FDR – Address on Pan-American Day – April 15, 1940 – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
On April 15, 1940, President Roosevelt addressed the leaders of the Pan American Union on its 50th anniversary gathering. Saying that the 21 American Republics must be prepared to ‘meet forces with forces’ he warned dictator nations that ‘who touches one of us touches all’, he urged the American nations to be prepared:
President Roosevelt: “Peace reigns today in the Western hemisphere because
our nations have liberated themselves from fear. No nation is
truly at peace if it lives under the shadow of coercion or
invasion . By the simple process or agreeing that each nation
shall respect the integrity and independence of the others, the
New World has freed itself or the greatest and simplest cause
of war. Self-restraint and the acceptance of the equal rights
of our neighbors as an act of effective will has given us the
peace we have had, and will preserve that peace so long as we
abide by this ultimate moral law.Peace reigns among us today because we have agreed,
as neighbors should, to mind our own business. We have
renounced, each and all or us, any right to intervene in each
other’s domestic affairs, recognizing that free and independent
nations must shape their own destinies and find their own ways
or life.Peace reigns among us today because we have resolved
to settle any dispute that should arise among us by friendly
negotiation in accordance with Justice and equity, rather than
by force. We have created effective machinery tor this purpose
and we have demonstrated our willingness to have full recourse
to that method.Peace reigns among us because we have recognized the
principle that only through vigorous and mutually beneficial
international economic relations can each of us have adequate
access to materials And opportunities necessary to a rising
level of economic well-being tor our peoples. In every
practicable way we a re seeking to bring this vital principle to
its realization.”
Here is that complete address, as it was given in Washington D.C. on April 15, 1940.
