War Comes To America
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00:00:30I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for
00:00:59which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
00:01:26In the jungles of New Guinea, on the barren shores of the Aleutian, in the tropic heat
00:01:37of the Pacific Islands, in the sub-zero cold of the skies over Germany, in Burma and Iceland,
00:01:52in the Philippines and Iran, France, in China and Italy, Americans fighting, fighting over
00:02:09an area extending seven-eighths of the way around the world. Men from the green hills
00:02:15of New England, the sun-baked plains of the Middle West, the cotton fields of the South,
00:02:22the close-packed streets of Manhattan, Chicago, the teeming factories of Detroit, Los Angeles,
00:02:31the endless stretching distances of the Southwest, men from the hills and from the plains, from
00:02:38the villages and from the cities, bookkeepers, soda jerks, mechanics, college students, rich
00:02:47man, poor man, beggar man, thief, doctor, lawyer, merchant, chief, now veteran fighting men.
00:02:59Yet two years ago, many had never fired a gun or seen the ocean or been off the ground.
00:03:06Americans, fighting for their country while half a world away from it, fighting for their
00:03:12country and for more than their country, fighting for an idea, the idea bigger than the country.
00:03:20Without the idea, the country might have remained only a wilderness. Without the country, the idea
00:03:27might have remained only a dream. Over this ocean, 1607, Jamestown. 1620, Plymouth Rock. Here was America,
00:03:51the sea, the sky, the virgin continent. We came in search of freedom, facing unknown dangers rather than bend the knee or bow to tyranny.
00:04:05Out of the native oak and pine, we built a house, a church, a watchtower. We cleared a field, and there grew up a colony of flea citizens.
00:04:17We carved new states out of the green wilderness, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Carolina. Then came the first test in the defense of that liberty.
00:04:301775, Lexington. Our leaders spoke our deepest needs. Colonists are by the law of nature free-born, as indeed all men are.
00:04:43It is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and to institute new government. These are the times that try men's souls.
00:04:53But as for me, give me liberty or give me death. In the midst of battle, it happened. The idea grew. The idea took form.
00:05:06Something new was expressed by men, a new and revolutionary doctrine, the greatest creative force in human relations. All men are created equal.
00:05:19All men are entitled to the blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That's the goal we set for ourselves.
00:05:28Defeat meant hanging. Victory meant a world in which Americans ruled themselves. 1777, Valley Forge. We fought and froze, suffered and died.
00:05:43For what? For the future freedom of all Americans. A few of us doubted and despaired. Most of us prayed and endured on.
00:05:531781, Yorktown. Now we were a free, independent nation. The new idea had won its first test. Now to pass it on to future Americans.
00:06:07The Constitution, the sacred charter of we the people, the blood and sweat of we the people, the life, liberty, and happiness of we the people.
00:06:19The people were to rule. Not some of the people, not the best people or the worst, not the rich people or the poor, but we the people, all the people.
00:06:30In this brotherhood, America was born. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We began as 13 states along the Atlantic seaboard.
00:06:52We pushed across the Alleghenies, the Ohio River, the Mississippi, the last far range of the distant Rockies. We carried freedom with us. No aristocratic classes here.
00:07:05No kings, no nobles or princes, no state church, no courts, no parasites, no divine right of man to rule man. Here, humanity was making a clean, fresh start from scratch.
00:07:20Behind us, we left new states, chips off the old blocks welded together by freedom.
00:07:25Until finally, we were one nation, a land of hope, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty, a land of liberty.
00:07:52Until finally, we were one nation, a land of hope and opportunity that had arisen out of a skeptical world. A light was shining, freedom's light. From every country and every clime, men saw that light and turned their faces toward it.
00:08:09Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched views of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
00:08:26As strangers to one another, we came and built a country, and the country built us into Americans. The sweat of the men of old nations was poured out to build anew.
00:08:39The sweat of our first settlers, the English, the Scots, the Dutch, building the workshop of New England, of the Italian in the sulfur mines of Louisiana, of the Frenchmen and the Swiss in the vineyards of California and New York State,
00:08:58of the Dane, the Norwegian, the Swede, seeding the good earth to make the Midwest bloom with grain, of the Pole and the Welsh, of the Negro harvesting cotton in the hot southern sun,
00:09:14of the Spaniard, the first to roam the great southwest, of the Mexican in the oil fields of Texas and on the ranches of New Mexico, of the Greek and the Portuguese, harvesting the crop, the ocean,
00:09:34of the German with his technical skill, of the Hungarian and the Russian, of the Irish, the Slav, and the Chinese working side by side, the sweat of Americans, and a great nation was built.
00:10:04© BF-WATCH TV 2021
00:10:34© BF-WATCH TV 2021
00:11:04© BF-WATCH TV 2021
00:11:35Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The idea that made us the people we are. Let's take a look at ourselves before we went into this war.
00:11:46Well, first of all, we're a working people. On the land, at the workbench, at a desk. And we're an inventive people. The lightning rod, cotton gin, the telegraph, the blessed anesthesia of ether, the rotary printing press, the telephone, electric welding, the incandescent lamp, submarine, steam turbine,
00:12:15the motor-driven airplane, the x-ray tube, the gyroscope compass, the sewing machine, television. All these and countless more bear witness to our inventiveness.
