On the record
We ask no one to assume responsibility for us; we assume no responsibility which others must bear for themselves, unless nationality is hopelessly swallowed up in internationalism.
Said by
Warren G. Harding
Source
gutenberg.orgWarren G. Harding: “We ask no one to assume responsibility for us; we assume no responsibility which others must bear for themselves, unless…”
Editor's note · Context
Harding clarifies that the U.S. will not take on responsibilities that belong to other nations unless national identity is compromised.
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They are met here by our invitation, not in our aloofness, and they accept our hospitality because they have faith in our unselfishness and believe in our helpfulness.
I would like the Congress and the people of the Nation to believe that in a firm and considerate way we are insistent on American rights wherever they may be questioned, and deny no rights of others in the assertion of our own.
Those who assume that we played our part in the World War and later took ourselves aloof and apart, unmindful of world obligations, give scant credit to the helpful part we assume in international relationships.
Our constitutional limitations do not forbid the exercise of a moral influence, the measure of which is not less than the high purposes we have sought to serve.