Rosenfeld Susan. Encyclopedia of American Historical Documents

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Friday, August 2, 1940

9:37 P.M.

Memorandum:

At Cabinet meeting, in afternoon, long discussion in

regard to devising ways and means to sell directly or indi-

rectly fifty or sixty World War old destroyers to Great

Britain. It was the general opinion, without any dissenting

voice, that the survival of the British Isles under German

attack might very possibly depend on their getting these

destroyers.

It was agreed that legislation to accomplish this is nec-

essary.

It was agreed that such legislation if asked for by me

without any preliminaries would meet with defect or inter-

minable delay in reaching a vote.

It was agreed that the British be approached through

Lord Lothian to find out if they would agree to give posi-

tive assurance that the British Navy, in the event of Ger-

man success in Great Britain, would not under any

conceivable circumstances fall into the hands of the Ger-

mans and that if such assurances could be received and

made public, the opposition in the Congress would be

greatly lessened. I suggested that we try to get further

assurance from the British that the ships of their Navy

would not be sunk, but would sail for North America or

British Empire ports where they would remain afloat and

available.

It was agreed that I would call up William Allen

White, who has recently talked with Willkie on this sub-

ject; ask White to come to Washington at once to see

Hull, Knox and Stimson and after that to see me; then

returning to see Willkie and seek to get, with Willkie’s

approval, the support of Joe Martin and Charlie McNary

for such a plan. It was agreed that if this procedure

went through successfully that I would, at once, send a

definite request to the Congress for the necessary le-

gislation.

I stressed the point that in all probability the legisla-

tion would fail if it had substantially unanimous Republi-

can opposition—and that the crux of the matter lay in the

vote of the Republican minority in each house. I stressed

the importance of having the issue acted on without regard

to party politics in any way.

At 8:30 p.m., I talked with William Allen White, who

was in Estes Park, Colorado; explained the above to him

and asked him to come East.

He told me that he was sure that Willkie’s attitude in

the matter was the same as mine. I explained to him that

that was wholly insufficient, and that Willkie’s attitude was

not what counted but that the Republican policy in

Congress was the one essential.

White told me he would get in touch with Willkie and

let me know at the earliest possible moment.

F.D.R

Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.

Franklin Roosevelt, Radio Address on

Selective Service Registration Day, 1940

National radio address delivered by President Franklin D.

Roosevelt on October 16, 1940, marking Selective Service

Registration Day. With the outbreak of World War II in Europe

in September 1939, FDR declared a national emergency, call-

ing for increases in troop levels to bolster the nation’s inade-

quate defenses. Volunteer enlistments, while boosting army

strength, failed to satisfy the Roosevelt administration’s troop-

level goals and led FDR to propose the politically risky mili-

tary draft. The nation had never had a peacetime draft, and

strong isolationist sentiment in Congress figured to fight its

implementation. But the worsening international crisis built

support for the Selective Service Act, sponsored by Senator

Edward R. Burke of Nebraska and Representative James W.

Wadsworth, Jr., of New York and enacted on September 16,

1940. It required the registration of all men between ages 21

and 35. It prohibited the use of bounties and substitutes and

limited service to a 12-month period. The order of call-up was

to be based on the drawing of lots. By its terms, 16 million

American men registered for the military draft on October 16.

In his radio address, FDR stressed that military service in the

national defense was a free citizen’s first duty. He asserted that

his scheme for increasing U.S. forces was warranted by threats

of aggression from abroad and commensurate with such

threats. The draft was to be administered by a network of local

boards under the national Selective Service System.

________________________

_______________________

On this day more than sixteen million young Americans

are reviving the three hundred year old American custom

of the Muster. They are obeying that first duty of free citi-

zenship by which, from the earliest Colonial times, every

able-bodied citizen was subject to the call for service in the

national defense.

It is a day of deep and purposeful meaning in the lives

of all of us. For on this day we Americans proclaim the

vitality of our history, the singleness of our will and the

unity of our nation.

We prepare to keep the peace in this New World

which free men have built for free men to live in. The

United States, a nation of one hundred and thirty million

1412 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

people, has today only about five hundred thousand—half

a million—officers and men in Army and National Guard.

Other nations, smaller in population, have four and five

and six million trained men in their armies. Our present

program will train eight hundred thousand additional men

this coming year and somewhat less than one million men

each year thereafter. It is a program obviously of defensive

preparation and of defensive preparation only.

Calmly, without fear and without hysteria, but with

clear determination, we are building guns and planes and

tanks and ships—and all the other tools which modern

defense requires. We are mobilizing our citizenship, for we

are calling on men and women and property and money to

join in making our defense effective. Today’s registration

for training and service is the key-stone in the arch of our

national defense.

