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September 27, 2005
Supporting the President in the time of war
I protest at the United States' using pressure on Democratic Finland on behalf of Communist Russia. The independence of Finland from Russia twenty years ago was largely an American creation. The name of Woodrow Wilson stands on a score of Finnish landmarks. We set Finland on her feet. The Finns were the only people in Europe who repaid the money we loaned them. Only two years ago this peaceful little nation was outrageously attacked by Communist Russia. Our whole country heralded it as the most heroic stand of democracy since Thermopylae. The Finns, to save something, surrendered a third of their country to Russia. The the Communists drove six hundred thousand Finnish men, women and children from the homes they had held for 500 years without even bedclothes to protect them from the winter. True their armies have gone into Karelia, but that was formerly also mostly Finnish. Can America reproach them for taking the first chance to recover these homes and their former countrymen?--Herbert Hoover, Nov. 4, 1941
(From Addresses Upon the American Road: World War II, 1941-1945.)
One of the first of many, many attacks on President Roosevelt by Republicans in the years 1941-45. Search around, you'll find lots. Note the three uses of "Communist".
Of course, morally speaking Hoover was certainly right. From a realpolitik perspective, he was totally wrong.
Posted by Mac Thomason at September 27, 2005 09:55 AM
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Comments
While I don't doubt that there were Republicans criticizing Roosevelt during the war, you chose the wrong quote. The United States wasn't at war on November 4th, 1941.
Well, at least not a declared one. We had pretty much made a mockery of our neutrality by Lend-Lease, claiming half the Atlantic Ocean as our territory, and allowing British warships to refit and refuel in American ports (not that I disagree with any of these steps, they were necessary for the survival of the free world).
For what it's worth, I really can't blame the Finns for siding with Germany against Russia. I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with love for Nazism.
Posted by: Bill McCabe at September 27, 2005 07:24 PM
Oh, we were at war, don't doubt that.
Posted by: Mac Thomason at September 27, 2005 07:54 PM
I also suspect it may be a typo. In the book, it falls immediately after reaction to Pearl Harbor, and is the only item dated before Pearl.
Posted by: Mac Thomason at September 28, 2005 04:46 PM