00:12:28And this inventiveness and enterprise, plus our hard-won democratic ideal of the greatest good for the greatest number, created for the average man the highest standard of living in the world.
00:12:48Thirty-two and a half million registered automobiles, two-thirds of all the automobiles there are in the entire world. We demand the highest standards in sanitation, purity of food, medical care. Our hospitals are models for the world to copy. We want the best for the average man, woman, or child, particularly child.
00:13:12We want to reduce the hazard of being born. From then on, we protect, foster, and generally spoil the majority of our children. But it doesn't seem to hurt them much. They go to school, all kinds of schools, to kindergarten, public schools, private schools, trade schools, high schools, to 25,000 high schools, and to college.
00:13:38In this war, 20 percent of all the men in the armed forces had been to high school or college. In this war, 63 percent. We're a great two-weeks vacation people. We hunt and we fish, up north, down south, back east, out west. When the season opens, we hunt and fish. And we're a sports-loving people.
00:14:04We hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish.
00:14:34And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish. And we hunt and fish
00:15:04We eat pastports. But sometimes
00:15:06we need alibis.
00:15:08We sleep by the road.
00:15:10And we eat by the road.
00:15:12The farmer is enchanted and amazed
00:15:16by what we like to put on our stomachs.
00:15:48And we're a great joining people. We join clubs, fraternities, unions, federations.
00:16:01Shove a blank at us, we'll sign up.
00:16:04Radios, we have one in the living room.
00:16:07When you think of refreshments, think of...
00:16:09The dining room.
00:16:12The bedroom.
00:16:15The bathroom.
00:16:17In our cars.
00:16:20In our hands.
00:16:22And up our sleeves.
00:16:24Does your cigarette taste different lately?
00:16:27Music? We couldn't be without it.
00:16:47Music.
00:17:03The press? Yes, it's the biggest.
00:17:06But most important, it's the freest on earth.
00:17:10Over 12,000 newspapers of all shades of opinion.
00:17:13Books on every conceivable subject.
00:17:16And more than 6,000 different magazines, not counting the comics.
00:17:22Churches? We have every denomination on earth.
00:17:2660 million of us regularly attend.
00:17:29And no one dares tell us which one to go to.
00:17:34We elect our own neighbors to govern us.
00:17:37We believe in individual enterprise and opportunity for men and women alike.
00:17:42We make mistakes.
00:17:45We see the results.
00:17:51We correct the mistakes.
00:17:54We skyrocket into false prosperities.
00:17:57And then plummet down into false needless depressions.
00:18:02But, in spite of everything, we never lose our faith in the future.
00:18:07We believe in the future.
00:18:09We build for the future.
00:18:11Yes, we build for the future.
00:18:13And the future always catches up with us.
00:18:16Before we're done building, we've developed something new and have to start rebuilding.
00:18:21That's roughly the kind of people we are.
00:18:24Boastful.
00:18:25Easygoing.
00:18:26Sentimental.
00:18:28But underneath, passionately dedicated to the ideal our forefathers passed on to us.
00:18:33The liberty and dignity of man.
00:18:36We've made great material progress.
00:18:38But spiritually, we're still in the frontier days.
00:18:41Yet deep down within us, there is a great yearning for peace and goodwill toward men.
00:18:47Somehow we feel that if men turned their minds toward the fields of peace,
00:18:51as they have toward the fields of transportation, communication, or aviation,
00:18:57wars would soon be as old-fashioned as the horse and buggy days.
00:19:01We hate war.
00:19:03We know that in war, it's the common man who does the paying.
00:19:06The suffering.
00:19:07The dying.
00:19:09We bend over backwards to avoid it.
00:19:12But let our freedoms be in danger, and we'll pay and suffer and fight to the last man.
00:19:19That is the America.
00:19:21That is the way of living for which we fight today.
00:19:25Why?
00:19:26Is that fight necessary?
00:19:28Did we want war?
00:19:31In 1917, before most of you fighting men were born,
00:19:35our fathers fought the first world war to make the world safe for democracy,
00:19:40for the common man.
00:19:44They fought a good fight and won it.
00:19:51There was to be no more war in their time or their children's time.
00:19:56There was to be no more war in their time or their children's time.
00:20:01Faithful to our treaty obligations, we destroyed much of our naval tonnage.
00:20:06Our army went on a reducing diet until it became little more than a skeleton.
00:20:11For us, war was to be outlawed.
00:20:14For us, Europe was far away.
00:20:18And as for Asia, well, that was really out of this world,
00:20:21where everything looked like it was torn from the national geographic.
00:20:25Yet, in this remote spot in Asia, in 1931,
00:20:29while most of you were playing ball in the sand lots, this war started.
00:20:35Without warning, Japan invaded Manchuria.
00:20:49Once again, men who were peaceful became the slaves of men who were violent.
00:20:54In Washington, D.C., our Secretary of State made a most vigorous protest.
00:21:00The American government does not intend to recognize any situation,
00:21:05treaty, or agreement which may be brought about by means of aggression.
00:21:10But we, the people, hadn't much time to think about Manchuria.
00:21:14We were wrestling with the worst depression in our history.
00:21:18Some of us were out of jobs. Some of us stood in bread lines.
00:21:22Some of us suffered homemade aggression.
00:21:25Some of us were choked with dust.
00:21:28Some of us had no place to go.
