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

Foreign Relations in an Election Year 51
Th en on October 30, FDR made a similar pledge to the voters
in Boston: 50
And while I am talking to you mothers and fathers, I give you
one more assurance.
I have said this before, but I shall say it again and again and
again:
Your boys are not going to be sent into any foreign wars.
Th ey are going into training to form a force so strong that,
by its very existence, it will keep the threat of war from our
shores.
Th e purpose of our defense is defense.
Roosevelt wound up his campaign with talks on Saturday
evening, November 2, in Buff alo, New York, and on Sunday,
November 3, in Cleveland, Ohio. In Buff alo, he pledged, “Your
president says this country is not going to war.” 51 And in his
fi nal address of the campaign, on November 3, in Cleveland, he
said: 52
Th e fi rst purpose of our foreign policy is to keep our country
out of war. . . . And through it all [my past record] there have
been two thoughts uppermost in my mind—to preserve peace
in our land; and to make the forces of democracy work for the
benefi t of the common people of America.
50 Roosevelt, Public Papers, 1928–1932, p. 517; Beard, American Foreign Policy
in the Making, p. 316.
51 Roosevelt, Public Papers, 1928–1932, pp. 543ff .; Beard, American Foreign
Policy in the Making, p. 317.
52 Roosevelt, Public Papers, 1928–1932, pp. 546ff .; Beard, American Foreign
Policy in the Making, p. 318.