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PAPER XXIX
"This was piracy-legally and morally. It was not the first nor the last
act of piracy which the Nazi Government has committed against the
American flag in this war."
Address over the radio concerning the attack upon the destroyer GREER,
September 11, 1941
My fellow Americans:
The Navy Department of the United States has reported to me that on the
morning of September 4 the U. S. Destroyer GREER, proceeding in full
daylight toward Iceland, had reached a point southeast of Greenland. She
was carrying American mail to Iceland. She was flying the American flag.
Her identity as an American ship was unmistakable.
She was then and there attacked by a submarine. Germany admits that it
was a German submarine. The submarine deliberately fired a torpedo at
the GREER, followed later by another torpedo attack. In spite of what
Hitler's propaganda bureau has invented, and in spite of what any
American obstructionist organization may prefer to believe, I tell you
the blunt fact that the German submarine fired first upon this American
destroyer without warning, and with deliberate design to sink her.
Our destroyer, at the time, was in waters which the Government of the
United States had declared to be waters of self-defense-surrounding
outposts of American protection in the Atlantic.
In the north, outposts have been established by us in Iceland,
Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland. Through these waters there pass
many ships of many flags. They bear food and other supplies to civilians
and they bear materiel of war, for which the people of the United States
are spending billions of dollars, and which, by congressional action,
they have declared to be essential for the defense of their own land.
The United States destroyer, when attacked, was proceeding on a
legitimate mission.
If the destroyer was visible to the submarine when the torpedo was
fired, then the attack was a deliberate attempt by the Nazis to sink a
clearly identified American warship. On the other hand, if the submarine
was beneath the surface and, with the aid of its listening devices,
fired in the direction of the sound of the American destroyer without
even taking the trouble to learn its identity-as the official German
communique would indicate-then the attack was even more outrageous. For
it indicates a policy of indiscriminate violence against any vessel
sailing the seas, belligerent or non-belligerent.
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This was piracy-legally and morally. It was not the first nor the last
act of piracy which the Nazi government has committed against the
American flag in this war. Attack has followed attack.
A few months ago an American-flag merchant ship, the ROBIN MOOR, was
sunk by a Nazi submarine in the middle of the South Atlantic under
circumstances violating long-established international law and every
principle of humanity. The passengers and the crew were forced into open
boats hundreds of miles from land, in direct violation of international
agreements signed by the Government of Germany. No apology, no
allegation of mistake, no offer of reparations has come from the Nazi
government.
In July 1941 an American battleship in North American waters was
followed by a submarine, which for a long time sought to maneuver itself
into a position of attack. The periscope of the submarine was clearly
seen. No British or American submarines were within hundreds of miles of
this spot at the time, so the nationality of the submarine 1S clear.
Five days ago a United States Navy ship on patrol picked up three
survivors of an American-owned ship operating under the flag of our
sister Republic of Panama-the steamship SESSA. On August 17 she had been
first torpedoed without warning, and then shelled, near Greenland, while
carrying civilian supplies to Iceland. It is feared that the other
members of her crew have been drowned. In view of the established
presence of German submarines in this vicinity, there can be no
reasonable doubt as to the identity of the attacker.
Five days ago another United States merchant ship, the STEEL SEAFARER,
was sunk by a German aircraft in the Red Sea 220 miles south of Suez.
She was bound for an Egyptian port.
Four of the vessels sunk or attacked flew the American flag and were
clearly identifiable. Two of these ships were warships of the American
Navy. In the fifth case, the vessel sunk clearly carried the flag of
Panama.
In the face of all this, we Americans are keeping our feet on the
ground. Our type of democratic civilization has outgrown the thought of
feeling compelled to fight some other nation by reason of any single
piratical attack on one of our ships. We are not becoming hysterical or
losing our sense of proportion. Therefore, what I am thinking and saying
does not relate to any isolated episode.
Instead, we Americans are taking a long-range point of view in regard to
certain fundamentals and to a series of events on land and on sea which
must be considered as a whole-as a part of a world pattern.
It would be unworthy of a great nation to exaggerate an isolated
incident, or to become inflamed by some one act of violence. But it
would be inexcusable folly to minimize such incidents in the face of
evidence which makes it clear that the incident is not isolated, but
part of a general plan.
The important truth is that these acts of international lawlessness are
a manifestation of a design which has been made clear to the American
people for a long time. It is the Nazi design to abolish the freedom of
the seas, and to acquire absolute control and domination of the seas for
themselves.