00:21:31Two years later, in 1933, while most of you were graduating from high school,
00:21:37we read that a funny little man called Hitler had come into power in Germany.
00:21:53We heard that a thing called the Nazi Party had taken over.
00:22:11Today, we rule Germany. Tomorrow, the world.
00:22:15What kind of talk was that?
00:22:18It must be only hot air.
00:22:23In 1935, about the time you had your first date,
00:22:27we read that strutting Mussolini had attacked far-off Ethiopia.
00:22:32We read that strutting Mussolini had attacked far-off Ethiopia.
00:22:51The disease seemed to be spreading,
00:22:53so Congress assembled to insulate us against the growing friction of war.
00:22:57We want no war. We'll have no war,
00:23:01save in defense of our own people or our own honor.
00:23:05Toward this end, our chosen representatives passed the Neutrality Act.
00:23:13No nation at war could buy manufactured arms or munitions from the United States.
00:23:19In 1936, when you were running around in jalopies,
00:23:24we were disturbed by news from Spain.
00:23:34In our newsreels, we saw German and Italian air forces and armies
00:23:38fighting in Spain and wondered what they were doing there.
00:23:42For the first time, we saw great cities squashed flat,
00:23:46civilians bombed and killed.
00:24:12In November 1936, the American Institute of Public Opinion,
00:24:16known as the Gallup Poll,
00:24:18asked a representative cross-section of American people,
00:24:22if another war develops in Europe, should America take part again?
00:24:27No.
00:24:29Ninety-five percent.
00:24:32We, the people, had spoken.
00:24:34Nineteen out of twenty of us said,
00:24:37To further insulate ourselves,
00:24:39we added a cash-and-carry amendment to the Neutrality Act.
00:24:46Not only wouldn't we sell munitions,
00:24:48but we wouldn't sell anything at all,
00:24:50not even a spool of thread,
00:24:52unless warring powers sent their own ships and paid cash on the line.
00:24:58In 1937, the press services received a flash from Asia.
00:25:02Yes, the Japs were turning Asia into a slaughterhouse,
00:25:05but for us, Asia was still far away.
00:25:09We, the people, had spoken.
00:25:12Nineteen out of twenty of us said,
00:25:14To further insulate ourselves,
00:25:16we added a cash-and-carry amendment to the Neutrality Act.
00:25:20Not only wouldn't we sell munitions,
00:25:22but we added a spool of thread,
00:25:24unless warring powers sent their own ships and paid cash on the line.
00:25:28Not only wouldn't we sell munitions,
00:25:30but we were still far away.
00:25:33In September 1937, the Gallup poll asked us,
00:25:37In the present fight between Japan and China,
00:25:40are your sympathies with either side?
00:25:42We answered,
00:25:44With China, 43 percent.
00:25:47With Japan, 2 percent.
00:25:50Undecided, 55 percent.
00:25:53We hadn't made up our minds about China.
00:25:56Our Neutrality Act barred sales of armaments only to nations at war.
00:26:01The Japanese had not declared war,
00:26:03so we went right on selling scrap iron and aviation gasoline to Japan.
00:26:09In March 1938, Hitler had not declared war either,
00:26:13but his goose-trapping army suddenly smashed in and occupied all the soil of Austria.
00:26:21Six months later,
00:26:22Hitler and his stooge met the anxious democracies at Munich.
00:26:26Hitler promised peace in our time
00:26:29if Britain and France would give him that part of Czechoslovakia known as the Sudetenland.
00:26:37Britain and France gave him that part of Czechoslovakia,
00:26:40hoping to avert war.
00:26:45Now we had his word.
00:26:47Peace in our time.
00:26:50At home, we began to hear strange headlines.
00:27:04We sat in our theaters, unbelieving,
00:27:06as motion pictures exposed Nazi espionage in America.
00:27:20And that changed the United States Constitution!
00:27:26Could these things really be?
00:27:28Yes, these sorcery acts were happening in real life every day.
00:27:32German-American bombs, organized for the purpose of destroying us,
00:27:36marched under our very noses.
00:27:38I pledge undivided allegiance to the flag of the United States of America
00:27:58as the republic for which it stands,
00:28:02one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
00:28:11In our press, we read the news from abroad
00:28:13that Nazis were spending millions arming Germany to the teeth.
00:28:18We read that the Tokyo Diet was appropriating tremendous sums,
00:28:22converting Japan into one vast munitions plant.
00:28:34We watched these supposed plans of war
00:28:38We watched these supposedly poor, have-not nations
00:28:41spend huge sums for armament, and we wondered why.
00:28:45Arrogantly, they told us why.
00:28:48They had declared war on us long before the shooting started.
00:28:51We had actually been at war since the day when we lifted the flag of our revolution
00:28:56against the democratic world.
00:28:59The Germans are a noble and unique race
00:29:01to whom the earth was given by the grace of God.
00:29:11The world must come to look up to our Emperor
00:29:15as the great ruler of all the world.
00:29:20The world must come to look up to our Emperor
00:29:25as the great ruler of all nations.
00:29:34When the people of these three nations elected to follow their leaders,
00:29:37Death Incorporated,
00:29:41they organized to smash personal freedom,
00:29:46equality of man,
00:29:50freedom of speech,
00:29:54freedom of religion,
00:29:57organized to smash the very principles which made us the people we are.
