Franklin D. Roosevelt: Quarantine the Aggressors
Chicago, October 5, 1937
By October, 1937, President Roosevelt understood that the world was in danger, but he found himself facing a dilemma: On the one hand, German and Italian aggression were threatening world peace, and it was no longer a question of which side the United States might eventually support. President Woodrow Wilson had faced that issue when World War I broke out in 1914; the German practice of unrestricted submarine warfare had decided the issue for Wilson as to which side the United States would support. But Hitler's belligerence, his rejection of the restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, his rearming of Germany, and his militant rhetoric, along with the participation of Italy and Germany and the Spanish civil war and the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, made it clear that if there was to be an enemy, it would be a fascist states of Germany and Italy.
On the other hand, the spirit of isolationism was strong in the United States. The United States military establishment was pitifully small, and the neutrality acts which Congress had recently passed limited America's ability to support nations with whom President Roosevelt was sympathetic. He wanted to assist nations that were victims of aggression, but he also needed to keep the neutralist, antiwar contingent at arm's length. This quarantine speech was a step in the direction of taking a position that made it clear on which side the United States stood but at the same time was not warlike enough to arouse Roosevelt's political opponents.
Denouncing the dictators of Japan, Germany and Italy, FDR declared, “The peace, the freedom and the security of 90 percent of the population of the world is being jeopardized by the remaining 10 percent, who are threatening a breakdown of all international order and law. Surely the 90 percent who want to live in peace under the law and in accordance with moral standards that have received almost universal acceptance through the centuries, can and must find some way to make their will prevail…There must be positive endeavors to preserve peace.”
Questions to consider…
- What do you think was most Americans’ reactions to this speech?
- Does this maintain an isolationist, neutral or interventionist strategy?
- What was FDR’s purpose in this speech?
- Is there a warning to Americans contained in the speech?