In the days when our forefathers laid the foundation

of our democracy, every American family had to have its

gun and know how to use it. Today we live under threats,

threats of aggression from abroad, which call again for the

same readiness, the same vigilance. Ours must one again

be the spirit of those who were prepared to defend as they

built, to defend as they worked, to defend as they wor-

shipped.

The duty of this day has been imposed upon us from

without. Those who have dared to threaten the whole

world with war—those who have created the name and

deed of Total War—have imposed upon us and upon all

free peoples the necessity of preparation for total

defense.

But this day not only imposes a duty; it provides also

an opportunity—an opportunity for united action in the

cause of liberty—an opportunity for the continuing cre-

ation on this continent of a country where the people alone

shall be master, where the people shall be truly free.

To the sixteen million young men who register today,

I say that democracy is your cause—the cause of youth.

Democracy is the one form of society which guaran-

tees to every new generation of men the right to imagine

and to attempt to bring to pass a better world. Under the

despotisms the imagination of a better world and its

achievement are alike forbidden.

Your act today affirms not only your loyalty to your

country, but your will to build your future for yourselves.

We of today, with God’s help, can bequeath to Ameri-

cans of tomorrow a nation in which the ways of liberty and

justice will survive and be secure. Such a nation must be

devoted to the cause of peace. And it is for that cause that

American arms itself.

It is to that cause—the cause of peace—that we Amer-

icans today devote our national will and our national spirit

and our national strength.

See also

SELECTIVE SERVICE AND TRAINING ACT

(

BURKE

WADSWORTH

)

ACT

, 1940.

Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Public Papers and Addresses of

Franklin D. Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 1938–50.

Franklin Roosevelt,

“Four Freedoms,” 1941

Address delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Jan-

uary 6, 1941, in his annual message to Congress. Roosevelt

called for a world founded on “four essential human free-

doms”: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of wor-

ship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Urging

citizens to relinquish the false security of isolationism, he

described a national policy committed to all-inclusive national

defense, full support of other nations trying to preserve democ-

racy, and refusal to buy peace at the cost of other people’s

freedom. He urged the United States to serve as an arsenal—

providing ships, planes, tanks, and guns—for those countries

already struggling against international aggression during

World War II.

________________________

_______________________

Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Seventy-sev-

enth Congress:

I address you, the Members of the Seventy-seventh

Congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the

Union. I use the word “unprecedented,” because at no

previous time has American security been as seriously

threatened from without as it is today.

Since the permanent formation of our Government

under the Constitution, in 1789, most of the periods of cri-

sis in our history have related to our domestic affairs. For-

tunately, only one of these—the four-year War Between

the States—ever threatened our national unity. Today,

thank God, one hundred and thirty million Americans, in

forty-eight States, have forgotten points of the compass in

our national unity.

It is true that prior to 1914 the United States often had

been disturbed by events in other Continents. We had even

engaged in two wars with European nations and in a num-

ber of undeclared wars in the West Indies, in the Mediter-

ranean and in the Pacific for the maintenance of American

rights and for the principles of peaceful commerce. But in

no case had a serious threat been raised against our national

safety or our continued independence.

What I seek to convey is the historic truth that the

United States as a nation has at all times maintained clear,

definite opposition, to any attempt to lock us in behind an

World War II at Home and Abroad 1413

ancient Chinese wall while the procession of civilization

went past. Today, thinking of our children and of their chil-

dren, we oppose enforced isolation for ourselves or for any

other part of the Americas.

That determination of ours, extending over all these

years. was proved, for example, during the quarter century

of wars following the French Revolution.

While the Napoleonic struggles did threaten interests

of the United States because of the French foothold in the

West Indies and in Louisiana, and while we engaged in the

War of 1812 to vindicate our right to peaceful trade, it is

nevertheless clear that neither France nor Great Britain,

nor any other nation, was aiming at domination of the

whole world.

In like fashion from 1815 to 1914—ninety-nine

years—no single war in Europe or in Asia constituted a

real threat against our future or against the future of any

other American nation.

Except in the Maximilian interlude in Mexico, no for-

eign power sought to establish itself in this Hemisphere;

and the strength of the British fleet in the Atlantic has

been a friendly strength. It is still a friendly strength.

Even when the World War broke out in 1914, it

seemed to contain only small threat of danger to our own

American future. But, as time went on, the American peo-

ple began to visualize what the downfall of democratic

nations might mean to our own democracy.

We need not overemphasize imperfections in the

Peace of Versailles. We need not harp on failure of the

democracies to deal with problems of world reconstruc-

tion. We should remember that the Peace of 1919 was far

less unjust than the kind of “pacification” which began

even before Munich, and which is being carried on under

the new order of tyranny that seeks to spread over every

continent today. The American people have unalterably set

their faces against that tyranny.

