Fireside Chats — May 26, 1940 Part One

May 26, 1940. My Friends: At this moment of sadness throughout most of the world, I want to talk with you about a number of subjects that directly affect the future of the United States.

We are shocked by the almost incredible eyewitness stories that come to us, stories of what is happening at this moment to the civilian populations of Norway and Holland and Belgium and Luxembourg and France.

I think it is right on this Sabbath evening that I should say a word in behalf of women and children and old men who need help-- immediate help in their present distress--help from us across the seas, help from us who are still free to give it.

Tonight over the once peaceful roads of Belgium and France millions are now moving, running from their homes to escape bombs and shells and fire and machine gunning, without shelter, and almost wholly without food.

They stumble on, knowing not where the end of the road will be.

I speak to you of these people because each one of you that is listening to me tonight has a way of helping them.

The American Red Cross, that represents each of us, is rushing food and clothing and medical supplies to these destitute civilian millions.

Please--I beg you--please give according to your means to your nearest Red Cross chapter, give as generously as you can.

I ask this in the name of our common humanity.

Let us sit down together again, you and I, to consider our own pressing problems that confront us.

There are many among us who in the past closed their eyes to events abroad--because they believed in utter good faith what some of their fellow Americans told them--that what was taking place in Europe was none of our business; that no matter what happened over there, the United States could always pursue its peaceful and unique course in the world.

There are many among us who closed their eyes, from lack of interest or lack of knowledge; honestly and sincerely thinking that the many hundreds of miles of salt water made the American Hemisphere so remote that the people of North and Central and South America could go on living in the midst of their vast resources without reference to, or danger from, other Continents of the world.

There are some among us who were persuaded by minority groups that we could maintain our physical safety by retiring within our continental boundaries--the Atlantic on the east, the Pacific on the west, Canada on the north and Mexico on the south.

I

illustrated the futility--the impossibility--of that idea in my message to the Congress last week.

Obviously, a defense policy based on that is merely to invite future attack.

And, finally, there are a few among us who have deliberately and consciously closed their eyes because they were determined to be opposed to their government, its foreign policy and every other policy, to be partisan, and to believe that anything that the government did was wholly wrong.

To those who have closed their eyes for any of these many reasons, to those who would not admit the possibility of the approaching storm--to all of them the past two weeks have meant the shattering of many illusions.

They have lost the illusion that we are remote and isolated and, therefore, secure against the dangers from which no other land is free.

In some quarters, with this rude awakening has come fear, fear bordering on panic.

It is said that we are defenseless.

It is whispered by some that, only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we build our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors.

I did not share those illusions.

I do not share these fears.

Today we are now more realistic.

But let us not be calamity-howlers and discount our strength.

Let us have done with both fears and illusions.

On this Sabbath evening, in our homes in the midst of our American families, let us calmly consider what we have done and what we must do.

In the past two or three weeks all kinds of stories have been handed out to the American public about our lack of preparedness.

It has even been charged that the money we have spent on our military and naval forces during the last few years has gone down the rat-hole.

I think that it is a matter of fairness to the nation that you hear the facts.

Yes, we have spent large sums of money on the national defense.

This money has been used to make our Army and Navy today the largest, the best equipped, and the best trained peace-time military establishment in the whole history of this country.

Let me tell you just a few of the many things accomplished during the past few years.

I do not propose to go into every detail.

It is a known fact, however, that in 1933, when this administration came into office, the United States Navy had fallen in standing among the navies of the world, in power of ships and in efficiency, to a relatively low ebb.

The relative fighting power on the Navy had been greatly diminished by failure to replace ships and equipment, which had become out-of-date.

But between 1933 and this year, 1940--seven fiscal years--your government will have spent one billion, four hundred eighty-seven million dollars more than it spent on the Navy during the seven years that preceded 1933. What did we get for this money?

The fighting personnel of the Navy rose from 79,000 to 145,000. During this period 215 ships for the fighting fleet have been laid down or commissioned, practically seven times the number in the preceding seven-year period.

