FDR

It is actual collaboration so well calculated that all the continents of the world, and all the oceans, are now considered by the Axis strategists as one gigantic battlefield.

The course that Japan has followed for the past ten years in Asia has paralleled the course of Hitler and Mussolini in Europe and in Africa.

And no honest person, today or a thousand years hence, will be able to suppress a sense of indignation and horror at the treachery committed by the military dictators of Japan, under the very shadow of the flag of peace borne by their…

I can say with utmost confidence that no Americans, today or a thousand years hence, need feel anything but pride in our patience and in our efforts through all the years toward achieving a peace in the Pacific which would be fair and…

Together with other free peoples, we are now fighting to maintain our right to live among our world neighbors in freedom, in common decency, without fear of assault.

The Japanese have treacherously violated the long-standing peace between us.

Powerful and resourceful gangsters have banded together to make war upon the whole human race.

The sudden criminal attacks perpetrated by the Japanese in the Pacific provide the climax of a decade of international immorality.

And with that inner strength that comes to a free people conscious of their duty, and conscious of the righteousness of what they do, they will--with Divine help and guidance--stand their ground against this latest assault upon their…

They know that the times call for clear heads and fearless hearts.

They know the necessities of a bold defense against these attacks.

The American people have faced other grave crises in their history--with American courage, and with American resolution.

This is the only step possible, if we would keep tight the wall of defense which we are pledged to maintain around this Western Hemisphere.

That is the clear right of this sovereign nation.

From now on, if German or Italian vessels of war enter the waters, the protection of which is necessary for American defense, they do so at their own peril.

That means, very simply, very clearly, that our patrolling vessels and planes will protect all merchant ships--not only American ships but ships of any flag--engaged in commerce in our defensive waters.

In the waters which we deem necessary for our defense, American naval vessels and American planes will no longer wait until Axis submarines lurking under the water, or Axis raiders on the surface of the sea, strike their deadly blow--first.

Their very presence in any waters which America deems vital to its defense constitutes an attack.

Let us not ask ourselves whether the Americas should begin to defend themselves after the first attack, or the fifth attack, or the tenth attack, or the twentieth attack.

A continuation of attacks in our own waters or in waters that could be used for further and greater attacks on us, will inevitably weaken our American ability to repel Hitlerism.

It is clear to all Americans that the time has come when the Americas themselves must now be defended.

They hammer at our most precious rights when they attack ships of the American flag-- symbols of our independence, our freedom, our very life.

These Nazi submarines and raiders are the rattlesnakes of the Atlantic.

But when you see a rattlesnake poised to strike, you do not wait until he has struck before you crush him.

We cannot bring about the downfall of Nazism by the use of long-range invective.