Every realist knows that the democratic way of life is

at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the

world—assailed either by arms, or by secret spreading of

poisonous propaganda by those who seek to destroy unity

and promote discord in nations that are still at peace.

During sixteen long months this assault has blotted

out the whole pattern of democratic life in an appalling

number of independent nations, great and small. The

assailants are still on the march, threatening other nations,

great and small.

Therefore, as your President, performing my constitu-

tional duty to “give to the Congress information of the

state of the Union,” I find it, unhappily, necessary to report

that the future and the safety of our country and of our

democracy are overwhelmingly involved in events far

beyond our borders.

Armed defense of democratic existence is now being

gallantly waged in four continents. If that defense fails, all

the population and all the resources of Europe, Asia, Africa

and Australasia will be dominated by the conquerors. Let

us remember that the total of those populations and their

resources in those four continents greatly exceeds the sum

total of the population and the resources of the whole of the

Western Hemisphere—many times over.

In times like these it is immature—and incidentally,

untrue— for anybody to brag that an unprepared America,

single-handed, and with one hand tied behind its back, can

hold off the whole world.

No realistic American can expect from a dictator’s

peace international generosity, or return of true indepen-

dence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or

freedom of religion— or even good business.

Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our

neighbors. “Those, who would give up essential liberty to

purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty

nor safety.”

As a nation, we may take pride in the fact that we are

soft-hearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed.

We must always be wary of those who with sounding

brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the “ism” of appease-

ment.

We must especially beware of that small group of self-

ish men who would clip the wings of the American eagle in

order to feather their own nests.

I have recently pointed out how quickly the tempo of

modern warfare could bring into our very midst the phys-

ical attack which we must eventually expect if the dictator

nations win this war.

There is much loose talk of our immunity from imme-

diate and direct invasion from across the seas. Obviously,

as long as the British Navy retains its power, no such dan-

ger exists. Even if there were no British Navy, it is not

probable that any enemy would be stupid enough to attack

us by landing troops in the United States from across thou-

sands of miles of ocean, until it had acquired strategic

bases from which to operate.

But we learn much from the lessons of the past years

in Europe—particularly the lesson of Norway, whose

essential seaports were captured by treachery and surprise

built up over a series of years.

The first phase of the invasion of this Hemisphere

would not be the landing of regular troops. The necessary

strategic points would be occupied by secret agents and

their dupes—and great numbers of them are already here,

and in Latin America.

As long as the aggressor nations maintain the offen-

sive, they—not we—will choose the time and the place

and the method of their attack.

1414 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

That is why the future of all the American Republics

is today in serious danger.

That is why this Annual Message to the Congress is

unique in our history.

That is why every member of the Executive Branch of

the Government and every member of the Congress faces

great responsibility and great accountability.

The need of the moment is that our actions and our

policy should be devoted primarily—almost exclusively—

to meeting this foreign peril. For all our domestic prob-

lems are now a part of the great emergency.

Just as our national policy in internal affairs has been

based upon a decent respect for the rights and the dignity

of all our fellow men within our gates, so our national pol-

icy in foreign affairs has been based on a decent respect for

the rights and dignity of all nations, large and small. And

the justice of morality must and will win in the end.

Our national policy is this:

First, by an impressive expression of the public will

and without regard to partisanship, we are committed to

all-inclusive national defense.

Second, by an impressive expression of the public will

and without regard to partisanship, we are committed to

full support of all those resolute peoples, everywhere, who

are resisting aggression and are thereby keeping war away

from our Hemisphere. By this support, we express our

determination that the democratic cause shall prevail; and

we strengthen the defense and the security of our own

nation.

Third, by an impressive expression of the public will

and without regard to partisanship, we are committed to

the proposition that principles of morality and considera-

tions for our own security will never permit us to acquiesce

in a peace dictated by aggressors and sponsored by

appeasers. We know that enduring peace cannot be bought

at the cost of other people’s freedom.

In the recent national election there was no substan-

tial difference between the two great parties in respect to

that national policy. No issue was fought out on this line

before the American electorate. Today it is abundantly evi-

dent that American citizens everywhere are demanding

and supporting speedy and complete action in recognition

of obvious danger.

Therefore, the immediate need is a swift and driving

increase in our armament production.

Leaders of industry and labor have responded to our

summons. Goals of speed have been set. In some cases

these goals are being reached ahead of time; in some cases

we are on schedule; in other cases there are slight but not

serious delays; and in some cases—and I am sorry to say

very important cases—we are all concerned by the slow-

ness of the accomplishment of our plans.

The Army and Navy, however, have made substantial

progress during the past year. Actual experience is improv-

ing and speeding up our methods of production with every

passing day. And today’s best is not good enough for tomor-

row.

