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Press Releases, vol. XVIII, p. 190
Message of President Roosevelt
to the Congress, January 28, 1938
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
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national defense is, in the light of the increasing armaments of other
nations, inadequate for purposes of national security and requires in crease
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 an 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 an 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 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 antiaircraft 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 o
$450,000.
(3) That there be authorized the expenditure
of $6,080,000 for the manufacture of gauges, dies, and other aids to
manufacture 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 in creases and replacements in the Navy be increased by 20 percent.
(6) That this Congress authorize and
appropriate for the laying down of two additional battleships and two
additional cruiser 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 type 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 the event the 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.
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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.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE
January
28, 1938.