US Presidency
1929

In this room have been taken those reluctant steps which have led our Nation to war and those willing steps which have again led to peace. Never have we had a President who was either a pacifist or a militarist. Never has there been a President who did not pray that his administration might be one of peace, and that peace should be more assured for his successor. Yet these men have never hesitated when war became the duty of the Nation. And always in these years the thought of our Presidents has been adequate preparedness for defense as one of the assurances of peace. But that preparedness must not exceed the barest necessity for defense or it becomes a threat of aggression against others and thus a cause of fear and animosity of the world. And there are other assurances of peace which have been devised in this room, advanced and supported by our Presidents over the past half century.