhood America was born one nation indivisible liberty and justice for all we began as thirteen states along the Atlantic seaboard we pushed across the Alleghenies the Ohio River the Mississippi the last bar range of the distant Rockies we carried freedom with us no aristocratic classes here no King no Nobles our princess no state Church no courts no parasites no Divine Right of man to rule man here humanity was making a clean fresh start from scratch behind us we left New States chips off the old blocks welded together by freedom [Music] until finally we were one nation a land of hope and opportunity that had arisen out of a skeptical world a light was shining freedom's light from every country and every clime men saw that light and turned their faces toward it give me your tired your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free the wretched refuse of your teeming Shore send these the homeless tempest-tossed to me I lift my lamp beside the Golden Door I strangers to one another we came and built a country and the country built us into Americans the sweat of the men of old nations was poured out to build anew the sweat of our first settler to each the Scotch the Dutch building the workshop of New England of the Italian in the sulfur mines of Louisiana of the Frenchmen and the Swiss in the vineyards of California and New York State of the day the Norwegian the Swede seating the good earth to make the Midwest bloom with grain of the pole and the Welsh of the negro harvesting cotton in the hot southern Sun of the spaniard the first to roam the great southwest of the Mexican in the oil fields of Texas and on the ranches of New Mexico of the Greek and the Portuguese harvesting the crop the ocean of the German with his technical skill of the Hungarian and the Russian of the Irish the sloth and the Chinese working side by side the sweat of Americans and a great nation was period [Music] [Music] yes the sweat of the men of All Nations built America and the blood for the blood of Americans has been freely shared five times in our history have we withstood the challenge to the idea that made our nation the idea of equality for all men life liberty and the pursuit of happiness the idea that made us the people we are let's take a look at ourselves before we went into this for her well first of all we're working people on the land at the workbench at a desk and we're an inventive people the lightning-rod cotton gin The Telegraph the bless of anaesthesia of Ethan the rotary printing press the telephone electric welding incandescent lamp submarine steam turbine the motor driven airplane the x-ray tube a gyroscope compass a sewing machine television all these and countless more bear witness to our inventiveness [Music] and this inventiveness and enterprise plus our hard-won democratic ideal of a greatest good for the greatest number created for the average man the highest standard of living in the world thirty two and a half million registered automobiles two-thirds of all the automobiles there are in the entire world we demand the highest standards and sanitation purity of food medical care our hospitals our models for the world a copy we want the best for the average man woman or child particularly child we have reduced the hazard of being born from then on we protect foster and generally spoil the majority of our children but it doesn't seem to hurt them much they go to school all kinds of schools the kindergarten public school private school trade schools high schools 225 thousand high school and a college in the last four 20 percent of all the men in the armed forces had been to high school or college in this war sixty-three percent there are great two weeks vacation people we hunt and we fish up north down south back east out west when the season opens we hunt and fish and we're a sports loving people [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and we're probably the traveling is nation and all histories we love to go point we have the cards we have the roads we have the scenery we don't need passport but sometimes we need alibis we sleep by the road we eat by the road the fauna is enchanted and amazed by what we like to put on our stomachs [Music] and we're a great joining we join clubs fraternity union federation shove a blanket US will sign up radios we have one in the living room the bedroom like the bathroom in our cars in our hand and up our sleeve dog your cigarette tastes different lately music we couldn't be without it [Music] [Music] the press yes it's the biggest but most important it's the freest on earth over 12,000 newspapers of all shades of opinion books on every conceivable subject and more than 6,000 different magazines not counting the colors churches we have every denomination on earth 60 million of us regularly attend and no one dares tell us which one to go to we elect our own neighbors to governess we believe in individual enterprise and opportunity for men and women alike we make mistakes we see the results we correct the mistakes we skyrocket into false prosperities and then plummet down into vaults needless depressions but in spite of everything we never lose our faith in the future we believe in the future we build for the future yes we build for the future and the future always catches up with us before we're done building we've developed something new and have to start rebuilding that's roughly the kind of people we are both easygoing sentimental but underneath passionately dedicated to the ideal our forefathers passed on to us the liberty and dignity of man we've made great material progress but spiritually we're still in the frontier days yet deep down within us there is a great yearning for peace and goodwill toward men somehow we feel that if men turned their minds toward the fields of peace as they have toward the fields of transportation communication or aviation wars would soon be as old fashioned as the horse and buggy days we hate war we know that in war it's the common man who does the pay for suffering a dying we bend over backwards to avoid it but that our freedoms be in danger and we'll pay and suffer and fight to the last man that is the America that is the way of living for which we fight today is that pipe necessary did we want war [Music] 1917 before most of you fighting men were bought our fathers fought the first world war to make the world safe for democracy for the common man they fought a good fight and won it [Music] there was to be no more war in their time or their children's time faithful to our treaty obligations we destroyed much of our naval tonnage our army went on a reducing diet until it became little more than a skeleton for us war was to be outlawed for us Europe was far away and as for Asia well that was really out of this world where everything looked like it was torn from the National Geographic yet in this remote spot in Asia in 1931 while most of you were playing ball in the sand lines this war started without warning Japan invaded Manchuria [Music] once again men who were peaceful became the slaves of men who were violent in Washington DC our Secretary of State made a most vigorous protest the American government does not intend to recognize any situation treaty or agreement which may be brought about by means of aggression but we the people hadn't much time to think about Manchuria we were wrestling with the worst depression in our history some of us were out of jobs some of us stood in bread lines some of us suffered homemade aggression some of us were choked with death some of us had no place to go two years later in 1933 while most of you were graduating from high school we read that a funny little man called Hitler had come into power in Germany we heard that a thing called the Nazi Party had taken over today we rule Germany tomorrow the world what kind of talk was that it must be only hot air in 1935 about the time you had your first date we read that strutting Mussolini had attacked far-off Ethiopia [Music] the disease seem to be spreading so Congress assembled to insulate us against the growing friction of war we want no war we'll have no law trade in defense of our own people for our own honor toward this end our chosen representatives passed the Neutrality Act no nation at war could buy manufactured arms or munitions from the United States 1936 when you were running around in jalopies we were disturbed by news from Spain [Music] in our newsreels we saw German and Italian air forces and armies fighting in Spain and wondered what they were doing [Music] for the first time we saw great cities squashed planet civilians bombed and killed [Music] in November 1936 the American Institute of public opinion known as the Gallup poll asked a representative cross-section of American people if another war develops in Europe should America take part again ninety-five percent we the people had spoken 19 out of 20 of us said include us out to further insulate ourselves we added a cash-and-carry amendment to the Neutrality Act [Music] not only wouldn't we sell munitions but we wouldn't sell anything at all not even a spool of thread unless warring powers sent their own ships and paid cash on the line in 1937 the press services received a flash from Asia [Music] yes the Japs returning Asia into a slaughterhouse but for us Asia was still far away in September 1937 the Gallup poll asked us in the present fight between Japan and China are your sympathies with either side we answered with China 43% with Japan 2% undecided 55% we hadn't made up our minds about China our Neutrality Act barred sales of armaments only to nations at war Japanese had not declared war so we went right on selling scrap iron and aviation gasoline to Japan in March 1938 Hitler had not declared war either but his goose-stepping army suddenly smashed in and occupied all the soil of Austria six months later Hitler and his stooge met the anxious democracies at Munich Hitler promised peace in our time if Britain and France would give him that part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland Britain and France gave him that part of Czechoslovakia hoping to avert war now we had his worth peace in our time at home we began to hear strange headlines