October 5, 1937: Quarantine Speech a speech from President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Please enjoy October 5, 1937: Quarantine Speech a great episode of the legendary Franklin D. Roosevelt - A Classic Old Time radio Show.

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Episode Transcript

(00:04):
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.We take you now to Chicago for the
dedication of the new Outer Drive Bridgeand the address by President Roosevelt. We're
situated on the lake Front at thesouth end of the new bridge, which
will open a new highway joining thenorth side with the South side of Chicago

(00:27):
and greatly relieving the traffic situation.First speaker you will hear this morning is
Mayor Edward J. Kelly of Chicago. We have just concluded a vast parade
from the Union Station where the Presidentarrived at nine point thirty an hour and

(00:48):
a half ago, and after rainingall night and a foggy morning, we
have a beautiful sunlit noontime. Now, Mayor Kelly, mister Secretary of the
Interior, Senator Dietrich, Governor Horner, distinguished guests and friends. We are

(01:12):
in the closing weeks of Chicago's CharteredJubilee celebration. We are looking back on
a century of building and civic improvement. We are looking forward to a new
century of growth. The ceremonies heretoday are in striking contrast to the state
of warfare over bridges which prevailed inChicago one hundred years ago. We rejoice

(01:36):
today over the welding of a vitalnew link between the North and south sides
of Chicago. It seems to usunbelievable that there could have been a time
in the history of Chicago when bridgeswere not wanted. Yet, in eighteen
thirty nine, a mob of angrycitizens chopped down the Deburn Street drawbridge,

(01:57):
destroying the connection between the two sizeof the city. Commercial competition led to
this act of violence, but thepassing of years brought new conceptions of neaverly
cooperation. Today the city is unselfishlywon. Chicago, the city of the
broad shoulders and big heart, hasfinished another job. The struggles, the

(02:21):
years of work and planning, theboundless energy and courage of Chicago's builders to
complete the longest bascule bridge in theworld is a thrilling record of cooperation and
conquests. The watch word of Chicagocivic planners was it can be done.
Today Chicago reports to the world itis done. We are witnessing today something

(02:45):
greater than a lasting triumph in stoneand steel. In all this drama and
human enterprise, there is a heartstirring opera of civic devotion and planning.
There is a grateful hymn of praisefor Chicago's pioneers. There's a marching song
of a friendly city's comradeship and unitedpurpose. And in this hour of accomplishment,

(03:07):
what greater honor could come to thecity of good neighbors than to be
blessed with the presence of the nation'sfirst good neighbor. And here in Chicago,
which is now the traffic center ofthe world, where the Pottawanomy Indians
one hundred years ago stopped in theirpassage along the shores of Lake Michigan,
which was then a barren swamp.Even within our memory, watching the skyscrapers

(03:32):
rise and the boulevards spread, wecan recall the tin can and rubbish dumping
ground that is now the beautiful GrantPark. Something must be said for the
Daniel Burnhams, the Edward Whackers,the Montgomery Wards, and the James Simpsons
who had the vision and foresight toplan for Chicago's future. The only yardstick

(03:54):
which can measure this accomplishment lies inthe question who benefits from it all,
Who enjoys all the opportunity for pleasureand cultural advancement. Our dreams and hopes
have been translated into this great commonsof Chicago, this vast meeting place of
a city and its guests, ofwhich this bridge is a very important part,

(04:16):
where millions came for entertainment and recreationas well as for enlightenment, to
ban concerts, athletic and water sports, museums, and various other things,
and with the same quickening pulse,all kindled by the same desire to promote
Chicago's betterment, and in the samegame mood of friendliness, and all sharing

(04:38):
the same emotions of tolerance and goodwilland fair dealing. It really represents a
billion of public wealth and value tothe Chicago citizens at a considerably much less
cost. As President of the SouthPark Board and now as Mayor of Chicago,
I am proud that I have beenidentified with this opportunity to unite and

(04:59):
advance shi cargo. The good neighborsof Chicago, Mister President, as you
know, can address themselves to anytask and achieve it. Whatever adds to
our social and economic progress are allsummed up in our driving, resourceful spirit
of eye will. It is atypical American city where all races and creeds
live in happy harmony, all vitallyinterested solely in American democracy. How often