I am not satisfied with the progress thus far made. The

men in charge of the program represent the best in train-

ing, in ability, and in patriotism. They are not satisfied with

the progress thus far made. None of us will be satisfied

until the job is done.

No matter whether the original goal was set too high

or too low, our objective is quicker and better results.

To give you two illustrations:

We are behind schedule in turning out finished air-

planes; we are working day and night to solve the innu-

merable problems and to catch up.

We are ahead of schedule in building warships but we

are working to get even further ahead of that schedule.

To change a whole nation from a basis of peacetime

production of implements of peace to a basis of wartime

production of implements of war is no small task. And the

greatest difficulty comes at the beginning of the program,

when new tools, new plant facilities, new assembly lines,

and new ship ways must first be constructed before the

actual materiel begins to flow steadily and speedily from

them.

The Congress, of course, must rightly keep itself

informed at all times of the progress of the program. How-

ever, there is certain information, as the Congress itself

will readily recognize, which, in the interests of our own

security and those of the nations that we are supporting,

must of needs be kept in confidence.

New circumstances are constantly begetting new

needs for our safety. I shall ask this Congress for greatly

increased new appropriations and authorizations to carry

on what we have begun.

I also ask this Congress for authority and for funds suf-

ficient to manufacture additional munitions and war sup-

plies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations

which are now in actual war with aggressor nations.

Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an

arsenal for them as well as for ourselves. They do not need

man power, but they do need billions of dollars worth of

the weapons of defense.

The time is near when they will not be able to pay for

them all in ready cash. We cannot, and we will not, tell

them that they must surrender, merely because of present

inability to pay for the weapons which we know they must

have.

I do not recommend that we make them a loan of dol-

lars with which to pay for these weapons—a loan to be

repaid in dollars.

World War II at Home and Abroad 1415

I recommend that we make it possible for those

nations to continue to obtain war materials in the United

States, fitting their orders into our own program. Nearly all

their materiel would, if the time ever came, be useful for

our own defense.

Taking counsel of expert military and naval authori-

ties, considering what is best for our own security, we are

free to decide how much should be kept here and how

much should be sent abroad to our friends who by their

determined and heroic resistance are giving us time in

which to make ready our own defense.

For what we send abroad, we shall be repaid within a

reasonable time following the close of hostilities, in similar

materials, or, at our option, in other goods of many kinds,

which they can produce and which we need.

Let us say to the democracies: “We Americans are

vitally concerned in your defense of freedom. We are

putting forth our energies, our resources and our organiz-

ing powers to give you the strength to regain and maintain

a free world. We shall send you, in ever-increasing num-

bers, ships, planes, tanks, guns. This is our purpose and our

pledge.”

In fulfillment of this purpose we will not be intimi-

dated by the threats of dictators that they will regard as a

breach of international law or as an act of war our aid to

the democracies which dare to resist their aggression.

Such aid is not an act of war, even if a dictator should uni-

laterally proclaim it so to be.

When the dictators, if the dictators, are ready to make

war upon us, they will not wait for an act of war on our

part. They did not wait for Norway or Belgium or the

Netherlands to commit an act of war.

Their only interest is in a new one-way international

law, which lacks mutuality in its observance, and, there-

fore, becomes an instrument of oppression.

The happiness of future generations of Americans

may well depend upon how effective and how immediate

we can make our aid felt. No one can tell the exact char-

acter of the emergency situations that we may be called

upon to meet. The Nation’s hands must not be tied when

the Nation’s life is in danger.

We must all prepare to make the sacrifices that the

emergency—almost as serious as war itself—demands.

Whatever stands in the way of speed and efficiency in

defense preparations must give way to the national need.

A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation

from all groups. A free nation has the right to look to the

leaders of business, of labor, and of agriculture to take the

lead in stimulating effort, not among other groups but

within their own groups.

The best way of dealing with the few slackers or trou-

ble makers in our midst is, first, to shame them by patriotic

example, and, if that fails, to use the sovereignty of Gov-

ernment to save Government.

As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by

armaments alone. Those who man our defenses, and those

behind them who build our defenses, must have the

stamina and the courage which come from unshakable

belief in the manner of life which they are defending. The

mighty action that we are calling for cannot be based on a

disregard of all things worth fighting for.

The Nation takes great satisfaction and much strength

from the things which have been done to make its people

conscious of their individual stake in the preservation of

democratic life in America. Those things have toughened

the fiber of our people, have renewed their faith and

strengthened their devotion to the institutions we make

ready to protect.

Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking

about the social and economic problems which are the root

cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme fac-

tor in the world.