00:30:04So in December 1938, when the Gallup poll asked us,
00:30:07should the United States increase the strength of its Army, Navy, and Air Force,
00:30:13we answered yes, 85%.
00:30:17It was time to look to our defense.
00:30:20Gentlemen, this is the Military Affairs Committee
00:30:23of the United States House of Representatives
00:30:26meeting for the purpose of considering national defense.
00:30:34The Navy is asking for an increase of 25%
00:30:38in authorized naval tonnage
00:30:41in view of the grave international situation.
00:30:44Congress, reflecting the voice of the people,
00:30:47appropriated the largest sum for military use
00:30:50ever voted during peace in American history.
00:30:53We didn't dream that a few years later it would look like peanuts.
00:31:00On March 14, 1939,
00:31:02Adolf Hitler broke the pledge he made at Munich.
00:31:05He took over all the rest of Czechoslovakia.
00:31:09There would be no more peace in our time.
00:31:12April 7, 1939.
00:31:14As we here in America observe Good Friday...
00:31:22Mussolini invades Albania!
00:31:25Extra paper! Extra paper! Italy attacks Albania!
00:31:34The picture was becoming clear.
00:31:36The conquering forces of violence were being set loose in the world.
00:31:39Where would they stop?
00:31:42In a last desperate effort to avert a world war,
00:31:45President Roosevelt, as a new president,
00:31:48sent messages to Hitler and Mussolini
00:31:50asking their promise to respect the independence of 30 free countries.
00:31:58To Adolf Hitler this message was a huge joke
00:32:01as he repeated the names to a jeering Reichstag.
00:32:11Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg,
00:32:14Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia,
00:32:17Russia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iraq,
00:32:20Iran, Syria, Palestine, Egypt...
00:32:26This was the only answer the president received.
00:32:33On September 1, 1939, the Nazi army smashed into Poland.
00:32:42The war was not over yet.
00:32:45The Germans were still on the move.
00:32:48The Germans were still on the move.
00:32:51The Germans were still on the move.
00:32:54The Germans were still on the move.
00:32:57The Germans were still on the move.
00:33:00The Germans were still on the move.
00:33:03The Germans were still on the move.
00:33:06The Germans were still on the move.
00:33:10England and France had a treaty with Poland.
00:33:13Would they act now?
00:33:16At home we listened in suspense.
00:33:19Adolf Hitler's all-out attack on Poland
00:33:22makes the long-dreaded European war a certainty.
00:33:25Prime Minister Chamberlain of Great Britain gave the Nazi dictator
00:33:28a zero hour for withdrawing his troops from Poland.
00:33:31That zero hour ends now.
00:33:34At this time we transfer you to London
00:33:38for an important announcement by the British Prime Minister.
00:33:41Up to the very last, it would have been quite possible
00:33:44to have arranged a peaceful and honourable settlement
00:33:47between Germany and Poland.
00:33:50But Hitler would not have it.
00:33:53The situation in which no word given by Germany's ruler
00:33:56could be trusted,
00:33:59and no people or country could feel itself safe,
00:34:02had become intolerable.
00:34:05May God bless you all,
00:34:08and may he defend the right,
00:34:11for it is evil things that we shall be fighting against,
00:34:14and against them I am certain
00:34:17that the right will prevail.
00:34:20Six hours after Great Britain declared war on Nazi Germany,
00:34:23the Republic of France followed.
00:34:26All France is in a maelstrom of activity.
00:34:29The Maginot Line has already opened fire on the Germans.
00:34:32World War II has begun.
00:34:40At home we were asked,
00:34:43what country do you consider responsible for causing this war?
00:34:46Germany, 82%.
00:34:49We Americans had no doubt who started it.
00:34:52Also we began to fear that this war was going to concern us.
00:34:55President Roosevelt called a special session of Congress
00:34:58to reconsider the embargo against selling munitions.
00:35:01I have asked the Congress
00:35:04to reassemble in extraordinary session
00:35:07in order that it may consider and act on
00:35:10changes in our neutrality law.
00:35:13The men of Congress wrestled with their beliefs on our futures.
00:35:16They debated and they argued.
00:35:19The arms embargo is far too great a security
00:35:22to American peace
00:35:25to permit its surrender
00:35:28without a last-ditch fight.
00:35:31The embargo act as it now stands
00:35:34is one-sided and works entirely to the advantage
00:35:37of one side.
00:35:40Therefore the embargo act should be modified.
00:35:43We the people also debated and argued
00:35:46whether we should sell arms and munitions.
00:35:49When the question was put to us, we had an answer.
00:35:52Should we change the neutrality act so we can sell war supplies?
00:35:55Yes, 57%.
00:35:58Shortly after, our representatives
00:36:01changed the neutrality act.
00:36:04We lifted the embargo on arms and munitions.
00:36:07Now we would sell
00:36:10if purchasers would pay and take the stuff away
00:36:13in their own ships.
00:36:16American ships were still barred from combat zones.
00:36:19Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe,
00:36:22Japan was busy trying to bomb,
00:36:25shoot, and terrorize the Chinese into submission.
00:36:28We began to realize that if Japan
00:36:31harmed 400 million Chinese,
00:36:34she might become so strong as to run us right out of the Pacific.
00:36:45You will remember that two years earlier, in September 1937,
00:36:48when we were asked,
00:36:51in the present fight between Japan and China,
00:36:54are your sympathy with either side?
