Message of President Roosevelt to the Congress, May 16, 1933
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To the Congress:
For the information of the Congress I am sending herewith a message that I
have addressed this morning to the sovereigns and presidents of those
nations participating in the Disarmament Conference and the World Monetary
and Economic Conference. [l3]
I was impelled to this action because it has become increasingly evident
that the assurance. of world political and economic peace and stability is
threatened by selfish and short-sighted policies, actions and threats of
actions.
The sincere wish for this assurance by an overwhelming majority of the
nations faces the danger of recalcitrant obstruction by a very small
minority, just as in the domestic field the good purposes of a majority in
business, labor or in other cooperative efforts are often frustrated by a
selfish few.
The deep-rooted desire of Americans for better living conditions and for
the
avoidance of war is shared by mass humanity in every country. As a means
to
this end, I have in the message to the various nations, stressed the
practical necessity of reducing armaments. It is high time for us and for
every other nation to understand the simple fact that the invasion of any
nation, or the destruction of a national sovereignty, can be prevented
only
by the complete elimination of the weapons that make such a course
possible
today.
Such an elimination will make the little nation relatively more secure
against the great nation.
Furthermore, permanent defenses are a nonrecurring charge against
governmental budgets while large armies, continually rearmed with improved
offensive weapons, constitute a recurring charge. This, more than any
other
factor today is responsible for governmental deficits and threatened
bankruptcy.
The way to disarm is to disarm. The way to prevent invasion is to make it
impossible.
I have asked for an agreement among nations on four practical and
simultaneous steps:
First, that through a series of steps the weapons of offensive warfare be
eliminated;
Second, that the first definite step be taken now;
Third, that while these steps are being taken no nation shall increase
existing armaments over and above the limitations of treaty obligations;
Fourth, that subject to existing treaty rights no nation during the
disarmament period shall send any armed force of whatsoever nature across
its own borders.
Our people realize that weapons of offense are needed only if other
nations
have them and they will freely give them up if all the nations of the
world
will do likewise.
In the domestic field the Congress has labored in sympathetic
understanding
with me for the improvement of social conditions, for the preservation of
individual human rights, and for the furtherance of social justice.
In the message to the nations which I herewith transmit I have named the
same objectives. It is in order to assure these great human values that we
seek peace by ridding the world of the weapons of aggression and attack..
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
May 16, 1933.
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