For with control of the seas in their own hands, the way can become
clear for their next step-domination of the United States and the
Western Hemisphere by force. Under Nazi control of the seas, no
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merchant ship of the United States or of any other American republic
would be free to carry on any peaceful commerce, except by the
condescending grace of this foreign and tyrannical power. The Atlantic
Ocean which has been, and which should always be, a free and friendly
highway for us would then become a deadly menace to the commerce of the
United States, to the coasts of the United States, and to the inland
cities of the United States.
The Hitler government, in defiance of the laws of the sea and of the
recognized rights of all other nations, has presumed to declare, on
paper, that great areas of the seas-even including a vast expanse lying
in the Western Hemisphere-are to be closed, and that no ships may enter
them for any purpose, except at peril of being sunk. Actually they are
sinking ships at will and without warning in widely separated areas both
within and far outside of these far-flung pretended zones.
This Nazi attempt to seize control of the oceans is but a counterpart of
the Nazi plots now being carried on throughout the Western Hemisphere,
all designed toward the same end. For Hitler's advance guards-not only
his avowed agents but also his dupes among us-have sought to make ready
for him footholds and bridgeheads in the New World, to be used as soon
as he has gained control of the oceans.
His intrigues, his plots, his machinations, his sabotage in this New
World are all known to the Government of the United States. Conspiracy
has followed conspiracy.
Last year a plot to seize the Government of Uruguay was smashed by the
prompt action of that country, which was supported in full by her
American neighbors. A like plot was then hatching in Argentina, and that
Government has carefully and wisely blocked it at every point. More
recently an endeavor was made to subvert the Government of Bolivia.
Within the past few weeks the discovery was made of secret air landing
fields in Colombia within easy range of the Panama Canal. I could
multiply instances.
To be ultimately successful in world mastery Hitler knows that he must
get control of the seas. He must first destroy the bridge of ships which
we are building across the Atlantic, over which we shall continue to
roll the implements of war to help destroy him and all his works in the
end. He must wipe out our patrol on sea and in the air. He must silence
the British Navy.
It must be explained again and again to people who like to think of the
United States Navy as an invincible protection that this can be true
only if the British Navy survives. That is simple arithmetic.
For if the world outside the Americas falls under Axis domination, the
shipbuilding facilities which the Axis Powers would then possess in all
of Europe, in the British Isles, and in the Far East would be much
greater than all the shipbuilding facilities and potentialities of all
the Americas-not only greater but two or three times greater. Even if
the United States threw all its resources into such a situation, seeking
to double and even redouble the size of our Navy, the Axis Powers, in
control of the rest of the world, would have the manpower and the
physical resources to out-build us several times over.
It is time for all Americans of all the Americas to stop being deluded
by the romantic notion that the Americas can go on living happily and
peacefully in a Nazi-dominated world.
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Generation after generation America has battled for the general policy
of the freedom of the seas. That policy is a very simple one, but a
basic, fundamental one. It means that no nation has the right to make
the broad oceans of the world at great distances from the actual theater
of land war unsafe for the commerce of others.
That has been our policy, proved time and time again, in all our
history.
Our policy has applied from time immemorial-and still applies-not merely
to the Atlantic but to the Pacific and to all other oceans as well.
Unrestricted submarine warfare in 1941 constitutes a defiance-an act of
aggression-against that historic American policy.
It is now clear that Hitler has begun his campaign to control the seas
by ruthless force and by wiping out every vestige of international law
and humanity.
His intention has been made clear. The American people can have no
further illusions about it.
No tender whisperings of appeasers that Hitler is not interested in the
Western Hemisphere, no soporific lullabies that a wide ocean protects us
from him can long have any effect on the hard-headed, farsighted, and
realistic American people.
Because of these episodes, because of the movements and operations of
German warships; and because of the clear repeated proof that the
present Government of Germany has no respect for treaties or for
international law, that it has no decent attitude toward neutral nations
or human life, we Americans are now face to face, not with abstract
theories, but with cruel, relentless facts.
This attack on the GREER was no localized military operation in the
North Atlantic. This was no mere episode in a struggle between two
nations. This was one determined step toward creating a permanent world
system based on force, terror, and murder.
And I am sure that even now the Nazis are waiting to see whether the
United States will by silence give them the green light to go ahead on
this path of destruction.
The Nazi danger to our western world has long ceased to be a mere
possibility. The danger is here now-not only from a military enemy but
from an enemy of all law, all liberty, all morality, all religion.
