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PAPER XXV
". . . We shall help those who block the dictators in their march toward
domination of the world."
Address over the radio in celebration of Jackson Day, Fort Lauderdale,
Fla., April 1, 1941
I am sitting in the little cabin of the little ship POTOMAC, in the
harbor of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a day of sunshine out in the Gulf
Stream. That I cannot in person attend one of the many Jackson Day
dinners I regret, but it is good that you are again celebrating the
memory of a great American leader who believed, fanatically almost, in
the principles of a democracy based on the freedom of the ballot box.
I try to get away a couple of times a year on these short trips on salt
water. In Washington, as you know, the working day of the Presidency in
these days averages about fifteen hours. Even when I go to Hyde Park or
to Warm Springs, the White House office, the callers and the telephone
all follow me. But at sea the radio messages and the occasional pouch of
mail reduce official work to not more than two or three hours a day.
So there is a chance for a bit of sunshine or a wetted line, or a
biography or a detective story, or a nap after lunch. Above all, there
is the opportunity for thinking things through-for differentiating
between principles and methods, between the really big things of life
and those other things of the moment which may seem all-important today
and are forgotten by the world in a month. That means that if today the
fellow next to you catches a bigger fish than you do, or vice versa, you
don't lie awake at night thinking about it.
Yes; you recapture your philosophy, but in so doing you do not sit down
mentally and become a fatalist. You still seek peace of mind and of
spirit but you come to realize that today you have to work overtime, and
work harder than ever before in your life to make that peace possible
later on. If we sit down now we may get run over later. And if our kind
of civilization gets run over, the kind of peace we seek will become an
unattainable hope.
That is why, in the comparative quiet of this week, I have become more
than ever clear that the time calls for courage and more courage-action
and more action.
That is why it is appropriate today to honor the name of Andrew Jackson-
because he was first and foremost a great American, who placed his
devotion to country above adherence to party, and provided an ever-
living symbol of the rugged, courageous spirit of our people.
Responsibility lay heavily upon the shoulders of Andrew Jackson.
In his day the threat to the Federal Union came from within. It was a
sectional threat. More than that, it was a threat which came from
Jackson's own people-indeed, from some members of his own
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party. It was inspired by refusal to recognize the sovereign authority
of the United States. And by his actions Jackson placed himself far
above section and party.
In our own day the threat to our Union and to our democracy is not a
sectional one. It comes from a great part of the world which surrounds
us, and which draws more tightly around us, day by day.
Again, to do this job, we Americans-nearly all of us-have risen above
any considerations of party politics.
Long before Jackson became President the two-party system of government
had become firmly entrenched as a basic principle of American political
life. It had shown its value as a method of obtaining free and open
discussion of public issues, formulating new policies to meet new
conditions, and fixing responsibilities in affairs of government as an
indispensable part of our conception of free elections.
The dictators cannot seem to realize that here in America our people can
maintain two parties and at the same time maintain an inviolate and
indivisible nation. The totalitarian mentality is too narrow to
comprehend the greatness of a people who can be divided in party
allegiance at election time but remain united in devotion to their
country and to the ideals of democracy at all times.
In dictatorships there can be no party divisions. For all men must think
as they are told, speak as they are told, write as they are told, live-
and die-as they are told. In those countries the nation is not above the
party as with us. The party is above the nation, the party is the
nation.
Every common man and woman is forced to walk the straight and narrow
path of the party line, as drawn by the dictator himself.
In our country, disagreements among us are expressed in the polling
place. In the dictatorships, disagreements are suppressed in the
concentration camp.
Last year we held an American election, in which the people-Democrats,
Republicans, Independents, and others-by secret ballot, and without
plodding by the bayonets of storm troopers, voted for their public
officers-local, State, and national.
And we are determined so to act that America will go on year after year,
holding free elections.
All of the great freedoms which form the basis of our American democracy
are part and parcel of that concept of free election, with free
expression of political choice between candidates of political parties.
For such elections guarantee that there can be no possibility of
stifling freedom of speech, freedom of press and the air, freedom of
worship.
These are the eternal principles which are now being threatened by the
alliance of dictator nations.
Ours is the responsibility of defending those principles which have come
to us as our national heritage, ours is the responsibility of passing
them on-not only intact, but stronger than ever, to all the generations
yet to come.
We Americans realize how tenuous would be the existence of our party
system, our freedom of election, our freedom of living, if the doctrines
of dictatorship were to prevail. For if they were to prevail it would
not be in Europe alone.
The history of nations betrayed during the past year, the history of
nations conquered during the past year, should show us and the
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rest of the world what it means to live in a world organized and ruled
by the Gestapo.
Let us ask ourselves, frankly and seriously: How long could we maintain
our ancient liberties under these terrible conditions? How soon would we
have to accept the doctrine that one must fight fire with fire?
How long would it be possible to maintain a semblance of our two-party
system, with free elections, in a Nazi-dominated world?
How soon would we decide to imitate nazi-ism and abandon our two-party
system and regiment our people into one party-which would certainly be
neither Democratic nor Republican?
Should that evil time come, we would no longer hold these friendly
gatherings, either on Jackson Day or on Lincoln Day.
We Americans have already weighed these questions carefully and
thoughtfully. We Americans have announced our determination that, with
all our resources and all our power, we shall help those who block the
dictators in their march toward domination of the world.
The decision we have reached is not a partisan decision. The leader of
the Republican Party himself, Mr. Wendell Willkie, in word and in
action, is showing what patriotic Americans mean by rising above
partisanship and rallying to the common cause; and now that the plain
people of America have spoken their determination, Republicans and
Democrats, in the Congress and out of the Congress, are patriotically
cooperating to make that determination take positive form.
The enemies of democracy are now trying, by every means, to destroy our
unity. The chief weapon they now use against us is propaganda.
The propaganda comes in ever-increasing quantities, with ever-increasing
violence, from across the seas. And it is disseminated within our own
borders by agents or innocent dupes of foreign powers.
It is directed against all Americans-Republicans and Democrats, farmers
and bankers, employers and employees.
Propagandists, defeatists, and dupes, protected as they are by our
fundamental civil liberties, have been preaching and are still preaching
the ungodly gospel of fear. They use insinuation and falsehood. They
have tried to shatter the confidence of Americans in their Government
and in one another.
We have seen what has happened to the great industrialists of Germany
who supported the Nazi movement, and then received their reward in Nazi
concentration camps or in death.
We have seen how the workers of France were betrayed by their so-called
champions, the Communists. For no matter what Communist lips have to
say, their actions have proved that in their hearts they care nothing
for the real rights of free labor.
The agents of nazi-ism and those who unwittingly help them are still
trying to play both ends against the middle. They have attempted to
exploit the natural love of our people for peace. They have represented
themselves as pacifists when actually they are serving the most brutal
warmongers of all time. They have preached "peace-peace!" in the same
way the devil can quote scripture.
Of course, the purpose of all this has been to spread terror among us.
The effect of it has been only to fortify our determination.
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When Abraham Lincoln became President he had to face the awful reality
of War between the States. On July 4, 1861, in his first message to the
Congress, he presented this vital question:
"Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its
own people or too weak to maintain its own existence?"
Lincoln answered that question as Jackson had answered it-not by words,
but by deeds. And America still marches on.
We of today have been presented with that same question. We, too, are
answering it by deeds. Our well-considered philosophy for the attainment
of peace comes not from weakness but everlastingly from the courage of
America.