"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: "The Great
Arsenal of Democracy" delivered 29
December 1940
My friends:
要点This is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security; because the nub of thewhole purpose of your President is to keep you now, and your children later, and your
絶体絶命の

grandchildren much later, out of a last- ditch war for the preservation of American
independence, and all of the things that American independence means to you and to me
and to ours.
Tonight, in the presence of a world crisis, my mind goes back eight years to a night in the
midst of a domestic crisis. It was a time when the wheels of American industry were
軋む

grinding to a full stop, when the whole banking system of our country had ceased to
書斎function. I well remember that while I sat in my study in the White House, preparing totalk with the people of the United States, I had before my eyes the picture of all those
加工場

Americans with whom I was talking. I saw the workmen in the mill s, the mines, thefactories, the girl behind the counter, the small shopkeeper, the farmer doing his spring伝えるplowing, the widows and the old men wondering about their life's savings. I tried to convey
to the great mass of American people what the banking crisis meant to them in their daily
lives.
Tonight, I want to do the same thing, with the same people, in this new crisis which faces
対処する

America. We met the issue of 1933 with courage and realism. We face this new crisis, thisnew threat to the security of our nation, with the same courage and realism. Never before
ジェームズタウン（北米初の英植民地）

since

Jamestown

and

プリマス・ロック（メイフラワー号の上陸地点）PlymouthRockhas our American civilization been in
日独伊三国同盟

such danger as now. For on September 27th, 1940 -- this year -- by an agreement signed in
Berlin, three powerful nations, two in Europe and one in Asia, joined themselves together inthe threat that if the United States of America interfered with or blocked the expansion
program of these three nations -- a program aimed at world control -- they would unite inultimate action against the United States.
The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate alllife and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then toI"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world. It was only three weeks agothat their leader stated this: "There are two worlds that stand opposed to each other." And
挑戦的なthen in defiant reply to his opponents he said this: "Others are correct when they say: With
調和する

this world we cannot ever reconcile ourselves .... I can beat any other power in the world."
So said the leader of the Nazis.
枢軸

In other words, the Axis not merely admits but the Axis proclaims that there can be no
ultimate peace between their philosophy, their philosophy of government, and ourphilosophy of government. In view of the nature of this undeniable threat, it can be asserted,
断定的に

properly and categorically, that the United States has no right or reason to encourage talk ofpeace until the day shall come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor
nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world.
同盟を結んだAt this moment the forces of the States that are leagued against all peoples who live in
freedom are being held away from our shores. The Germans and the Italians are being
blocked on the other side of the Atlantic by the British and by the Greeks, and by thousands
従属したof soldiers and sailors who were able to escape from subjugated countries. In Asia the
交戦中のJapanese are being engaged by the Chinese nation in another great defense. In the Pacific
艦隊

Ocean is our fleet.
Some of our people like to believe that wars in Europe and in Asia are of no concern to us.
But it is a matter of most vital concern to us that European and Asiatic war-makers should
西半球

not gain control of the oceans which lead to this hemisphere. One hundred and seventeen
モンロー・

ドクトリン

years ago the Monroe Doctrine was conceived by our government as a measure of defensein the face of a threat against this hemisphere by an alliance in Continental Europe.
Thereafter, we stood [on] guard in the Atlantic, with the British as neighbors. There was no
口頭 合意

treaty. There was no " unwritten agreement." And yet there was the feeling, proven correctby history, that we as neighbors could settle any disputes in peaceful fashion. And the fact isthat during the whole of this time the Western Hemisphere has remained free fromaggression from Europe or from Asia.
南北アメリカDoes anyone seriously believe that we need to fear attack anywhere in the Americas while
a free Britain remains our most powerful naval neighbor in the Atlantic? And does anyone
seriously believe, on the other hand, that we could rest easy if the Axis powers were ourneighbors there? If Great Britain goes down, the Axis powers will control the Continents of公海

Europe, Asia, Africa, Austral-Asia, and the high seas. And they will be in a position toII"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
誇張

bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. It is no exaggeration
装填された

to say that all of us in all the Americas would be living at the point of a gun -- a gun loaded
弾丸with explosive bullets , economic as well as military. We should enter upon a new andterrible era in which the whole world, our hemisphere included, would be run by threats of
転換する

brute force. And to survive in such a world, we would have to convert

ourselves

permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy.
Some of us like to believe that even if Britain falls, we are still safe, because of the broad
expanse of the Atlantic and of the Pacific. But the width of those oceans is not what it was in
快速

