“Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western Hemisphere.”— President John F. Kennedy, October 22, 1962
These words of Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis threatened the survival of not only the United States, but possibly the world through the possibility of a nuclear attack. Over America’s history there have been both foreign and domestic speeches that demonstrated the issues the United States would follow and oppose. There are points in American history that our foreign policy was completely altered.
“With the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Governments who have declared their independence and maintain it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not view any interposition for the purpose of oppressing them, or controlling in any other manner their destiny, by any European power in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States. In the war between those new Governments and Spain we declared our neutrality at the time of their recognition, and to this we have adhered, and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur which, in the judgement of the competent authorities of this Government, shall make a corresponding change on the part of the United States indispensable to their security.”— President James Monroe, 1823
As large parts of the Western Hemisphere, especially in South America began to revolt against Portuguese and Spanish control, America saw an opportunity to strengthen our own national security. America fought and survived two wars since 1775, the Barbary Pirates, governed a large nation that expanded towards the northwest, and increased its agricultural and industrial might. Foreign governments, especially the British, realized that American independence would not vanish and they had to respect this country.
The “Monroe Doctrine” capitalized on the independence movements against these European countries, presented American demands that colonialism would no longer expand in the Western Hemisphere and that the United States was the lead power in this part of the world. Any additional European involvement or efforts to regain lost territories would be seen as a threat to America. About one hundred and forty years later, the words of Kennedy against Soviet military expansion in Cuba were influenced by the Monroe Doctrine to oppose the deployment of enemy missiles.
“For the first time last night, Polish military invaded our territory and attacked from our
soil. We have now been returning fire since 5:45 a.m! And from now on, we shall
repay bomb for bomb! He who fights with poison will be fought with poison
gas! He who distances himself from the rules of humane warfare conduct, cannot
expect anything from us but retaliation. I will lead this battle so long, regardlessagai whom, until the security and the rights of the Reich are secured.
For over six years I've worked on the rearmament of the German Wehrmacht. During this time we expended over 90 billion Reichsmark for this purpose. Today is the best equipped and far above any comparison with our military in 1914. My confidence in it is unshakeable! As I called up this Wehrmacht, and when I now call for sacrifice from the German people, and if necessary, all sacrifices, then I have a right to do so. Because today I am as willing as I was before to make every personal sacrifice. I ask of no German
man, something other than what I volunteered for and was always willing to
do for four years. There shall be no sacrifice in Germany that I would not take upon myself immediately”—Dictator Adolph Hitler, September 1, 1939
Hitler addressed the “so-called” crimes that have been waged against the German people and his refusal to allow a Polish attack into his nation. Whereas these false words by Hitler mentions the German attack into Poland, it lead to a destructive war. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had two major events on this day, first this war, secondly was the promotion of General George C. Marshall as the Army Chief of Staff. As Hitler’s forces overran the Polish military, many Americans strictly adhered to isolationism. There were fears that another war would lose Americans in battle, as our nation was still reeling from the Great Depression.
Marshall’s military relied on horse cavalry, few modern tanks, planes, weapons, and insight. As the Axis conquered parts of Europe and Asia, Americans distributed rakes and shovels during the Civilian Conservation Corps. Marshall was forced to remove older army officers, deal with a defiant congress to support military growth, and quickly established the first peace time draft. Hitler’s actions carried anxiety toRoosevelt and Marshall who understood at this moment that America was unable to defeat these powers.
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow. Athens alone -- Greece with its immortal glories -- is free to decide its future at an election under British, American and French observation.”— Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, 1946.
After World War II, the Allies quickly went from friends to adversaries, especially over the expansion of communism in parts of Europe and Asia. During the end of the war, Churchill feared that Soviet liberation in Eastern Europe resulted in occupation of these countries until the end of the Cold War in 1989. Churchill realized that Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin had to be halted. Unlike after World War I, where America did not accept the Treaty of Versailles and the involvement within European affairs, this policy changed in 1946. President Hary S. Truman kept American troops in Europe, provided aid in Europe through the Marshall Plan. Americans feared the “Red Scare,” but Churchill’s beliefs presented a change in global leadership that relied on the United States to lead the free nations around the world against this hostile threat.
Quickly, Stalin tried to prevent the American, British, and French from holding onto West Berlin through the “Berlin Airlift.” Americans who were hardened from the horrors of World War II, fully understood the need to meet this monumental threat. For nearly forty-five years, American leadership opposed communist threats from the Soviet access to a nuclear bomb, the Korean & Vietnam War, and the strategy of President Ronald Reagan to outspend the Soviets in the 1980’s, to overturn this communist power that was bent on expansion.