Confirming USA.
[size=+1]Weekly Presidential Radio Address[/size]
May 16, 1938
"...ladies and gentlemen, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt."
Applause.
"Thank you, and good evening. My fellow Americans and my friends, tonight it is my duty to speak to the whole of America. In recent days, it has been my unhappy misfortune to watch unfold the dreadful European and Asian wars which I had hoped, against hope, could be by some miracle avoided. For several months now, we have watched as a continuous succession of wars and crises shook the entire world to its very foundations. Now, with the blatant aggression of Poland against the German Empire and the continued Japanese campaign in China, we have no choice but to face the unhappy fact that war shall in all likelihood break out on a global scale unseen since the bloodiest days of the Great War."
"The policy of this Government has been and shall continue to be that of non-involvement and neutrality in the affairs of the European continent. Rest assured that your Government has labored tirelessly to promote peace in Europe and Asia, and that it shall continue to work to maintain the neutrality of this nation. The conflicts in Germany and China, however terrible, are not the concern of the United States. My fellow Americans, the interests of the American republic lie in the western hemisphere; this Government shall not send your American boys to die on foreign shores for as long as I am your President."
"Nevertheless, it is, of course, impossible to predict the future. For now the dark specter of war is far from our homes, making its terrible presence felt only in Europe and the Far Orient. But there may come a day when the danger is closer to our own doors. This Government shall remain neutral in the affairs of Europe, and shall stay out of the wars in Asia, but we
will not tolerate the extension of these wars into the Western Hemisphere. The United States must be prepared to defend itself and its interests in the Americas against the growing European and Asian wars, and the dark shadows of Fascism, Communism, and National Socialism. I believe it is the moral obligation of the United States to uphold her fundamental principles of democratic virtue and Christian morality, and to work for the promotion of peace and the end of war. But we will not sit idly by and watch as the American continent is embroiled in that same bloody conflict which now lays to waste the nations of Europe and the Far East. The United States will stand in defense of the Americas against any who might seek to defile them."
"My friends, I do not pretend to prophesy what course world events will take. But whatever dangers may come, I am confident that this Government and this Nation will stand strong in the face of aggression and tyrrany, maintaining fair and impartial neutrality while keeping constant watch over the seas and the American continent."