帆船

the days of clipper ships. At one point between Africa and Brazil the distance is less than it
爆撃機

is from Washington to Denver, Colorado, five hours for the latest type of bomber . And at
the north end of the Pacific Ocean, America and Asia almost touch each other. Why, eventoday we have planes that could fly from the British Isles to New England and back again
燃料補給without refueling . And remember that the range of the modern bomber is ever being
increased.
During the past week many people in all parts of the nation have told me what they wanted
me to say tonight. Almost all of them expressed a courageous desire to hear the plain truth
about the gravity of the situation. One telegram, however, expressed the attitude of thesmall minority who want to see no evil and hear no evil, even though they know in their
容易さhearts that evil exists. That telegram begged me not to tell again of the ease with which our
American cities could be bombed by any hostile power which had gained bases in this
主旨

Western Hemisphere. The gist of that telegram was: "Please, Mr. President, don't frighten
us by telling us the facts." Frankly and definitely there is danger ahead -- danger against
which we must prepare. But we well know that we cannot escape danger, or the fear of
丸くなる

danger [it], by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads.
不干渉協定

Some nations of Europe were bound by solemn nonintervention pacts with Germany.
Other nations were assured by Germany that they need never fear invasion.
結局～となる

Nonintervention pact or not, the fact remains that they were attacked, overrun, [and]瞬時にthrown into [the] modern [form of] slavery at an hour's notice -- or even without any
警告

亡命した

notice at all. As an exiled leader of one of these nations said to me the other day, "The
負の数

notice was a minus quantity . It was given to my government two hours after German
troops had poured into my country in a hundred places." The fate of these nations tells us
what it means to live at the point of a Nazi gun.

III

"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
偽善的なThe Nazis have justified such actions by various pious frauds. One of these frauds is theclaim that they are occupying a nation for the purpose of "restoring order." Another is thatthey are occupying or controlling a nation on the excuse that they are "protecting it" against
the aggression of somebody else. For example, Germany has said that she was occupying
ドイツBelgium to save the Belgians from the British. Would she then hesitate to say to any SouthAmerican country: "We are occupying you to protect you from aggression by the UnitedStates"? Belgium today is being used as an invasion base against Britain, now fighting for its
life. And any South American country, in Nazi hands, would always constitute a jumping off
place for German attack on any one of the other republics of this hemisphere.
Analyze for yourselves the future of two other places even nearer to Germany if the Nazis
持ち堪える

玩弄物

won. Could Ireland hold out? Would Irish freedom be permitted as an amazing pet
アゾレス諸島exception in an unfree world? Or the islands of the Azores , which still fly the flag of
前哨基地

Portugal after five centuries? You and I think of Hawaii as an outpost of defense in the
Pacific. And yet the Azores are closer to our shores in the Atlantic than Hawaii is on theother side.
There are those who say that the Axis powers would never have any desire to attack theWestern Hemisphere. That is the same dangerous form of wishful thinking which has
destroyed the powers of resistance of so many conquered peoples. The plain facts are that
the Nazis have proclaimed, time and again, that all other races are their inferiors andtherefore subject to their orders. And most important of all, the vast resources and wealth
略奪of this American hemisphere constitute the most tempting loot in all of the round world.
Let us no longer blind ourselves to the undeniable fact that the evil forces which havecrushed and undermined and corrupted so many others are already within our own gates.
Your government knows much about them and every day is
狩り出す

密使

ferreting them out. Their secret emissaries are active in our own and in neighboring
紛争

countries. They seek to stir up suspicion and dissension, to cause internal strife. They try to
資本家

逆もまた

然り

まどろむ

turn capital against labor, and vice versa. They try to reawaken long slumbering racial
反目and religious enmities which should have no place in this country. They are active in every
group that promotes intolerance. They exploit for their own ends our own natural
嫌悪abhorrence of war. These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people,
to divide them into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend
ourselves.

IV"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
上

層部

知らずに

There are also American citizens, many of them in high places, who, unwittingly in most幇助する

cases, are aiding and abetting the work of these agents. I do not charge these American
citizens with being foreign agents. But I do charge them with doing exactly the kind of workthat the dictators want done in the United States. These people not only believe that we can
自分の身

の安全

だけを

守る

save our own skins by shutting our eyes to the fate of other nations. Some of them gomuch further than that. They say that we can and should become the friends and even thepartners of the Axis powers. Some of them even suggest that we should imitate the methodsof the dictatorships. But Americans never can and never will do that.