There has now come a time when you and I must see the cold, inexorable
necessity of saving to these inhuman, unrestrained seekers of world
conquest and permanent world domination by the sword, "You seek to throw
our children and our children's children into your form of terrorism and
slavery. You have now attacked our own safety. You shall go no further."
Normal practices of diplomacy-note writing-are of no possible use in
dealing with international outlaws who sink our ships and kill our
citizens.
One peaceful nation after another has met disaster because each refused
to look the Nazi danger squarely in the eye until it actually had them
by the throat.
The United States will not make that fatal mistake.
No act of violence or intimidation will keep us from maintaining intact
two bulwarks of defense-first, our line of supply of materiel to the
enemies of Hitler; and, second, the freedom of our shipping on the high
seas.
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No matter what it takes, no matter what it costs. We will keep open the
line of legitimate commerce in these defensive waters.
We have sought no shooting war with Hitler. We do not seek it now. But,
neither do we want peace so much that we are willing to pay for it by
permitting him to attack our naval and merchant ships while they are on
legitimate business.
I assume that the German leaders are not deeply concerned by what we
Americans say or publish about them. We cannot bring about the downfall
of nazi-ism by the use of long-range invectives.
But when you see a rattlesnake poised to strike you do not wait until he
has struck before you crush him.
These Nazi submarines and raiders are the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic.
They are a menace to the free pathways of the high seas. They are a
challenge to our sovereignty. They hammer at our most precious rights
when they attack ships of the American flag-symbols of our independence,
our freedom, our very life.
It is clear to all Americans that the time has come when the Americas
themselves must now be defended. A continuation of attacks in our own
waters, or in waters which could be used for further and greater attacks
on us, will inevitably weaken American ability to repel Hitlerism.
Do not let us split hairs. Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas
should begin to defend themselves after the fifth attack, or the tenth
attack, or the twentieth attack.
The time for active defense is now.
Do not let us split hairs. Let us not say, "We will only defend
ourselves if the torpedo succeeds in getting home, or if the crew and
the passengers are drowned."
This is the time for prevention of attack.
If submarines or raiders attack in distant waters. They can attack
equally well within sight of our own shores. Their very presence in any
waters which America deems vital to its defense constitutes an attack.
In the waters which we deem necessary for our defense American naval
vessels and American planes will no longer wait until Axis submarines
lurking under the water, or Axis raiders on the surface of the sea,
strike their deadly blow-first.
Upon our naval and air patrol-now operating in large numbers over a vast
expanse of the Atlantic Ocean-falls the duty of maintaining the American
policy of freedom of the seas-now. That means very simply and clearly,
that our patrolling vessels and planes will protect all merchant ships-
not only American ships but ships of any flag-engaged in commerce in our
defensive waters. They will protect them from submarines; they will
protect them from surface raiders.
This situation is not new. The second President of the United States,
John Adams, ordered the United States Navy to clean out European
privateers and European ships of war which were infesting the Caribbean
and South American waters, destroying American commerce.
The third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, ordered the
United States Navy to end the attacks being made upon American ships by
the corsairs of the nations of North Africa.
My obligation as President is historic; it is clear. It is inescapable.
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It is no act of war on our part when we decide to protect the seas which
are vital to American defense. The aggression is not ours. Ours is
solely defense.
But let this warning be clear. From now on, if German or Italian vessels
of war enter the waters, the protection of which is necessary for
American defense, they do so at their own peril.
The orders which I have given as Commander in Chief to the United States
Army and Navy are to carry out that policy-at once.
The sole responsibility rests upon Germany. There will be no shooting
unless Germany continues to seek it.
That is my obvious duty in this crisis. That is the clear right of this
sovereign Nation. That is the only step possible, if we would keep tight
the wall of defense which we are pledged to maintain around this Western
Hemisphere.
I have no illusions about the gravity of this step. I have not taken it
hurriedly or lightly. It is the result of months and months of constant
thought and anxiety and prayer. In the protection of your Nation and
mine it cannot be avoided.
The American people have faced other grave crises in their history- with
American courage and American resolution. They will do no less today.
They know the actualities of the attacks upon us. They know the
necessities of a bold defense against these attacks. They know that the
times call for clear heads and fearless hearts.
And with that inner strength that comes to a free people conscious of
their duty and of the righteousness of what they do, they will-with
Divine help and guidance-stand their ground against this latest assault
upon their democracy, their sovereignty, and their freedom.
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See Paper XXX of this series for the address concerning the attack upon
the destroyer KEARNY. This address is known as the "Shoot-on-sight"
Speech.