| The investigations of the last month in America have shown that we are in no position to criticize blindly. It was a great shock to America to wake up one morning in May and find that her supposedly invulnerable position between two, large oceans was invulnerable no longer. America's armored position showed a startling similarity to England's after Munich. Like England, we had less than one hundred modern planes. Like England, we had few antiaircraft guns. Like England, our mechanized equipment was almost nil. And yet, like England, we had voted what we considered to be large appropriations and we had felt perfectly secure. And, unlike Britain's leader, Stanley Baldwin, America's Roosevelt had been far ahead of public opinion in this country in his opposition to the dictatorship. Since his "Quarantine the aggressor" speech in 1937, he has introduced larger defense estimates than Congress was prepared to accept. In fact, his 1940 Naval appropriation was cut by over 500 million dollars not four months ago. I point this out as I wish to, show that we should not dismiss England's position as being merely a question of lack of leadership. Our leadership has been outspoken, yet our positions still show a remarkable similarity. |
| The famous words of Emma Lazarus on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty read: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Until 1921 this was an accurate picture of our society. Under present law it would be appropriate to add: "as long as they come from Northern Europe, are not too tired or too poor or slightly ill, never stole a loaf of bread, never joined any questionable organization, and can document their activities for the past two years." |
| In the last several years, I have been serving as a member of the United States Senate, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittees on the U.N . and on African Affairs. Here, in these posts, the mechanical act of casting a yea or a nay vote is the least part of the work to be done. The greater part is the act of educating oneself about the play of forces which call for a yea or a nay decision; of sifting, defining, and choosing between alternative policies; and of explaining why this instead of that policy commends itself to one's reason. The statements contained in this volume represent my own attempt to make plain to myself and to others my thoughts on the leading questions of foreign policy that have borne down so hard on all of us. I do not claim to have all the answers. But Professor Allan Nevins and Harper & Brothers have very kindly asked to bring together some of my main addresses to the Senate and other public forums on foreign policy and related areas over the last several years. To these I have added my own current comments. |
| In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. |
