Secretary of State Welles Statement on Germany's Attack on the Soviet
Union
(June 23, 1941)
If any further proof could conceivably be required
of the real purposes and projects of the present leaders of Germany
for world domination, it is now furnished by Hitler's treacherous attack upon Soviet Russia.
We see once more, beyond peradventure of doubt, with
what intent the present Government of Germany negotiates "non-aggression
pacts." To the leaders of the German Reich sworn engagements to
refrain from hostile acts against other countries-engagements regarded
in a happier and a civilized world as contracts to the faithful observance
of which the honor of nations themselves was pledged-are but a symbol
of deceit, and constitute a dire warning on the part of Germany of hostile
and murderous intent.
To the present German Government the very meaning
of the word "honor" is unknown.
This government often has stated and in many of his
public statements the President has declared that the United States
maintains that freedom to worship God as their consciences dictate is
the great and fundamental right of all peoples. This right has been
denied to their peoples by both the Nazi and the Soviet Governments.
To the people of the United States this and other
principles and doctrines of communistic dictatorship are as intolerable
and as alien to their own beliefs as are the principles and doctrines
of Nazi dictatorship. Neither kind of imposed overlordship can have,
or will have, any support or any sway in the mode of life, or in the
system of government, of the American people.
But the immediate issue that presents itself to the
people of the United States is whether the plan for universal conquest,
for the cruel and brutal enslavement of all peoples and for the ultimate
destruction of the remaining free democracies which Hitler is now desperately
trying to carry out, is to be successfully halted and defeated.
That is the present issue which faces a realistic
America. It is the issue at this moment which most directly involves
our own national defense and the security of the New World in which
we live.
In the opinion of this government, consequently, any
defense against Hitlerism, any rallying of the forces opposing Hitlerism,
from whatever source these forces may spring, will hasten the eventual
downfall of the present German leaders, and will therefore redound to
the benefit of our own defense and security.
Hitler's armies are today the chief dangers of the
Americas.
[New York Times, June 24, 1941]
[Sumner Welles was Acting Secretary of State]
Sources: ibiblio |