For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations

of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things

expected by our people of their political and economic sys-

tems are simple. They are:

Equality of opportunity for youth and for others.

Jobs for those who can work.

Security for those who need it.

The ending of special privilege for the few.

The preservation of civil liberties for all.

The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a

wider and constantly rising standard of living.

These are the simple, basic things that must never be

lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of

our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our

economic and political systems is dependent upon the

degree to which they fulfill these expectations.

Many subjects connected with our social economy call

for immediate improvement.

As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of

old-age pensions and unemployment insurance.

We should widen the opportunities for adequate med-

ical care.

We should plan a better system by which persons

deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it.

I have called for personal sacrifice. I am assured of

the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that

call.

A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more

money in taxes. In my Budget Message I shall recommend

that a greater portion of this great defense program be

paid for from taxation than we are paying today. No person

1416 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

should try, or be allowed, to get rich out of this program;

and the principle of tax payments in accordance with abil-

ity to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our

legislation.

If the Congress maintains these principles, the voters,

putting patriotism ahead of pocketbooks, will give you

their applause.

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we

look forward to a world founded upon four essential

human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression—every-

where in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship

God in his own way—everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want—which, translated

into world terms, means economic understandings which

will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its

inhabitants— everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear—which, translated

into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of arma-

ments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that

no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physi-

cal aggression against any neighbor—anywhere in the

world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a defi-

nite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time

and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of

the so-called new order to tyranny which the dictators seek

to create with the crash of a bomb.

To that new order we oppose the greater concep-

tion—the moral order. A good society is able to face

schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike

without fear.

Since the beginning of our American history, we have

been engaged in change—in a perpetual peaceful revolu-

tion—a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting

itself to changing conditions—without the concentration

camp or the quick-lime in the ditch. The world order

which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, work-

ing together in a friendly, civilized society.

This nation has placed its destiny in the hands

and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and

women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of

God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights

everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to

gain those rights or keep them. Our strength is our unity

of purpose.

To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Papers and Addresses of

Franklin D. Roosevelt. New York: Random House, 1938–50.

Franklin Roosevelt,

Executive Order 8802, 1941

In Executive Order (EO) 8802 issued June 25, 1941, President

Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirmed the administration’s policy

“of full participation in the defense program by all persons,

regardless of race, creed, color, or national origin.” The armed

forces, however, remained strictly segregated by race; the

approximately 1 million African Americans who served in

World War II were usually employed as noncombatants, and

the few black combat units that were created most often had

white officers. One of the best known of the black units was

the Tuskegee Airmen (the 99th Pursuit Squadron), which

trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and flew sorties in

North Africa, Italy, and Germany. One of the most decorated

units, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, consisted of Nisei

(first-generation Americans of Japanese descent) who fought

in Italy.

On July 26, 1948, President Harry S. Truman, announced

EO 9081, which desegregated the military and created the

President’s Committee on Equality of Treatment and Opportu-

nity in the Armed Services. In response to pressure from A.

Philip Randolph and other civil rights leaders, President Tru-

man ordered the desegregation of the armed services “as

rapidly as possible.” Three years later, the last all-black regi-

ment—the 24th Infantry—was disbanded.

A general climate of racism had kept some blacks

from getting proper recognition for their “extraordinary brav-

ery”during World War II according to a 1993 Department of

the Army inquiry into why no African Americans had been

awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism. Six of the veterans

received the honor posthumously. The lone living member of

the group, Joseph V. Baker of Idaho, received his medal from

President Bill Clinton at the White House ceremony honoring

all seven recipients. “History has been made whole today,” the

president declared, “and our nation is bestowing honor on

those who have long deserved it.”

________________________

_______________________

Reaffirming Policy of Full Participation in the Defense

Programs by All Persons, Regardless of Race, Creed, Color,

or National Origin, and Directing Certain Action in Fur-

therance of Said Policy.

Whereas it is the policy of the United States to

encourage full participation in the national defense pro-

gram by all citizens of the United States, regardless of race,

creed, color, or national origin, in the firm belief that the

democratic way of life within the Nation can be defended

successfully only with the help and support of all groups

within its borders; and

Whereas there is evidence that available and needed

workers have been barred from employment in industries

World War II at Home and Abroad 1417

engaged in defense production solely because of consider-

ations of race, creed, color, or national origin, to the detri-

ment of workers’ morale and of national unity:

Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me

by the Constitution and the statutes, and as a prerequisite

to the successful conduct of our national defense produc-

tion effort, I do hereby reaffirm the policy of the United

States that there shall be no discrimination in the employ-

ment of workers in defense industries or government

because of race, creed, color, or national origin, and I do

hereby declare that it is the duty of employers and of labor

organizations, in furtherance of said policy and of this

order, to provide for the full and equitable participation of

all workers in defense industries, without discrimination

because of race, creed, color, or national origin;

