Evening star., 1941-05-07
Text of Stimson Address
Secretary Of War Says Lifeline to
Britain Must Be Protected


sudden attack. They now arro-
gantly confront the world, in
cluding ourselves, with the al
tentative Of abject surrender or
uncompromising forceful resist
ance.
cannot recall that the United
States throughout its history
even when it was small and weak
has yielded to such demand. Let
us see whether there is any need
of changing our policy now. in
the first place, this So-called new
order of Hitler Is not new; and it
has not and never will create Or
der in this world. Hitlers regime
of brutal lawlessness is merely
one of those temporary reactions,
which have occurred at intervals
during all Of mans long history
OF progress upward.
Since his origin millions Of
years ago, ambitious men have
many times attempted world
wide conquest over the liberties
of their fellow men. But they
have never permanently succeed
ed and they never will. Hitler
has taken advantage of the dis
content of a troubled postwar
period to impose his rule upon
a docile-minded nation which
has more than once temporarily
yielded its love of liberty to an
efficient autocrat. His rise has
been facilitated by many an acci-
dent which might easily have
been prevented. Many an unwary
sentinel of liberty has been
caught mapping at vital moments.
But as has always happened be-
fore, the progress of man along
the path toward freedom will be
taken up again and carried for
ward with new spirit and with
fresh knowledge acquired by the
unhappy experiences of the past.
To be frightened into belief that
Hitler had created a new and per-
manent world order would be as
naive as it would be cowardly.
In the next place, let us ex-
anime the strategic conditions
which must govern our defense
against an admittedly serious
danger, albeit it is only tenn
porary.
The people of the United States
have been greatly blessed by the
geographical conditions of their
homeland. Two broad oceans lie
to the east and west of us,
while north and south of us are
only friendly nations of whose
intentions and power We have
no fear. Thus the instinct of
our people in regard to their
ocean defense Is a sound in
stinct. There is great possibility
of protection in the fact that We
have the Atlantic Ocean between
us and Europe, and the Pacific
Ocean between us and Asia. SO
long as those oceans are under
our own or of friendly control,
their broad waters constitute an
insuperable barrier to any armies
which may be built up by would
be aggressor governments. But
that condition of friendly con-
troll Is imperative. If it should
be lost, the oceans overnight
would become easy channels for
the path Of attack against us.
Landing on Hemisphere
Would Threaten U. S.
The development of modern
air power greatly intensifies this
necessity of friendly control of
the oceans. It now makes it
necessary for us to command not
only the reaches of ocean ada
cent to our own shores but the
entire reach of the oceans sur
rounding the Western Continent;
for. II hostile nations possessing
powerful armies and air power
can once make a landing on the
shores OF our weaker neighbor
nations either north or south Of
us. our immunity is gone. 1t
would then become a compara-
lively simple matter for them to
establish air bases within strik-
ing distance of the great indus
trial cities which now fill our
country. And the only way in
which we could prevent this
would be the intolerable method
OF ourselves maintaining armies
large enough to command the
areas of our continent for thou
sands of miles beyond our own
borders. Such condition would
transform the good neighbor re-
lations which now prevail,
throughout the American repub-
lies, into the same abhorrent
system Of forceful domination
which we are seeking to keep out
OF the hemisphere. In short, to
the nations of America, friendly
control of the surrounding oceans
is condition OF the reign Of
freedom and mutual independ-
ence which now prevails In that
continent.
For over 100 years the control
of the Atlantic Ocean has been
exercised by the British fleet.
BY the Washington Treaty of
1922 Great Britain voluntarily
consented to parity between her
fleet and ours and thus admitted
us to an equal share in that
control. The significant feature
to us of this centry-old condition
has been that a country speak
ing our language. possessing our
traditions of individual and legal
freedom, and inhabited by a
population from which consid-
erably more than so per cent
Of our own population is de-
scended, has been accepted by
us as dominant factor in the
ocean defense upon which our
safety and mode of life depend.
During that century we have ac-
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