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

12 Pearl Harbor: The Seeds and Fruits of Infamy
10 percent, who are threatening a breakdown of all international
order and law. . . . It seems to be unfortunately true that
the epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading.
When an epidemic of physical disease starts to spread, the
community approves and joins in a quarantine of the patients
in order to protect the health of the community against the
spread of the disease. . . . War is a contagion, whether it be
declared or undeclared. It can engulf states and peoples remote
from the original scene of hostilities. We are adopting such
measures as will minimize our risk of involvement, but we cannot
have complete protection in a world of disorder in which
confi dence and security have broken down. 12
Roosevelt had not mentioned Japan, but a State Department
release the next day made it clear that he had been referring to
Japan’s attack on China;
Since the beginning of the present controversy in the Far East,
the Government of the United States has urged upon both
the Chinese and Japanese Governments that they refrain from
hostilities and has off ered to be of assistance in an eff ort to
fi nd some means, acceptable to both parties to the confl ict of
composing by pacifi c methods the situation the Far East. . . .
In the light of the unfolding developments in the Far East, the
Government of the United States has been forced to the conclusion
that the action of Japan in China is inconsistent with
the principles which should govern the relationships between
nations. [Th e Nine Power Treaty of February 6, 1922, and the
Kellogg-Briand Pact of August 27, 1928] 13
12 Department of State, Peace and War: United States Foreign Policy, 1931–1941
(Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Offi ce), pp. 383–87.
13 Ibid., pp. 387–88.