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細節
ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. Typed letter signed ("Franklin D. Roosevelt"), as President, to Norman Thomas, Washington, 17 October 1939. 2 pages, 4to, White House stationery.
ROOSEVELT TELLS A LEADING PACIFIST THAT THE U. S. CANNOT "ESCAPE OUR OBLIGATION TO A CIVILIZATION TO WHICH WE OWE SO MUCH AND OF WHICH WE ARE AN INTEGRAL PART"
While Norman Thomas's presidential bids on the Socialist ticket never posed a threat to FDR, his antiwar stance in 1939 reflected the views of millions of Americans, perhaps a majority. So Roosevelt takes pains here to explain his position on the conflict, and he reveals his fundamental sense of the issues at stake: nothing less than the preservation of the European tradition. "I have received your letter of October 8th urging me to explore every road of mediation for peace, and I can fully understand the sincere for peace which inspired you thus to write me. It is not necessary for me to assure you that I share your views regarding the futility of war and the misery and suffering which inevitably must accompany it, and that I fully agree that we as a nation should adhere just as firmly to the principle of cooperation for peace as we do to that of isolation from war. Although our geographical position and our enormous human and natural resources give us a sense of relative security in this troubled world, they do not permit us to escape our obligations to a civilization which we owe so much and of which we are an integral part. Our responsibilities to all humanity have never been greater than they are at the present time. It was with the realization of these responsibilities that during past months, regardless of possible rebuffs and criticisms, I have again and again appealed to the leaders of Europe to settle their differences by peaceful means. It is the same realization that causes me to examine with the utmost care the international situation and to study every new development in the hope that some basis may be found which will serve at least as a stepping stone towards peace. Now that the passions of war have already been aroused and threats of violence have given way to violence, it is my feeling that any endeavor on our part to bring an end to this war should be made with the greatest circumspection and only after it has been ascertained that the path towards which we may point does in fact lie in the direction of peace."
ROOSEVELT TELLS A LEADING PACIFIST THAT THE U. S. CANNOT "ESCAPE OUR OBLIGATION TO A CIVILIZATION TO WHICH WE OWE SO MUCH AND OF WHICH WE ARE AN INTEGRAL PART"
While Norman Thomas's presidential bids on the Socialist ticket never posed a threat to FDR, his antiwar stance in 1939 reflected the views of millions of Americans, perhaps a majority. So Roosevelt takes pains here to explain his position on the conflict, and he reveals his fundamental sense of the issues at stake: nothing less than the preservation of the European tradition. "I have received your letter of October 8th urging me to explore every road of mediation for peace, and I can fully understand the sincere for peace which inspired you thus to write me. It is not necessary for me to assure you that I share your views regarding the futility of war and the misery and suffering which inevitably must accompany it, and that I fully agree that we as a nation should adhere just as firmly to the principle of cooperation for peace as we do to that of isolation from war. Although our geographical position and our enormous human and natural resources give us a sense of relative security in this troubled world, they do not permit us to escape our obligations to a civilization which we owe so much and of which we are an integral part. Our responsibilities to all humanity have never been greater than they are at the present time. It was with the realization of these responsibilities that during past months, regardless of possible rebuffs and criticisms, I have again and again appealed to the leaders of Europe to settle their differences by peaceful means. It is the same realization that causes me to examine with the utmost care the international situation and to study every new development in the hope that some basis may be found which will serve at least as a stepping stone towards peace. Now that the passions of war have already been aroused and threats of violence have given way to violence, it is my feeling that any endeavor on our part to bring an end to this war should be made with the greatest circumspection and only after it has been ascertained that the path towards which we may point does in fact lie in the direction of peace."