宥和する

The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease
撫でる

the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking

it. There can be no
焼夷弾

appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We
犠牲を

払って

know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender.
仲間

Even the people of Italy have been forced to become accomplices of the Nazis; but at this
死に至らしめる

moment they do not know how soon they will be embraced to death by their allies.
The American appeasers ignore the warning to be found in the fate of Austria,
Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. They
流血tell you that the Axis powers are going to win anyway; that all of this bloodshed in the
幸運

にも

～でよい

world could be saved, that the United States might just as well throw its influence into the
決められた

協定による

scale of a dictated peace and get the best out of it that we can. They call it a " negotiated平和

peace." Nonsense! Is it a negotiated peace if a gang of outlaws surrounds your community
皆殺し

感謝の意を捧げる

and, on threat of extermination, makes you pay tribute to save your own skins? For such停戦

a dictated peace would be no peace at all. It would be only another armistice, leading to the
軍拡競争

荒廃させる

most gigantic armament race and the most devastating trade wars in all history. And inthese contests the Americas would offer the only real resistance to the Axis power. With all
誇示された

their vaunted efficiency, with all their parade of pious purpose in this war, there are still in
強制収容所

their background the concentration camp and the servants of God in chains.
The history of recent years proves that the shootings and the chains and the concentration
移ろいやすい祭壇

camps are not simply the transient tools but the very altars of modern dictatorships. They
may talk of a "new order" in the world, but what they have in mind is only [but] a revival of
the oldest and the worst tyranny. In that there is no liberty, no religion, [and] no hope. The
proposed "new order" is the very opposite of a United States of Europe or a United States ofV

"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
被支配者

Asia. It is not a government based upon the consent of the governed . It is not a union ofordinary, self-respecting men and women to protect themselves and their freedom and金their dignity from oppression. It is an unholy alliance of power and pelf to dominate and toenslave the human race.
The British people and their allies today are conducting an active war against this unholy
alliance. Our own future security is greatly dependent on the outcome of that fight. Ourability to "keep out of war" is going to be affected by that outcome. Thinking in terms of
today and tomorrow, I make the direct statement to the American people that there is far
見込みless chance of the United States getting into war if we do all we can now to support the
黙認する

nations defending themselves against attack by the Axis than if we acquiesce in their
意気地なく

defeat, submit tamely to an Axis victory, and wait our turn to be the object of attack inanother war later on.
If we are to be completely honest with ourselves, we must admit that there is risk in any
course we may take. But I deeply believe that the great majority of our people agree that thecourse that I advocate involves the least risk now and the greatest hope for world peace inthe future.
The people of Europe who are defending themselves do not ask us to do their fighting. They
兵器

貨物船

ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, [and] the guns, the freighters
断固としてwhich will enable them to fight for their liberty and for our security. Emphatically, we must
get these weapons to them, get them to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough sothat we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of war which others have had
to endure.
敗北主義者

Let not the defeatists tell us that it is too late. It will never be earlier. Tomorrow will belater than today.
Certain facts are self-evident.
In a military sense Great Britain and the British Empire are today the spearhead ofresistance to world conquest. And they are putting up a fight which will live forever in the
勇敢な行為

story of human gallantry. There is no demand for sending an American expeditionary force
海外派遣軍

outside our own borders. There is no intention by any member of your government to send
暴くsuch a force. You can therefore, nail , nail any talk about sending armies to Europe as

VI

"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
虚偽

deliberate untruth . Our national policy is not directed toward war. Its sole purpose is tokeep war away from our country and away from our people.
Democracy's fight against world conquest is being greatly aided, and must be more greatly
再軍備

aided, by the rearmament of the United States and by sending every ounce and every ton
武器弾薬of munitions and supplies that we can possibly spare to help the defenders who are in the
～は

～と同じく

まさに

中立である

front lines. And it is no more un - neutral for us to do that than it is for Sweden, Russia,
鉱石and other nations near Germany to send steel and ore and oil and other war materials into
Germany every day in the week.
We are planning our own defense with the utmost urgency, and in its vast scale we must
integrate the war needs of Britain and the other free nations which are resisting aggression.
This is not a matter of sentiment or of controversial personal opinion. It is a matter ofrealistic, practical military policy, based on the advice of our military experts who are inclose touch with existing warfare.
These military and naval experts and the members of the Congress and the Administration
have a single-minded purpose: the defense of the United States.
This nation is making a great effort to produce everything that is necessary in thisemergency, and with all possible speed. And this great effort requires great sacrifice. I
would ask no one to defend a democracy which in turn would not defend every one in the
困窮

欠乏

弱める

nation against want and privation. The strength of this nation shall not be diluted by the
failure of the government to protect the economic well-being of its citizens. If our capacity
to produce is limited by machines, it must ever be remembered that these machines areoperated by the skill and the stamina of the workers.
As the government is determined to protect the rights of the workers, so the nation has a
受け持つright to expect that the men whomanthe machines will discharge their full

responsibilities to the urgent needs of defense. The worker possesses the same human
権利を与えるdignity and is entitled to the same security of position as the engineer or the manager or
駆逐艦

the owner. For the workers provide the human power that turns out the destroyers, and theplanes, and the tanks. The nation expects our defense industries to continue operation
without interruption by strikes or lockouts. It expects and insists that management and折り合うworkers will reconcile their differences by voluntary or legal means, to continue to produce
the supplies that are so sorely needed. And on the economic side of our great defense
program, we are, as you know, bending every effort to maintain stability of prices and
物価の安定を 維持することで

with

that

the stability of the cost of living.