And it is hereby ordered as follows:

1. All departments and agencies of the Government of

the United States concerned with vocational and training

programs for defense production shall take special mea-

sures appropriate to assure that such programs are admin-

istered without discrimination because of race, creed,

color, or national origin;

2. All contracting agencies of the Government of the

United States shall include in all defense contracts here-

after negotiated by them a provision obligating the con-

tractor not to discriminate against any worker because of

race, creed, color or national origin;

3. There is established in the Office of Production

Management a Committee on Fair Employment Practice,

which shall consist to a chairman and four other members

to be appointed by the President. The chairman and mem-

bers of the Committee shall serve as such without com-

pensation but shall be entitled to actual and necessary

transportation, subsistence and other expenses incidental

to performance of their duties. The Committee shall

receive and investigate complaints of discrimination in vio-

lation of the provisions of this order and shall take appro-

priate steps to redress grievances which it finds to be valid.

The Committee shall also recommend to the several

departments and agencies of the Government of the

United States and to the President all measures which may

be deemed by it necessary or proper to effectuate the pro-

visions of this order.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

The White House,

June 25, 1941.

Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. Available

on-line. URL: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/odex8802.

html. Accessed January 2004.

Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill,

Atlantic Charter, 1941

Joint British and American statement of principles for world

peace issued on August 14, 1941, by British prime minister

Winston Churchill and U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt at

the conclusion of their shipboard meeting off the coast of

Newfoundland during World War II. It expressed their hopes

for peace “after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny” so

that people could travel freely and live “in freedom from fear

and want.” Their countries, it clarified, were neither interested

in territorial gains nor in gains made against the wishes of

their peoples. They affirmed their respect for the sovereign

rights of all nationalities and promised help in restoring self-

government where it had been denied. Additional provisions

called for equal access to trade and raw materials for all

countries, for international cooperation to improve economic

and labor conditions, and for social security. Finally, Churchill

and FDR reiterated their commitment to disarmament “pend-

ing the establishment of a wider and permanent system of

general security,” an idea that led to the formation of the

United Nations. Ten of the Allied nations endorsed the At-

lantic Charter.

The U.S. destroyer

Greer

was attacked on September 4,

1941, off the coast of Newfoundland when a German U-boat

fired two torpedoes at it; the missiles, however, missed the

ship. Roosevelt, in his speech, called the German action

“piracy.” He denounced the Nazi’s attempt to “control the

seas,” and said that their ultimate goal was the “domination of

the United States and domination of the Western Hemisphere

by force of arms.” Therefore, he ordered the navy to “shoot on

sight” any German vessels.

________________________

_______________________

The President of the United States of America and the

Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty’s

Government in the United Kingdom, being met together,

deem it right to make known certain common principles in

the national policies of their respective countries on which

they base their hopes for a better future for the world.

First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territo-

rial or other;

Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that

do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peo-

ples concerned;

Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose

the form of government under which they will live; and

they wish to see sovereign rights and self government

restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of

them;

Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their

existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States,

1418 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal

terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world

which are needed for their economic prosperity;

Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collabora-

tion between all nations in the economic field with the

object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, eco-

nomic advancement and social security;

Sixth, after the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny,

they hope to see established a peace which will afford to all

nations the means of dwelling in safety within their own

boundaries, and which will afford assurance that all the

men in all the lands may live out their lives in freedom

from fear and want;

Seventh, such a peace should enable all men to tra-

verse the high seas and oceans without hindrance;

Eighth, they believe that all of the nations of the

world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons must come

to the abandonment of the use of force. Since no future

peace can be maintained if land, sea or air armaments

continue to be employed by nations which threaten, or

may threaten, aggression outside of their frontiers, they

believe, pending the establishment of a wider and perma-

nent system of general security, that the disarmament of

such nations is essential. They will likewise aid and

encourage all other practicable measures which will

lighten for peace-loving peoples the crushing burden of

armaments.

SIGNED Franklin D. Roosevelt

Winston S. Churchill

Source:

Henry Steele Commager, ed. Documents of American History.

9th ed. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1973.

Franklin Roosevelt,

“Day of Infamy” Speech, 1941

Address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress delivered by

President Franklin D. Roosevelt on December 8, 1941, the day

after Japan’s surprise naval air attack on the U.S. naval base at

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Although American intelligence knew

an attack was planned, it did not know exactly where or when.

In fact, Roosevelt, had sent a letter to Japanese emperor Hiro-

hito on December 6 in an attempt to revive negotiations

between the two countries that had broken off December 1.

