Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy - Ludwig von Mises ...

U.S. International Policy: 1933–1940 9
on Pearl Harbor, he reassured the American people from time to
time of his steadfast commitment to peace. 6 He delivered one of
his most eloquent anti-war speeches in Chatauqua, New York,
only four days after signing the August 10 memorandum about
the possible incarceration of U.S. Japanese residents:
I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen
blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing
out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I
have seen cities destroyed. I have seen two hundred limping,
exhausted men come out of line—the survivors of a regiment
of one thousand that went forward forty-eight hours before. I
have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers
and wives. I hate war. . . .
I wish I could keep war from all Nations; but that is beyond
my power. I can at least make certain that no act of the United
States helps to produce or to promote war. . . .
I speak from a long experience—the eff ective maintenance of
American neutrality depends today, as in the past, on the wisdom
and determination of whoever at the moment occup[ies]
the offi ces of President and Secretary of State. 7
During this period, Germany and Japan were being driven
together out of fear of the expansionist and disruptive policies
of their common enemy, the Soviet Union. Both Germany
and Japan recognized “that the aim of the [U.S.S.R.-sponsored]
Communist International, known as the Comintern, is to disintegrate
and subdue existing States by all the means at its command.”
Th ey held that the Comintern “not only endangers their internal
peace and social well-being, but is also a menace to the peace of
6 Charles A. Beard, American Foreign Policy in the Making, 1932–1940 (New
Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1946), pp. 156–75.
7 Roosevelt, Th e Public Papers and Addresses, 1936, vol. 5, pp. 289–90.