00:36:57Only 43% were with China.
00:37:00Most of us were undecided.
00:37:03In June 1939, when we were asked the same question,
00:37:0674% said we were with China.
00:37:12Now our minds were made up.
00:37:15We sold our scrap iron on Japanese ships.
00:37:18Our citizens protested.
00:37:21Let Mr. Acheson, Assistant Secretary of State, tell us the inside of the story.
00:37:24So until the middle of 1940,
00:37:27the restriction of exports to Japan
00:37:30took the form of moral embargoes of aeroplanes
00:37:33and direct munitions.
00:37:36Then Congress passed the Export Control Act,
00:37:39and increasing cutoffs of scrap iron,
00:37:42gasoline, and other strategic items followed.
00:37:45Exports were curtailed to the limit
00:37:48which those responsible for our defense were willing to risk.
00:37:51It was a fearful responsibility.
00:37:54On one side was the possibility,
00:37:57in fact the probability,
00:38:00that one day these materials might be used against us.
00:38:03On the other side was the possibility,
00:38:06in fact the probability,
00:38:09that one day these materials might be used against us.
00:38:12On the other side was the possibility,
00:38:15in fact the probability,
00:38:18that one day these materials might be used against us.
00:38:21Finally, in the summer of 1941,
00:38:24as it became clear that Japan was turning her back
00:38:27upon every possibility of reconciliation and adjustment,
00:38:30and was determined upon her great gamble of conquest,
00:38:33all exports ceased.
00:38:37They overran into Denmark.
00:38:40They smashed into Norway.
00:38:43On May the 10th, 1940,
00:38:46they blitzed into Holland and Belgium.
00:38:49The Nazis are marching ahead at the fastest speed
00:38:52a conquering army has moved in all history.
00:38:55All roads in France are choked with slow-moving masses of refugees.
00:38:58Nazi stupid dive bombers are strafing and bombing
00:39:01thousands of helpless women and children.
00:39:04Tonight it seems clearly apparent
00:39:07that the first great phase of the war in the West
00:39:10has been won by Germany.
00:39:13The army of French and British has made a valiant battle
00:39:16in its effort to retreat to Dunkirk
00:39:19where there is some slight chance that some part of it can be evacuated.
00:39:23Adolf Hitler's mechanized forces are racing toward Paris
00:39:26as French resistance collapses.
00:39:29On this 10th day of June,
00:39:321940,
00:39:35the hand that held the dagger
00:39:38has struck it into the back
00:39:41of its neighbor.
00:39:44This is William L. Shirer speaking from the forest of Compiègne
00:39:47where Adolf Hitler today is
00:39:50handing his armistice terms to France.
00:39:53It is 3.15 p.m.
00:39:56Adolf Hitler strides slowly toward the little clearing.
00:39:59I can see his face.
00:40:02It is gray, solemn, yet brimming with revenge.
00:40:05Off to one side
00:40:08is a large statue of Marshal Vosch.
00:40:11Hitler does not appear to see it.
00:40:14Now we see the French walking down the avenue
00:40:17led by General Hunsinger.
00:40:20Hitler and the other German leaders rise as the French enter.
00:40:23General Keitel reads the preamble
00:40:26to the German armistice terms.
00:40:29This whole ceremony is over in a quarter of an hour.
00:40:33The last time I saw Paris
00:40:36her heart was warm and gay.
00:40:39I heard the laughter of her heart
00:40:42in every street cafe.
00:40:47The last time I saw Paris
00:40:50the trees were dressed for spring
00:40:54and lovers walked beneath those trees
00:40:57and birds found songs to sing.
00:41:02I dodged the same old taxi cab
00:41:05that I had dodged for years.
00:41:08The chorus of their squeaky horns
00:41:11was music to my ears.
00:41:18The last time I saw Paris
00:41:22her heart was warm and gay.
00:41:25No matter how they change
00:41:33I remember her
00:41:38that way.
00:41:46Conquering armies now stood on the shores of the Atlantic.
00:41:50Fire!
00:41:55The danger was suddenly close.
00:41:58Countries conquered by the Nazis
00:42:01had possessions outside of Europe.
00:42:04Some of these possessions are in America.
00:42:07Would the Nazis demand
00:42:10the French naval units at Martinique?
00:42:13Would the Nazis move into the Dutch oil fields at Curaçao?
00:42:16Would the Nazis seize the French naval base at Dakar
00:42:19for invasion of South America?
00:42:22Already in Brazil there were over 1 million Germans
00:42:25who lived exactly as they did in Germany.
00:42:281,200 German schools with Nazi textbooks and Nazi teachers.
00:42:31Nazi newspapers.
00:42:34Hermann Göring glider clubs had been established.
00:42:37Also in Brazil
00:42:40there were 260,000 Japanese taking orders from Japan.
00:42:43In Ecuador within easy bombing range of the Panama Canal
00:42:46German airlines had been established.
00:42:49German pilots were reserve officers of the Luftwaffe.
00:42:52The German transport planes had bomb racks already built in.
00:42:55In Argentina
00:42:58German athletic clubs similar to the Hitler Youth Movement
00:43:01had been organized exclusively for Germans.
00:43:04Here was a fifth column ready to take over.
00:43:08In Havana
00:43:11we met with 20 other American republics.