Naval battleships were moored close together in Pearl

Harbor, and eight were sunk or immobilized. Numerous

smaller boats were destroyed, with more than 3,000 casual-

ties. (Fortunately, three aircraft carriers normally docked at

Pearl Harbor happened to be outside that day.)

Calling December 7 “a date which will live in infamy,”

Roosevelt announced that Japanese forces had also attacked

other Pacific targets: Malaya, Hong Kong, Guam, the Philip-

pines, Wake Island, and Midway Island. He asked Congress to

declare war on Japan because of this “unprovoked and das-

tardly attack.” Within an hour Congress complied, with only

one dissenting vote, and the United States entered World War

II. On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy, Japan’s allies,

declared war on the United States. Congress responded with

separate declarations of war against these Axis nations.

________________________

_______________________

Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in

infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and

deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire

of Japan.

The United States was at peace with that nation and,

at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its

Government and its Emperor looking toward the mainte-

nance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after

Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the

American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the

United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary

of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And

while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue

the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat

or hint of war or armed attack.

It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from

Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately

planned many days or even weeks ago. During the inter-

vening time the Japanese Government has deliberately

sought to deceive the United States by false statements

and expressions of hope for continued peace.

The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has

caused severe damage to American naval and military

forces, I regret to tell you that very many American lives

have been lost. In addition American ships have been

reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Fran-

cisco and Honolulu.

Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an

attack against Malaya.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.

Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.

Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine

Islands.

Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.

And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway

Island.

Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive

extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yester-

day and today speak for themselves. The people of the

United States have already formed their opinions and well

World War II at Home and Abroad 1419

understand the implications to the very life and safety of

our nation.

As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have

directed that all measures be taken for our defense.

But always will our whole nation remember the char-

acter of the onslaught against us.

No matter how long it may take us to overcome this

premeditated invasion, the American people in their righ-

teous might will win through to absolute victory.

I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and

of the people when I assert that we will not only defend

ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that

this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.

Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our

people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.

With confidence in our armed forces—with the

unbounding determination of our people—we will gain

the inevitable triumph—so help us God.

I ask that the Congress declare that since the unpro-

voked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December

seventh, 1941, a state of war has existed between the

United States and the Japanese Empire.

Source:

Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Public Papers of the Presidents of the

United States. New York: Random House, 1938–50.

Franklin Roosevelt, Executive Order 9066:

The Japanese Relocation Act, 1942

Order issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February

19, 1942, authorizing military commanders to establish spe-

cial zones from which “any or all persons” might be excluded.

The order, prompted by fears of sabotage and espionage fol-

lowing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, allowed the U.S.

Army to evacuate persons of Japanese ancestry living on the

U.S. West Coast to inland “relocation centers.” A number of

Italians living on the East Coast were also interned. The Order

was popular among white Californians and was supported by

the governor, future Supreme Court chief justice Earl Warren.

Opposing it was FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, who argued that

before the Pearl Harbor attack the bureau had identified the

people of Japanese, German, and Italian descent who posed a

danger, and they were arrested on December 7 and 8, 1941.

On March 21, Congress enacted legislation in support of

this order. Some 112,000 people—most of them native-born

U.S. citizens—were forced to sell or abandon their homes and

businesses and remove to bleak internment camps, where

most remained until 1945. The U.S. Supreme Court, in

Kore-

matsu v. United States

(323 U.S. 214), upheld the internment,

but in 1983 a federal commission called the program “a grave

injustice.” In 1988 Congress authorized reparations for

Japanese Americans interned during World War II, and the fol-

lowing year provided funding for payments of $20,000 for

each surviving internee.

________________________

_______________________

Executive Order

Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe

Military Areas

Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires

every possible protection against espionage and against

sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense

premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in Sec-

tion 4, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by

the Act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act

of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S., Title 50, Sec. 104):

Now therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me

as President of the United States, and Commander in

Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct

the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom

he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any

designated Commander deems such action necessary or

desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of

such extent as the or the appropriate Military Commander

may determine, from which any or all persons may be

excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any per-

son to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to what-

ever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate

Military Commander may impose in his discretion. The

Secretary of War is hereby authorized to provide for resi-

dents of any such area who are excluded therefrom, such

transportation, food, shelter, and other accommodations as

may be necessary, in the judgment of the Secretary of War

or the said Military Commander, and until other arrange-

ments are made, to accomplish the purpose of this order.

The designation of military areas in any region or locality

shall supersede designations of prohibited and restricted

areas by the Attorney General under the Proclamations of

December 7 and 8, 1941, and shall supersede the respon-

sibility and authority of the Attorney General under the

said Proclamations in respect of such prohibited and

restricted areas.

