Evening star., 1941-01-20
Mental Conflict

In his Saturday night address,
Joseph P Kennedy said that the
thing which has impressed him
most since his return from Lon
don is ''the growing conflict in the
minds of the American people over
the two courses of action which
the vast majority of Americans ad-
vocate-aiding Britain and staying
out of war" Mr.. Kennedy is cor
rect in stating that this mental
conflict exists and he is qualified to
discuss it, for it is a conflict in
which he evidently finds himself
very deeply involved.
After ruling out the possibility of
a negotiated peace at this time, Mr..
Kennedy made the important point
that we should aid the British be-
cause, by keeping them in the fight,
I'VE will be securing for ourselves
the most precious commodity we
ed-time-time to rearm." And
by way of illustrating the critical
Importance of this time element he
made the unqualified assertion that
if Germany should conquer England
in the immediate future and take
over the British Navy, this country
would net be prepared to defend
its own shores, let alone the North
American continent.
From this it seems clear that Mr..
Kennedy fully understands the dam
GER that would confront us should
the dictatOrs win the war, but, at
the same time, his remarks do not
indicate that he has worked out any
formula of his own whereby we can
render really effective aid to Eng
land without incurring a risk of
war. On the contrary, the follow
ing excerpts from his address
strongly suggest that he shares the
confusion on this point which he
detected upon his return to this
country:
However. because in addition to
wanting to aid Britain the American
people want to stav out of war, this
aid should not and must not 90 to
the point where war becomes inevi-
table. Because aid to England
is part of q constructive American
policy to safeguard America, we
should go to the very limit in our
assistance, but not to point which
would erdanger our own protection.
Unless we are attacked. the
American people do not have to go
to war. They will not go to war
if they will to stay out of war.
But make no mistake, let no nation
think that because the American
people do not want war they will
not go to war should their own
vital interests be at stake.
Eventually we may have to fight to
defend our civilization. The future
in that respect is unknown and un-
movable"
These excerpts have been lifted
out of their context, but they do not
distOrt the import of Mr.. Kennedy's
address, They are in fact. fairly
Symptomatic Of the hopeless con-
fusion into which any one-hOWever
earnest and sincere-must fall when
attempting honestly to uphold the
proposition that we should aid Eng
land in our own defense. and that
this aid. at one and the same time.
should be both effective and short
of war"
This confusion probably arises
from the failure to make a proper
distinction between aiding Britain
by methods short of war and the
Willful Indictment of war on our
part. We can and undoubtedly will
refrain from going to war by the
latter method, but, in all probability.
it will not be left to us to determine
when aid short Of war becomes, in
fact, an act of war.
Adolf Hitler will make that de-
GelIllllldlIOll, ana MI. heQneQV at
one point in his address seemed to
recognize this fact. Many Ameri-
cans" he said, fear that Hitler
will declare war on us if we con-
tinue to aid Great Britain.
Don't forget that Hitler will declare
war on this country. or will make
an attack, only when he thinks such
action is for his best interests"
That is an indisputable statement
of fact. and if it could be kept up
permoSt in mind, confusion and
mental conflict would soon give way
to clear understanding that we
cannot effectively aid England with
out incurring a risk of war. The
only alternative, however, is to aban-
don England and our own vital in
terests, and that is a course which
neither Mr. Kennedy nor the vast
majority" of Americans of whom he
spoke would ever willingly elect to
take.