US Presidency
1942

The Japanese may cut the Burma Road; but I want to say to the gallant people of China that no matter what advances the Japanese may make, ways will be found to deliver airplanes and munitions of war to the armies of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. We remember that the Chinese people were the first to stand up and fight against the aggressors in this war; and in the future ( an ) a still unconquerable China will play its proper role in maintaining peace and prosperity, not only in Eastern Asia but in the whole world. For every advance that the Japanese have made since they started their frenzied career of conquest, they have had to pay a very heavy toll in warships, in transports, in planes, and in men. They are feeling the effects of those losses. It is even reported from Japan that somebody has dropped bombs on Tokyo, and on other principal centers of Japanese war industries. If this be true, it is the first time in history that Japan has suffered such indignities.