US Presidency
1941

Because of these episodes, because of the movements and operations of German warships, and because of the clear, repeated proof that the present government of Germany has no respect for treaties or for international law, that it has no decent attitude toward neutral nations or human life we Americans are now face to face not with abstract theories but with cruel, relentless facts. This attack on the GREER was no localized military operation in the North Atlantic. This was no mere episode in a struggle between two nations. This was one determined step towards creating a permanent world system based on force, on terror and on murder. And I am sure that even now the Nazis are waiting, waiting to see whether the United States will by silence give them the green light to go ahead on this path of destruction. The Nazi danger to our Western world has long ceased to be a mere possibility. The danger is here now not only from a military enemy but from an enemy of all law, all liberty, all morality, all religion.