00:43:14There must not be a shadow of a doubt anywhere
00:43:17as to the determination of the American nations
00:43:20not to permit
00:43:23the invasion of their hemisphere
00:43:26by the armed forces of any power
00:43:29or any possible combination of powers.
00:43:3220 American nations
00:43:36stood firm.
00:43:39The Americas would not allow any European colony in this hemisphere
00:43:42to be transferred to a non-American power.
00:43:45We said, keep out. We meant it.
00:43:48We must increase production facilities
00:43:51for everything needed
00:43:54for the Army and Navy for national defense.
00:43:57I believe that this nation should plan at this time
00:44:00a program that will provide us
00:44:04with 50,000 military and naval planes.
00:44:07To protect our shores
00:44:10we authorized construction of a two-ocean navy,
00:44:13the greatest the world has ever known.
00:44:16At least it would be the greatest navy when completed in 1944.
00:44:19But then, in 1940, it was only a paper navy.
00:44:22Our fighting forces at that time
00:44:25consisted of an army of 187,000 men,
00:44:28a navy of 120,000,
00:44:31and this dot was the Air Corps,
00:44:3422,387 strong.
00:44:37All told, 330,000 men.
00:44:40We had makeshift supplies,
00:44:43makeshift equipment,
00:44:46stovepipes for cannon,
00:44:49bags of flour for bombers,
00:44:52and trucks were labeled tanks.
00:44:56Our infantry had exactly 488 machine guns.
00:44:59We possessed 235 pieces of field artillery,
00:45:0210 light and 18 medium tanks.
00:45:05That was the army of the United States in May 1940,
00:45:08the month in which the Nazis overran France.
00:45:11So we called our minute men,
00:45:14the National Guard of the 48 states,
00:45:17and placed them into federal service.
00:45:25And most important,
00:45:28Congress passed the Selective Service Act.
00:45:31For the first time in our history,
00:45:34we began mobilizing an army while still at peace.
00:45:37The first number is serial number 158.
00:45:40This is the Army, Mr. Jones.
00:45:43No prior rooms or telephones.
00:45:46You had great friends in men before,
00:45:49but you won't last long.
00:45:52You had great friends in men before,
00:45:55but you won't have a care anymore.
00:45:58The second number, which has just been drawn,
00:46:01is 192.
00:46:04This is the Army, Mr. Green.
00:46:07We liked the very type of clean.
00:46:10You had a housemaid to clean your floor,
00:46:13but she won't help you up anymore.
00:46:16You are the new first command.
00:46:19You are the new first command.
00:46:22There is the Army and us in a band.
00:46:25This is the Army, Mr. Brown.
00:46:28You and your lady went to town.
00:46:31She had you running,
00:46:34but this is war,
00:46:37and she won't worry you anymore.
00:46:40War, war, war.
00:46:43She won't worry you anymore.
00:46:46War, war, war.
00:46:49War, war, war.
00:46:52It wasn't too soon.
00:46:55Time was running out.
00:46:58The Nazis had begun their shattering blitz on Britain.
00:47:01Hello, America.
00:47:04This is Edward Morrow speaking from London.
00:47:07There were more German planes over the coast of Britain today
00:47:10than at any time since the war began.
00:47:13Back on Main Street, U.S.A.,
00:47:16daily we followed Britain's life struggle,
00:47:19for if Britain died, we would be in grave peril.
00:47:22Our first line of defense in the Atlantic, the British fleet,
00:47:25might go to Nazi Germany.
00:47:28We would be unprotected.
00:47:31Our shores, our people, our homes in danger.
00:47:34We would have to fight.
00:47:37We would have to fight.
00:47:40Our shores, our people, our homes in danger.
00:47:43Britain must not fall.
00:47:46In our harbors, idle and rotting,
00:47:49lay ancient destroyers.
00:47:52They had been built for World War I, but this was World War II,
00:47:55and this gave us an idea.
00:47:58Fifty tired, over-aged destroyers were revitalized,
00:48:01transferred to Great Britain.
00:48:04In return, we acquired further protection of our shores.
00:48:08We received a chain of bases stretching from Newfoundland
00:48:11to British Guiana.
00:48:14These bases threw a steel wall around the Caribbean.
00:48:17These bases gave new safety to the Panama Canal.
00:48:23It was now clear to the aggressors that we were conscious
00:48:26of the threat they represented to our country.
00:48:29Mr. Burleigh, Assistant Secretary of State,
00:48:32will tell us how they got together and tried to scare us off.
00:48:36From 1936 on, it became increasingly clear to the world
00:48:39that Germany, Italy, and Japan
00:48:42were pursuing a common pattern of aggression,
00:48:45both in Europe and in the Far East.
00:48:48On September 27, 1940,
00:48:51these three powers signed
00:48:54the so-called Pact of Berlin,
00:48:57or Tripartite Pact,
00:49:00a treaty of far-reaching alliance.
00:49:04By that treaty,
00:49:07it was provided that the three countries
00:49:10would assist one another with all political,
00:49:13economic, and military means
00:49:16when one of the powers was attacked,
00:49:19particularly the use of the word attacked,
00:49:22by a power not then involved
00:49:25in the European war
00:49:28or in the Chinese-Japanese conflict.
00:49:31The last of these provisions
00:49:34was aimed directly at the United States.
00:49:37Tokyo celebrated.
00:49:53Berlin hiled its self-force.
