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PAPER VIII
" . . . It is my constitutional duty to report to the Congress that our
national defense is, in the light of the increasing armaments of other
nations, inadequate for purposes of national security and requires
increase for that reason."
Message to the Congress recommending increased armament for national
defense, January 28, 1938
To the Congress:
The Congress knows that for many years this Government has sought in
many Capitals with the leaders of many Governments to find a way to
limit and reduce armaments and to establish at least the probability of
world peace.
The Congress is aware also that while these efforts, supported by the
hopes of the American people, continue and will continue they have
nevertheless failed up to the present time.
We, as a peaceful Nation, cannot and will not abandon active search for
an agreement among the nations to limit armaments and end aggression.
But it is clear that until such agreement is reached-and I have not
given up hope of it-we are compelled to think of our own national
safety.
It is with the deepest regret that I report to you that armaments
increase today at an unprecedented and alarming rate. It is an ominous
fact that at least one-fourth of the world's population is involved in
merciless devastating conflict in spite of the fact that most people in
most countries, including those where conflict rages, wish to live at
peace. Armies are fighting in the Far East and in Europe; thousands of
civilians are being driven from their homes and bombed from the air.
Tension throughout the world is high.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States it is my
constitutional duty to report to the Congress that our national defense
is, in the light of the increasing armaments of other Nations,
inadequate for purposes of national security and requires increase for
that reason.
In spite of the well-known fact that the American standard of living
makes our ships, our guns and our planes cost more for construction than
in any other Nation and that the maintenance of them and of our Army and
Navy personnel is more expensive than in any other Nation, it is also
true that the proportion of the cost of our military and naval forces to
the total income of our citizens or to the total cost of our Government
is far lower than in the case of any other great Nation.
Specifically and solely because of the piling up of additional land and
sea armaments in other countries, in such manner as to involve
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a threat to world peace and security, I make the following
recommendations to the Congress:
(1) That there be authorized for the Army of the United States additions
to anti-aircraft materiel in the sum of $8,800,000 and that of this sum
$6,800,000 be appropriated for the fiscal year 1939.
(2) That there be authorized and appropriated for the better
establishment of an Enlisted Reserve for the Army the sum of 8450,000.
(3) That there be authorized the expenditure of $6,080,000 for the
manufacture of gauges, dies and other aids to manufacture of Army
materiel, the sum of $5,000,000 thereof to be expended during the fiscal
year 1939.
(4) That the sum of $2,000,000 be authorized and appropriated toward the
making up of deficiencies in ammunition for the Army.
(5) That the existing authorized building program for increases and
replacements in the Navy be increased by 20 per cent.
(6) That this Congress authorize and appropriate for the laying down of
two additional battleships and two additional cruisers during the
calendar year 1938. This will call for the expenditure of a very small
amount of Government funds during the fiscal year 1939.
(7) That the Congress authorize and appropriate a sum not to exceed
$15,000,000 for the construction of a number of new types of small
vessels, such construction to be regarded as experimental in the light
of new developments among Navies; and to include the preparation of
plans for other types of ships in event that it may be necessary to
construct such ships in the future.
I believe also that the time has come for the Congress to enact
legislation aimed at the prevention of profiteering in time of war and
the equalization of the burdens of possible war. Such legislation has
been the subject for many years of full study in this and previous
Congresses.
It is necessary for all of us to realize that the unfortunate world
conditions of today have resulted too often in the discarding of those
principles and treaties which underlie international law and order; and
in the entrance of many new factors into the actual conduct of war.
Adequate defense means that for the protection not only of our coasts
but also of our communities far removed from the coast, we must keep any
potential enemy many hundred miles away from our continental limits.
We cannot assume that our defense would be limited to one ocean and one
coast and that the other ocean and the other coast would with certainty
be safe. We cannot be certain that the connecting link, the Panama
Canal, would be safe. Adequate defense affects therefore the
simultaneous defense of every part of the United States of America.
It is our clear duty to further every effort toward peace but at the
same time to protect our Nation. That is the purpose of these
recommendations. Such protection is and will be based not on aggression
but on defense.
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See also Papers XVI and XVIII of this series recommending appropriations
for national defense.