Of these 215 ships we have commissioned: 12 cruisers; 63 destroyers; 26 submarines; 3 aircraft carriers; 2 gunboats; 7 auxiliaries and many smaller craft.

And among the many ships now being built and paid for as we build them are 8 new battleships.

Ship construction, of course, costs millions of dollars--more in the United States than anywhere else in the world; but it is a fact that we cannot have adequate navy defense for all American waters without ships--ships that sail the surface of the ocean, ships that move under the surface and ships that move through the air.

And, speaking of airplanes that work with the Navy, in 1933 we had 1,127 useful aircraft and today we have 2,892 on hand and on order.

Nearly all of the old planes of 1933 have been replaced by new planes because they became obsolete or worn out.

The Navy Is far stronger today than at any peace-time period in the whole long history of the nation.

In hitting power and in efficiency, I would even make the assertion that it is stronger today than it was during the World War.

The Army of the United States: In 1933 it consisted of 122,000 enlisted men.

Now, in 1940, that number has been practically doubled.

The Army of 1933 had been given few new implements of war since 1919, and had been compelled to draw on old reserve stocks left over from the World War.

The net result of all this was that our Army by l933 had very greatly declined in its ratio of strength with the armies of Europe and of the Far East.

That was the situation I found.

But, since then, great changes have taken place.

Between 1933 and 1940--these past seven fiscal years--your government will have spent ,292,000,000 more than it spent on the Army the previous seven years.

What did we get for this money?

The personnel of the Army, as I have said, has been almost doubled.

And by the end of this year every existing unit of the present regular Army will be equipped with its complete requirements of modern weapons.

Existing units of the national Guard will also be largely equipped with similar items.

Here are some striking examples taken from a large number: Since 1933 we have actually purchased 5,640 airplanes, including the most modern type of long-range bombers and fast pursuit planes, though, of course, many of these which were delivered four, five, six or seven years ago have worn out through use and been scrapped.

We must remember that these planes cost money--a lot of it.

For example, one modern four-engine long-range bombing plane costs ,000; one modern interceptor pursuit plane costs ,000; one medium bomber costs ,000. In 1933 we had only 355 anti-aircraft guns.

We now have more than 1,700 modern anti-craft guns of all types on hand or on order.

And you ought to know that a three-inch anti-aircraft gun costs ,000 without any of the fire control equipment that goes with it.

In 1933 there were only 24 modern infantry mortars in the entire Army.

We now have on hand and on order more than 1,600. In 1933 we had only 48 modern tanks and armored cars; today we have on hand and on order 1,700. Each one of our heavier tanks costs ,000. There are many other items in which our progress since 1933 has been rapid.

And the great proportion of this advance consists of really modern equipment.

In 1933, on the personnel side we had 1,263 Army pilots.

Today the Army alone has more than 3,000 of the best fighting flyers in the world, flyers who last year flew more than one million hours in combat training.

That figure does not include the hundreds of splendid pilots in the national Guard and in the organized reserves.

Within the past year the productive capacity of the aviation industry to produce military planes has been tremendously increased.

In the past year the capacity more than doubled, but that capacity is still inadequate.

However, the government, working with industry, is determined to increase that capacity to meet our needs.

We intend to harness the efficient machinery of these manufacturers to the government's program of being able to get 50,000 planes a year.

One additional word about aircraft, about which we read so much.

Recent wars, including the current war in Europe, have demonstrated beyond doubt that fighting efficiency depends on unity of command, unity of control.

In sea operations the airplane is just as much an integral part of the unity of operations as are the submarine, the destroyer and the battleship, and in land warfare the airplane is just as much a part of military operations as are the tank corps, the engineers, the artillery or the infantry itself.

Therefore, the air forces should continue to be part of the Army and Navy.

In line with my request the Congress, this week, is voting the largest appropriation ever asked by the Army or the Navy in peacetime, and the equipment and training provided for them will be in addition to the figures I have given you.