00:49:57It was clear now that the three Axis countries
00:50:00definitely stood against us.
00:50:03More anxious than ever, we watched the life-and-death struggle
00:50:06for the possession of the skies over Britain.
00:50:26Despite the propaganda and confusion of recent months,
00:50:30it is now obvious that England is losing war.
00:50:34England will not only survive,
00:50:37England will win!
00:50:51So, when we were asked,
00:50:53should we keep out of war or aid Britain
00:50:56even at the risk of war?
00:50:59Aid Britain, even at the risk of war, 68%.
00:51:02Thus, the march of conquest of the self-termed
00:51:05master racists changed our national attitude
00:51:08from 1936, when only one
00:51:11out of 20 Americans thought we would be involved in war,
00:51:14to 1941, when 14
00:51:17out of 20 Americans were willing to risk war
00:51:20if war was necessary to ensure Axis defeat.
00:51:23I've asked this Congress
00:51:26for authority and for funds
00:51:29sufficient to manufacture additional munitions
00:51:32and war supplies of many kinds
00:51:35to be turned over to those nations
00:51:38which are now in actual war
00:51:41with aggressor nations.
00:51:44Our most useful and immediate role
00:51:47is to act as an arsenal for them
00:51:50as well as for ourselves.
00:51:53We shall send in ever-increasing numbers
00:51:56ships, planes,
00:51:59tanks, guns. That is our purpose
00:52:02and our pledge.
00:52:05By an overwhelming majority, Congress passed Lend-Lease,
00:52:08Bill No. 1776,
00:52:11another declaration of independence,
00:52:14independence from tyranny, 1941 style.
00:52:20On April 6, 1941, the Nazi juggernaut
00:52:23overran into Yugoslavia and Greece.
00:52:29On June 22, 1941,
00:52:32the success-crazy Nazis took their longest step
00:52:35toward world conquest. Without any declaration of war,
00:52:38they flitched into Russia.
00:52:45We were determined not to let down
00:52:48any nations defending themselves against
00:52:51unprovoked attack. So we extended Lend-Lease
00:52:54to these new victims.
00:52:57Now the Lend-Lease products of our factories were being unloaded
00:53:00in the bombed ports of Great Britain
00:53:03at the Red Sea ports for the British in Africa.
00:53:06Lend-Lease was being hauled
00:53:09over the Burma Road to China.
00:53:12Lend-Lease was piling up in Murmansk and Iran
00:53:15for Russia.
00:53:19Why did we supply war materials to the countries
00:53:22defending themselves against Axis aggression?
00:53:25Was it our natural sympathies for people unwilling to lose
00:53:28their freedom? Was it our ancient antagonism
00:53:31to conquerors imposing their rule on others
00:53:34by force? Yes, partly,
00:53:37but principally it was because the American people
00:53:40had become certain that they were on the list
00:53:43of free nations to be conquered.
00:53:52And we were the leading example of that free world
00:53:55that Hitler was committed to breaking asunder.
00:53:58What would have been our defensive position
00:54:01if the aggressors had succeeded in conquering
00:54:04Britain, Russia,
00:54:07and China?
00:54:10German conquest of Europe and Africa would bring
00:54:13all their raw materials, plus their entire
00:54:16industrial development, under one control.
00:54:19Of the two billion people
00:54:22in the world, the Nazis would rule roughly
00:54:25one quarter, the 500 million people
00:54:28of Europe and Africa, forced into slavery
00:54:31to labor for Germany.
00:54:35German conquest of Russia would add the vast
00:54:38raw materials and the production facilities of another
00:54:41of the world's industrial areas. And of the world's
00:54:44people, another 200 million would be added
00:54:47to the Nazi labor pile.
00:54:50Japanese conquest of the Orient would pour
00:54:53into their factory the almost unlimited resources
00:54:56of that area. And of the peoples of the earth,
00:54:59a thousand million would come under
00:55:02their rule, slaves for their industrial
00:55:05machines.
00:55:08We in North and South America
00:55:11would be left with the raw materials of three-tenths
00:55:14of the earth's surface, against the axis with the
00:55:17resources of seven-tenths. We would have
00:55:20one industrial region against their three
00:55:23industrial regions. We would have one-eighth
00:55:26of the world's population against their seven-eighths.
00:55:29If we, together with the other nations
00:55:32of North and South America, could mobilize
00:55:3530 million fully equipped men, the axis
00:55:38could mobilize 200 million.
00:55:41Thus, an axis victory in Europe and Asia
00:55:44would leave us alone and virtually surrounded,
00:55:47facing enemies ten times stronger than ourselves.
00:55:50These are the reasons that led us,
00:55:53the American people, to change the Neutrality Act,
00:55:57to send aid to Britain, to Russia,
00:56:00to China, to make ourselves
00:56:03the arsenal of democracy.
00:56:06These are the reasons why, now, the first
00:56:09American troops set forth into the Atlantic
00:56:12to occupy new bases in Greenland and Iceland
00:56:15with the consent of their local governments.
00:56:18In our hands, bases of defense.
00:56:21In Nazi hands, bases of offense.
00:56:24The Germans open unrestricted submarine warfare.
00:56:54If today our Navy should make secure the seas
00:57:00for the delivery of our munitions to Great Britain,
00:57:04it will render as great a service to our country
00:57:09and to the preservation of American freedom
00:57:12as it has ever rendered in all its glorious history.