(05:25):
a free is all of Chicago withrejoicing in this celebration when we think of
the turmoil and conflict that now gripsother nations abroad. We're aware, mister
President, that this whole accomplishment mighthave been postponed indefinitely were't not for your
health. In your present journey throughoutthe nation, you have been taken an

(05:46):
inventory of recovery. You have beenputting your own finger on the pulse of
public response to your helpful programs ofproviding work and permanent public improvements. The
hundreds of thousands who greet you herethe same admiration for your humane and courageous
leadership, as have the many thousandsyou have met during your trip throughout the

(06:06):
West. We would be amiss ifwe not, at this particular time thank
our Secretary, mister Ikeys, andalso Administrator Harry L. Hopkins, who
have done much to make this greatbridge possible. Grateful, indeed, is
every citizen in Chicago for the longranging planning and tireless work of President Dunham

(06:28):
and his associates of the Chicago ParkDistrict, not only here, but in
all parts of our city. Now, mister President, the symbol of dedication
of this centennial bridge is found inthe union of hearts as well as hands.
It is a symbol of the gaffyou bridged between the nation's want and
the nation's security. It is asymbol of the breaks you filled between the

(06:49):
country's sphere and the country's confidence.It is a symbol of the permanent link
you forged between the nation standing stilland a nation pulling out of the rough.
We welcome you, mister President,and we express our heartiest gratitude for
your health. This thirty miles ofuninterrupted lake front boulevards has widened us gateway

(07:09):
of the Middle West. But inyour final appraisement of this achievement to day,
may you take away the dominant thoughtand the prevailing hope of the people
of Chicago, a better and morebeautiful city, A city whose growing pains
have not changed its warm hearts andfriendly spirit, A city that ran ahead
of recovery and is still staying outin front. Now, I've never been

(07:31):
more happy, the people of Chicagohave never been more happy, and I've
never been more thrilled than to welcomeour friend and good neighbor, Ladies and
gentlemen, the President of the UnitedStates. Ladies and gentlemen, the mutual
broadcasting system is bringing you the exercisesand the addresses dedicating the new Outer Drive

(07:51):
Bridge in Chicago. President Roosevelt,assisted by his son and Secretary James now
advances did the battery of microphones,smiling at the crowd. He is about
to speak President Ross Belt, MayorKelly, Governor Horna, My friends of

(09:11):
Chicago, I am glad to comeonce again to Chicago, and especially to
have the opportunity of taking part inthe dedication of this important project of civic
betterment. I congratulate Chicago and CookCounty on the opening of this splendid bridge

(09:35):
and of these thirty miles of LakeFront Boulevard. On my trip across the
continent and back, I have beenshown many evidences of the result of common
sense cooperation between municipalities and the federalgovernment. And I have been greeted by

(09:58):
tens of thousands of Americans who havetold me in every look and word that
their material and spiritual well being havemade great strides forward in the past few
years. And yet, as Ihave seen with my own eyes, the

(10:22):
prosperous farms, the thriving factories,the busy railroads. As I have seen
the happiness and security, and especiallythe peace that covers our wide land,
almost inevitably, I have been compelledto contrast our peace with very different scenes

(10:48):
that are being enacted in other partsof the world. It is because the
people of the United States must,for the sake of their own future,
give fought to the rest of theworld, that I, as the responsible
executive head of the nation, havechosen this great inland city, and this

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gala occasion, to speak to youon a subject of definite national importance.
The political situation in the world,which of late has been growing progressively worse,
is such as to cause grave concernand anxiety to all the peoples and

(11:37):
nations who wish to live in peaceand amity with their neighbors. Some fifteen
years ago, the hopes of mankindfor a continuing era of international peace were
raised to great heights when more thansixty nations solemnly pledged themselves not to resort

(12:05):
to arms in furtherance of their nationalaims and policies. The high aspirations expressed
in the Brian Kellogg Pact and thehopes for peace thus raised have of late
given way to a haunting fear ofcalamity. The present reign of terror and

(12:28):
international lawlessness began a few years ago. It began through unjustified interpearance in the
internal affairs of other nations or theinvasion of alien territory in violation of treaties.
It has now reached the stage wherethe very foundations of civilization are seriously