VII"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"

Nine days ago I announced the setting up of a more effective organization to direct our
予算配分

gigantic efforts to increase the production of munitions. The appropriation of vast sums of
行政府のmoney and a well-coordinated executive

direction of our defense efforts are not inthemselves enough. Guns, planes, ships [and] many other things have to be built in the
アメリカという

factories and the arsenals

名の

兵器工場

of

America . They have to be produced by workers andmanagers and engineers with the aid of machines which in turn have to be built by
hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the land. In this great work there has been
splendid cooperation between the government and industry and labor. And I am very
thankful.
特質

比類がない

American industrial genius , unmatchedthroughout all the world in the solution of

production problems, has been called upon to bring its resources and its talents into action.
農具

ライノタイプ機

Manufacturers of watches, of farm implements , of Linotype s and cash registers andautomobiles, and sewing machines and lawn mowers and locomotives, are now making
信管

木箱

架台

fuses and bomb packing crates and telescope mounts and shells and pistols and tanks.
But all of our present efforts are not enough. We must have more ships, more guns, [and]捨てる

more planes -- more of everything. And this can be accomplished only if we discard the～を～の上に押し付ける

notion of "business as usual." This job cannot be done merely by superimposing on the
現存のexisting productive facilities the added requirements of the nation for defense. Our defense
工場の

生産能力の

efforts must not be blocked by those who fear the future consequences of surplus plant余剰capacity. The possible consequences of failure of our defense efforts now are much more to
be feared. And after the present needs of our defense are past, a proper handling of the
さほど

多くはない

にせよ

country's peacetime needs will require all of the new productive capacity, if not stil l more.
No pessimistic policy about the future of America shall delay the immediate expansion of
those industries essential to defense. We need them.
I want to make it clear that it is the purpose of the nation to build now with all possible
speed every machine, every arsenal, [and] every factory that we need to manufacture our
defense material. We have the men, the skill, the wealth, and above all, the will. I am
消費財

confident that if and when production of consumer or luxury goods in certain industries
原料

requires the use of machines and raw materials that are essential for defense purposes,
譲歩する

then such production must yield , and will gladly yield, to our primary and compelling
purpose.

VIII"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
So I appeal to the owners of plants, to the managers, to the workers, to our own government
employees to put every ounce of effort into producing these munitions swiftly and without
出し惜しみ

stint . [And] With this appeal I give you the pledge that all of us who are officers of yourgovernment will devote ourselves to the same whole-hearted extent to the great task thatlies ahead.
As planes and ships and guns and shells are produced, your government, with its defense
experts, can then determine how best to use them to defend this hemisphere. The decision
as to how much shall be sent abroad and how much shall remain at home must be made on
the basis of our overall military necessities.
We must be the great arsenal of democracy.
For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task
決意with the same resolution , the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism andsacrifice as we would show were we at war.
～に～を供給するWe have furnished the British great material support and we will furnish far more in the
阻むもの

future. There will be no "bottlenecks" in our determination to aid Great Britain. No dictator,～という危惧

no combination of dictators, will weaken that determination by threats of how they will
理解する

計り知れないほど貴重な

construe that determination. The British have received invaluable military support from
亡命中のthe heroic Greek Army and from the forces of all the governments in exile. Their strength isgrowing. It is the strength of men and women who value their freedom more highly thanthey value their lives.
I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war. I base that belief on the latest
and best of information.
We have no excuse for defeatism. We have every good reason for hope -- hope for peace, yes,and hope for the defense of our civilization and for the building of a better civilization in the
future. I have the profound conviction that the American people are now determined to put
forth a mightier effort than they have ever yet made to increase our production of all theimplements of defense, to meet the threat to our democratic faith.
As President of the United States, I call for that national effort. I call for it in the name of
恩恵を与える

this nation which we love and honor and which we are privileged and proud to serve. I call

IX

"The Great Arsenal of Democracy"
大義

upon our people with absolute confidence that our common cause will greatly succeed.

NOTE: The part of Italics isn’t taped.

X