00:57:16We want those cargoes protected.
00:57:20Narau's Congress repealed the entire Neutrality Act.
00:57:25We armed our merchants,
00:57:28and for the first time they steamed up the combat zones
00:57:31to deliver land lease.
00:57:34While this was going on in the Atlantic,
00:57:37the Japs, by so-called agreement with the puppet government
00:57:40of defeated France, moved in on Indochina.
00:57:43There were now only two threats to their plan
00:57:46for conquest of Greater East Asia.
00:57:49First was their northern neighbor, Russia,
00:57:52the only military power within striking distance of Japan.
00:57:55The Nazis were taking care of Russia.
00:57:58The second threat to Japanese conquest was us.
00:58:01Japanese southward expansion was a threat to us.
00:58:04We were the only military power within striking distance of Japan.
00:58:07The Nazis were taking care of Russia.
00:58:10The third threat to Japanese conquest was us.
00:58:13Japanese southward expansion was too dangerous to attempt
00:58:16with our bases still standing in the Philippines
00:58:19and our supply lines open to Wake, to Midway, and to Hawaii.
00:58:22We were in their way.
00:58:25We had to be removed, but in a Japanese way.
00:58:28Off to Washington went Special Ambassador Curacao
00:58:31on what the Japs said was a mission of peace.
00:58:34But carefully synchronized with his departure from Tokyo
00:58:37was the departure of a Jap task force
00:58:40under sealed orders not on a mission of peace.
00:58:43On November 14th, Mr. Curacao arrived in San Francisco
00:58:46smiling his toothy smile
00:58:49as he sang the old song of Japanese friendship.
00:58:52The Japanese were a peace-loving people.
00:58:55Their whole policy was devoted to the establishment
00:58:58of permanent peace in Asia.
00:59:01Our aid to China was delaying the establishment of that peace.
00:59:04Our refusal to sell them oil and scrap
00:59:07was interfering with the establishment of that peace.
00:59:10Our objections to their taking over the East Indies,
00:59:13greater East Asia, was an interruption
00:59:16in the establishment of that peace.
00:59:19All they wanted was peace.
00:59:22On November 17th, Mr. Curacao and Japanese Ambassador Nomura
00:59:25were received by the President in the presence
00:59:28of the Secretary of State Cordell Hull.
00:59:31It very quickly became clear that the Japanese
00:59:34had brought no new proposals and that the Japanese
00:59:37intended to continue their campaign to conquer China
00:59:40and all East Asia.
00:59:43However, on November 26th, our Secretary of State
00:59:46presented the Japanese with the basis for peaceful agreement
00:59:49between the two nations.
00:59:52The proposal was forwarded to Tokyo.
00:59:55The Japs had to stall for time, but only a short time.
00:59:58The last course was nearing its goal.
01:00:01Sunday, December 7th, 1941.
01:00:281 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
01:00:31The Japanese emissaries are expected at the State Department
01:00:34to keep a 1 o'clock appointment they had requested
01:00:37in order to present their answers to our proposals.
01:00:401 5 p.m.
01:00:43The Japanese planes are approaching Hawaii.
01:00:501 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
01:00:531 10 p.m.
01:00:56The Japanese emissaries telephone to postpone
01:00:59their appointment until 1 45.
01:01:021 20 p.m.
01:01:231 1.
01:01:261 2.
01:01:291 3.
01:01:321 4.
01:01:351 5.
01:01:381 6.
01:01:411 7.
01:01:441 8.
01:01:471 9.
01:01:501 10.
01:01:531 11.
01:01:561 12.
01:01:591 13.
01:02:021 14.
01:02:051 15.
01:02:081 16.
01:02:111 17.
01:02:141 18.
01:02:182 p.m.
01:02:21The Japanese envoys, smiling and correct,
01:02:24arrive at the State Department.
01:02:272 20 p.m.
01:02:48Japanese planes had been sowing death and destruction
01:02:51for an hour on American outposts in the Pacific
01:02:54when the Japanese envoys presented a memorandum
01:02:57to Mr. Hull.
01:03:00Here is the memorandum
01:03:03presented to me.
01:03:06As you can see, it is quite a lengthy document.
01:03:09I read it hurriedly,
01:03:12discovering that it contains
01:03:16a recital of monstrous accusations
01:03:19against the United States,
01:03:22charging it, among other things,
01:03:25with, quote,
01:03:28scheming for the extension of the war,
01:03:31preparing to attack Germany and Italy,
01:03:34two powers striving to establish a new order in Europe,
01:03:37and ignoring Japan's sacrifices
01:03:40in the four years of the China affair.
01:03:44Menacing the empire's existence itself
01:03:47and disparaging its honor and prestige.
01:03:50After reading the note,
01:03:53I said to the Japanese emissaries,
01:03:56I have never seen a document
01:03:59that was more crowded with infamous falsehood
01:04:02than distortions
01:04:05on a scale so huge
01:04:08that I never imagined that any government
01:04:12on this planet was capable
01:04:15of uttering them.
01:04:41I ask that the Congress declare
01:04:44that since the unprovoked
01:04:47and dastardly attack
01:04:50by Japan on Sunday,
01:04:53December 7, 1941,
01:04:56a state of war
01:04:59has existed
01:05:02between the United States
01:05:05and the Japanese Empire.