(12:54):
threatened. The landmarks, the traditionswhich are marked the progress of civilization forward
a condition of law and order andjustice are being wiped away without a declaration
of war and without warning or justificationof any kind. Civilians, including vast

(13:24):
numbers of women and children, arebeing ruthlessly murdered with bombs from the air
in times of so called peace.Ships are being attacked and sunk by submarines
without cause or notice. Nations arefomenting and taking sides in civil warfare in

(13:50):
nations that have never done them anyharm. Nations claiming freedom for themselves do
not deny it to others. Innocentpeoples, Innocent nations are being cruelly sacrificed
to a greed for power and supremacy, which is the void of all sense

(14:13):
of justice and humane consideration. Toparaphrase a recent author, perhaps we foresee
a time when men exultant in thetechnique of homicide will rage so hotly over

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the world that every precious thing willbe in danger. Every book, every
picture, every harmony, every treasuregarnered through two millenniums. The small,
the delicate, the defenseless, allwill be lost or wrecked, or utterly

(14:56):
destroyed. If those things come topass in other parts of the world.
Let no one imagine that America willescape. That America may expect mercy,
that this Western hemisphere will not beattacked, and that it will continue tranquility

(15:22):
and peacefully to carry on the ethicsand the arts of civilization. No,
if those days come, there willbe no safety by arm, no help
from authority, no answer in science. The storm will rage until every flower

(15:43):
of culture is trampled, and allhuman beings are leveled in a vast chaos.
If those days are not to cometo pass, if we are to
have a world in which we canbreathe freely and live in amity without fear,

(16:06):
then the peace loving nations must makea concerted effort to uphold laws and
principles on which alone peace can restsecure. The peace loving nations must make

(16:30):
a concerted effort in opposition to thoseviolations of treaties and those ignorings of humane
instincts, which today are creating astate of international anarchy, international instability from
which there is norse gate through mereisolation or neutrality. Those who cherish the

(16:55):
freedom and recognize and respect the rightsof their neighbors to be free and live
in peace must work together or thetriumph of law and moral principle in order
that peace, justice, and confidencemay prevail throughout the world. There must

(17:19):
be a return to a belief inthe pledged word, in the value of
a signed treaty. There must berecognition of the fact that national morality is
as vital as private morality. Abishop wrote to me the other day,

(17:48):
it seems to me that something greatlyneeds to be said in behalf of ordinary
humanity against the present practice of carryingthe horrors of war to helpless civilians,
especially women and children. It maybe that such a protest may be regarded

(18:11):
by many who claim to be realistsas futile. But may it not be
that the heart of mankind is sofilled with horror at the present needless suffering
that that force could be mobilized insufficient volume to lessen such cruelly in the
day's ahead. Even though it maytake twenty years, which God forbid,

(18:37):
or civilization to make effective its corporateprotest against this barbarism, Surely strong voices
may hasten the day. There isa solidarity, an interdependence about the modern
world, both technically and morally,which makes it impossible for any nation completely

(19:04):
to isolate itself from political and economicupheavals in the rest of the world,
especially when such upheavals appear to bespreading and not declining. There can be
no stability of peace, either withinnations or between nations, except under laws

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and moral standards adhered too by all. International anarchy destroys every foundation for peace.
It jeopardizes either the immediate or thefuture security of every nation, large
or small. And it is thereforea matter of vital interest and concern to

(19:53):
the people of the United States thatthe sanctity of international treaties and the maintenance
of international morality be restored. Theoverwhelming majority of all the peoples and nations
of the world today want to livein peace. They seek the removal of

(20:14):
barriers against trade. They want toexert themselves in industry, in agriculture,
in business, that they may increasetheir wealth through the production of wealth producing
goods, rather than striving to producemilitary planes and bombs and machine guns and

(20:36):
cannon for the destruction of human livesand useful property. In those nations of
the world which seem to be pilingarmament on armament for purposes of aggression,
and those other nations which fear actsof aggression against them and their security,

(20:57):
a very high proportion of their nationalincome is being spent today directly for armament.
It runs from thirty to as highas fifty percent in most of those
cases. We are fortunate the proportionthat we spend in the United States is

(21:18):
far less eleven or twelve percent.How happy we are that the circumstances of
the moment permit us to put ourmoney into bridges and boulevards, dams and
reforestations, the conservation of our soil, and many other kinds of useful works,