I hereby further authorize and direct the Secretary of

War and the said Military Commanders to take such other

steps as he or the appropriate Military Commander may

deem advisable to enforce compliance with the restrictions

applicable to each Military area hereinabove authorized to

be designated, including the use of Federal troops and

other Federal Agencies, with authority to accept assistance

of state and local agencies.

I hereby further authorize and direct all Executive

Departments, independent establishments and other Fed-

1420 ERA 8: The Great Depression and World War II

eral Agencies, to assist the Secretary of War or the said

Military Commanders in carrying out this Executive

Order, including the furnishing of medical aid, hospitaliza-

tion, food, clothing, transportation, use of land, shelter,

and other supplies, equipment, utilities, facilities, and ser-

vices.

This order shall not be construed as modifying or lim-

iting in any way the authority heretofore granted under

Executive Order No. 8972, dated December 12, 1941, nor

shall it be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and

responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with

respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage or

the duty and responsibility of the Attorney General and

the Department of Justice under the Proclamations of

December 7 and 8, 1941, prescribing regulations for the

conduct and control of alien enemies, except as such duty

and responsibility is superseded by the designation of mil-

itary areas hereunder.

Franklin D Roosevelt

The White House,

February 19, 1942.

Source:

Federal Register, Vol. 7, no. 38, (February 25, 1942): 1,407.

Ex Parte Quirin, 1942

This decision upheld the power of the president of the United

States to convene military tribunals for unlawful combatants. It

involved eight men of German descent who had previously

lived in the United States, including one who claimed U.S. cit-

izenship through his parents. In June 1942 these men came

into the United States from German submarines, four in Ama-

gansett, Long Island, New York, and four at Ponte Vedra Beach

in Florida. Their intention was to blow up industrial plants and

transportation facilities. After landing, they buried their Ger-

man uniforms and donned civilian clothes. A suspicious Coast

Guardsman patrolling the Long Island beach stopped them.

Although he didn’t detain anyone, he may have sufficiently

frightened one, George Dasch, that he telephoned the FBI. The

Coast Guard, meanwhile, located the buried uniforms and

also called the FBI. Several days later, Dasch turned himself in

to the bureau in Washington and pointed out the other seven

saboteurs. Within two weeks they were all in custody. After

their secret two-day trial, July 29–30, they were sentenced to

death. President Roosevelt, however, commuted the sentences

of Dasch and Ernest Burger, who also helped, to 30 years. The

others were executed August 8, 1942. President Truman

granted Dasch and Burger clemency in 1948 and then

deported them.

The details of the incident remained secret throughout the

war, enabling the public (and the Germans) to believe that it

was the quick investigative work of the FBI that solved the case

so expeditiously. In fact, no other documented instance of

German sabotage occurred after their arrests.

The opinion, written by Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone,

could be considered “after the fact.” President Franklin D.

Roosevelt wanted it to be resolved quickly, and the courts

expedited the saboteurs’ petitions for habeas corpus. He

wanted them tried out of the public eye by military tribunal

and that is what the Court’s decision, on narrow grounds, gave

him. It issued an unsigned, paragraph-long per curiam opinion

on July 31, 1942, denying the petitioners their writ and affirm-

ing that they could be tried by military commission. However,

the full decision, backed up with references to the constitu-

tion, statutes, and case law, was not handed down until Octo-

ber 29, months after six saboteurs had been hanged.

Nevertheless, it has not been overturned. President

George W. Bush referred to

Quirin

in his decision to establish

military tribunals for potential terrorists after the events of

September 11, 2001. The decision also appeared to bolster

Bush’s contention that detainees, including American citi-

zens, who fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan should be

considered unlawful combatants rather than prisoners of war.

Justice Murphy took no part in the consideration or deci-

sion of these cases.

________________________

_______________________

Mr. Chief Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the

Court.

These cases are brought here by petitioners’ several

applications for leave to file petitions for habeas corpus in

this Court, and by their petitions for certiorari to review

orders of the District Court for the District of Columbia,

which denied their applications for leave to file petitions

for habeas corpus in that court.

The question for decision is whether the detention of

petitioners by respondent for trial by Military Commis-

sion, appointed by Order of the President of July 2, 1942,

[317 U.S. 1, 19] on charges preferred against them pur-

porting to set out their violations of the law of war and of

the Articles of War, is in conformity to the laws and Con-

stitution of the United States.

. . . In view of the public importance of the questions

raised by their petitions and of the duty which rests on the

courts, in time of war as well as in time of peace, to pre-

serve unimpaired the constitutional safeguards of civil lib-

erty, and because in our opinion the public interest

required that we consider and decide those questions

without any avoidable delay, we directed that petitioners’

applications be set down for full oral argument at a special

term of this Court, convened on July 29, 1942. . . .

World War II at Home and Abroad 1421