Civilization’s hope –
Roosevelt’s last speech released
Plea for world to live together quoted
WASHINGTON (UP) – If Franklin D. Roosevelt had lived to address the Jefferson Day Dinner here tonight, he would have told his listeners that all of the peoples of the world must learn to live together in peace if civilization is to survive.
The last public address Mr. Roosevelt prepared was ready for delivery when he died. In it, he revealed his great concern for the pattern of the world’s future when hostilities end.
The nation, he said, does not intend to abandon its determination that there shall be no third world war.
Mr. Roosevelt wrote:
We seek peace – enduring peace.
More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars – yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling differences between governments.
But the mere conquest of our enemies is not enough.
Today we are faced with the pre-eminent fact that if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together and work together, in the same world, at peace.
The work ahead, Mr. Roosevelt wrote, is peace.
He wrote:
Today, as we move against the terrible scourge of war as we go forward to the greatest contribution that any generation of human beings can make in this world, the contribution of lasting peace, I ask you to keep up your faith.
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.
The late President pointed to the lesson the nation learned in the time of Thomas Jefferson, another great American President his audience was to have gathered to honor. That lesson, he said, was that America could not avoid the consequences of attacks by the Barbary Coast Corsairs.
Recognizing the nearness of military victory and its significance on peace plans, Mr. Roosevelt wrote:
The once-powerful, malignant Nazi state is crumbling. The Japanese warlords are receiving, in their own homeland, the retribution for which they asked when they attacked Pearl Harbor.
We must go on to do all in our power to conquer the doubts and the fears, the ignorance and the greed, which made this horror possible.