(21:41):
rather than in a huge standing armiesand baths supplies our implements of war.
Nevertheless, my friends, I amcompelled and you are compelled to look
ahead. The peace, the freedom, the security of ninety percent of the

(22:08):
population of the world is being jeopardizedby the remaining ten percent, who are
threatening a breakdown of all international orderand law. Surely, the ninety percent,
who want to live in peace,under law and in accordance with moral
standards that have received almost universal acceptancethrough the centuries, can and must find

(22:36):
some way to make their will prevail. Yes, the situation is definitely of
universal concern. The questions involved relatenot merely to violations of specific provisions of
particular treaties. They are questions ofwar and peace, of international law,

(22:59):
and the especially our principles of humanity. It is true that they involve definite
violations of agreements and especially in theCovenant of the League of Nations, the
Brior Kellogg Pact and the Nine PowerTreaty, and we have signed both of
the last two. But they involvealso problems of world economy, world security,

(23:29):
and world humanity. It is truethat the moral consciousness of the world
must recognize the importance of removing injusticesand well found grievances, but at the
same time it must be aroused tothe cardinal necessity of honoring sanctity of treaties,

(23:52):
of respecting the rights and the libertiesof others, and are putting an
end to acts of international aggression.It seems to be unfortunately true that the
epidemic of world lawlessness is spreading,and mark this well. When an epidemic

(24:15):
a physical disease starts to spread,the community approves and joins in a quarantine
of the patience in order to protectthe health of the community against the spread
of the disease. It is mydetermination to pursue a policy of peace.

(24:48):
It is my determination to adopt everypracticable measure to avoid involvement in war.
It ought to be inconceivable that,in this modern era, and in the
face of experience, any nation couldbe so foolish and ruthless as to run

(25:15):
the risk of plunging the whole worldin the war by invading and violating,
in contravention of solemn treaties the territoryof other nations that have done them no
real harm, and which are tooweak to protect themselves adequately. Yet,
the peace of the world, andthe welfare and security of every nation,

(25:37):
including our own, is today beingthreatened by that very thing. No nation
which refuses to exercise for parents andto respect the freedom and the rights of
others, can long remain strong andretain the confidence and respect of nations.

(26:00):
No nation ever loses its dignity orits good standing by conciliating its differences and
by exercising great patience, patients withand consideration for the rights of other nations.
War is a contagion, whether itbe declared or undeclared, it can

(26:26):
engulf states and peoples remote from theoriginal scene of hostilities. Yes, we
are determined to keep up. Yeswe are determined to keep up. Yes
we are determined to keep out ofone. But we cannot have complete protection
in a world of disorder, inwhich confidence and security have broken down.

(26:52):
If civilization is to survive, theprinciples of the Prince of Peace must be
restored. Shuddered trust between nations mustbe revived. Most important of all,

(27:14):
the will for peace on the partof peace loving nations must express itself to
the end that nations that may betempted to violate their agreements and the rights
about us will desist from such acause. There must be positive endeavors to

(27:36):
preserve peace. America hates war.America America hopes for peace. Therefore,
America actively engages in the search forpeace. Ladies and gentlemen, you have

(28:04):
heard the President of the United Statesspeaking from Chicago. His address was delivered
on the occasion of the dedication ofthe Outer Link Bridge, the last link
in the Great Lake Shore Outer Driveconnecting the north and south sides of Chicago.
While this program is centered about acivic betterment project, the President's address
has been of far reaching worldwide importance. He was speaking to you from the

(28:26):
special platform filled with notables of cityand nation. Before him were the press
tables, and beyond the thousands andthousands of citizens who waited four hours for
the arrival of and the address ofthe President. President Roosevelt is nearing the
end of his seven thousand mile crosscountry trip into the far West. His
specialist train arrived at Union Station inChicago at nine thirty this morning, and
an hour later he left his privatecar to begin the drive through crowd line

(28:49):
flagbed X Street. After leaving here, he will be the first to cross
the new bridge. From the bridge, the President will motor to the residents
of his eminent George Cardinal Underline forluncheon later he will again train and begin
his trip back to the East.The President was introduced by his honor,
Mayor Edward J. Kelly of Chicago. This broadcast from the nation's second city

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has reached you through the National BroadcastingCompany.