Battle Stations

The U.S. is at war with Germany.

Franklin Roosevelt this week did not declare war--only Congress can do that.

But he said plainly in a fighting speech, at a Navy League dinner in Washington:

"We have wished to avoid shooting. But the shooting has started. And history has recorded who fired the first shot."

It was the President's first major statement of U.S. policy in five months--since that night last May when he proclaimed a state of unlimited emergency.

Much had happened since that night in the spring. U.S. forces had occupied Iceland. U.S. bombers had begun to shuttle like suburban trains across the Atlantic.

A U.S. mission had flown to Moscow.

U.S. freighters stretched a lengthening line of supplies to all the enemies of Adolf Hitler. U.S. destroyers ranged the Atlantic, hunting down Nazi submarines.

Two of those destroyers had been attacked.

Eleven U.S. sailors had died in action.

In a fighting speech, Franklin Roosevelt explained what all this meant. "The purpose of Hitler's attack," said he, "was to frighten the American people off the high seas. . . . This is not the first time he has misjudged the American spirit. That spirit is now aroused. . . . Our ships have been sunk and our sailors have been killed. I say that we do not propose to take this lying down." He chose a significant night to tell his story. Navy Day is the birthday of another fighting Roosevelt, who worked hard to build up U.S. power on the sea. It was this day that Franklin Roosevelt picked. In the vast Gold Ballroom of Washington's Mayflower Hotel, flanked by Generals and by Admirals in gold braid, the President told how it came about that the U.S. is now fighting a war at sea.

Secret Documents. Hitler attacked first, said President Roosevelt,.reciting the bloody tale of the U.S.S. Kearny.* He added grimly that it will not matter who fired the first shot: "All that will matter is who fired the last shot." The attack on the Kearny was no chance encounter, said the President. It was part of a long-range Nazi plan -- first to drive U.S. shipping off the seas, then to dominate the Americas. For proof, he men tioned a secret map which, he said, "I have in my possession . . . made in Ger many by Hitler's Government -- by the planners of the New World Order. It is a map of South America and a part of Central America, as Hitler proposes to reorganize it. ... The geographical experts of Berlin . . . have divided South America into five vassal States, bringing the whole continent under their domination.

And they have also so arranged it that the territory of one of these new puppet States includes the Republic of Panama and our great lifeline--the Panama Canal."

The President went on to describe another secret Nazi document. "It is a plan to abolish all existing religions--Protestant, Catholic, Mohammedan, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish alike. The property of all churches will be seized by the Reich. ... In the place of the churches of our civilization, there is to be set up an international Nazi church. ... In the place of the Bible, the words of Mein Kampf will be imposed and enforced as Holy Writ. And in place of the Cross of Christ will be put two symbols--the swastika and the naked sword. . . ."

Decks Cleared. All this, said President Roosevelt, explains why the U.S. has been forced against its will into a war to defeat Hitler. That Hitler can be stopped, the President did not doubt. "The facts of 1918 are proof that a mighty German Army and a tired German people can crumble rapidly and go to pieces when they are faced with successful resistance." To the U.S. people, on Navy Day, Commander in Chief Roosevelt reported his order of the day. "In the face of this newest and greatest challenge, we Americans have cleared our decks and taken our battle stations. We stand ready in the defense of our nation. . . ."

* At another Navy Day celebration in Philadelphia, Under Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal for the first time reported details of the terrific blast that damaged the Kearny, worse than any other destroyer ever was damaged without sinking. Said he: "The Kearny suffered a direct hit from a torpedo abreast of the boiler room on the starboard side, and the resulting explosion not only opened up that side of the ship but blew out the deck overhead and part of the superstructure. Yet, in spite of this very substantial damage, the ship not merely remained afloat but proceeded under its own power to port."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.