Evening star., 1941-05-12
Text of Hoover's Speech
America Is Unprepored for War Which
Would Follow Use of Navy, He Declares

toward the United States without
equal preparation.
Therefore, with this transforma-
ton it does not appear that this war
can be brought to a conclusion by
armies or navies for years and years
to come.
Undetermined Weapon
Against Hitler Is Air Power.
The undetermined weapon against
Hitler is air power. And the char
acter of air war is also being trans
formed. 1t is rapidly emerging to be
long-range bombing with fighter
planes to defend agains the bombers.
Accurate action in destruction of in
dustrial and military objectives by
daylight is no longer possible be-
cause of the efficiency of fighter
planes on both sides. Manufacture
of more and more planes will thus
| continue on both sides. But so far
there is no effective answer to night
bombing. 1t serves mostly to de-
stroy large objectives, the cities and
harbors. reducing them to rubble and
killing civilians. And in this de-
struction Hitler has to fly only one
third the distance that the British
have to fly. to reach his point OF at
tack.
And there is transformation in
the German blockade of England.
The long range bomber is developing
| as a primary weapon in the attack
upon harbors and upon ships. Sub
marines are today partly scouts,
sending word to the air forces.
Naval protection OF Britain's sea
lanes is now subsidiary to air pro-
| lection.
This moving transformation of the
relation of army power, sea power
and air power presents new situa-
! tions which are not yet clear. They
involve many new considerations.
They emphasize England's inme-
diate need which I will discuss
later on.
Second Hard Fact
Is Hostility of Japan.
The second hard fact we must
| frankly face is that in the last war
Japan was our ally and we had no
need to defend the pacific. But
Japan is now openly allied to the
Axis. She only awaits favorable
moment to realize her ambitions in
Asia. That opportunity comes to
her if we 60 to war in the Atlantic.
Even if she does not open war upon
us, her action and attitudes will be
so potentially dangerous to us that
we must instantly strengthen our
defenseS in the Pacific.
The third of these hard facts that
we have to face is our unprepared-
ness. We have been slow to organ
iZe for defense, as is always the case
in democracies.
We are not prepared to 60 to war.
Our industry will not be tuned up
for another or 10 months to pro-
0uce enough of the tools of war to
equip our own defense and at the
same time supply the needs OF
Britain. We do not have 300, 900
men who are sufficiently equipped
with planes. tanks and guns to
meet 300 900 Germans, to say moth
ing of victory over 5000 900 OF them.
We will not even have 100000 men
so equipped for probably another
IL months We have no substantial
air force of the type now being used
in this war. 1t Is true we have q
magnificent Navy, but even that Is
not yet big enough for the job
which it may have to undertake II
we join in this war.
Preparedness for War
Embraces Spirit Of People.
And preparedness for war con-
sists not alone of men and tools
and munitions. 1t also embraces
the spirit of a people. We must
have united people to make sue
cessful total war. We are united
in resolution to defend the Western
Hemisphere from military aggres-
sion. We are united in building
whatever of war machine is nee
esSary for this purpose We are
united in our condemnation of ag-
gressor nations. We are united in
wanting to help England defend her
independence.
But beyond this we are divided
people Do I need to prove this
disunity? There is an obvious large
majority of people who oppose the
sending of our boys either on our
Navy or on conveys or airplanes or
expeditionary forces where they
may have to shoot or be shot at.
These oppositions are strongest in
our youth and 1t is youth who must
die. There is no urSsillingness in
them to die to defend our hemi-
sphere.
And to have a united people the
Government must be united with
the will of the people. A divided
people cannot act effectively in the
supreme issue of total war. That
failure in unity was part of the
disaster of France. The first ne
cessity Is to follow an objective upon
which our people will agree.
What to Do From Now on
Is Question for Present.
History will assess the condemna-
ton or the praise for the policies
and the methods which have
brought us to these dangers. That