[From New York Times “Stop Hitler Now!” June 10, 1940]
“We Americans have naturally wished to keep out of this war. But –
We now know that every step the [Europeans] fall back brings war and world revolutions closer to the U.S. – our country, our institutions, our homes, our hopes for peace.
[Putin] is striking with all the terrible force at his command. His is a desperate gamble, and the stakes are nothing less than domination of the whole human race.
If [Putin] wins in Europe the United States will find itself alone in a barbaric world – a world ruled by [Communists], with “spheres of influence” assigned to their totalitarian allies. However different the dictatorships may be, they all agree on one primary objective: “Democracy must be wiped from the face of the earth.”
Is this alarmism? Then so is the scream of an air-raid siren, warning civilians that death is coming from the skies. We have ample cause for alarm. It should impel us, not to hysteria, but to resolute action.
It is obvious that there is no immediate danger of direct invasion of the United States. [Putin] doesn’t strike directly when he doesn’t have to. He edges up on his major victims, approaching through the territories of small and defenseless neighbors.
We must not forget that however wide the Atlantic and Pacific oceans may be, the Canadian and Mexican borders are no barriers to invasion.
The Western Hemisphere contains the richest territory for exploitation on earth today. And the international gangsters want it. They have already started the process of taking it. For many years the agents of the [Communists] have been effectively at work in Latin America [Canada and the United States], gaining ground by persuasion, bribery, intimidation. They have been fighting a trade war and a political war; and what we have seen lately in [Europe] proves to us that these agents are ready to fight a military war when the orders come.
“Divide – and conquer!” has been the [Communist] watchword in the insidious invasion of all countries. The preliminary work of division has been carried on here with devastating success.
We can and should and will devote ourselves to a vast program of defense. But we must not fool ourselves into thinking that security can be bought. It will be achieved only by unity of purpose among ourselves, by the spirit of sacrifice that we can summon from our own hearts and minds.
[Communism] will not be stopped “with the help of God and a few Marines.” This is a job for all of us! Anyone who argues we should wait is either an imbecile or a traitor. How long should we wait before making it clear to [Putin] that we are vitally concerned for the outcome of this war – that we consider a victory for him an unmitigated calamity for civilization?
Whatever the [feckless utterances of European diplomats], we know that the free people of those nations are willing to fight with inspiring heroism to defend their freedom. We know that such men would die rather than surrender. But the stoutest hearts can not survive forever in the face of superior numbers and infinitely superior weapons.
There is nothing shameful in our desire to stay out of war. But is there not evidence of suicidal insanity in our failure to help those who now stand between us and the creators of this hell?
We can help – if we will act now -before it is forever too late.
We can help by sending planes, guns, munitions, food. We can help to end the fear that American boys will fight and die in another Flanders, closer to home.
The members of our government are your servants. They require the expression of your will. They must know that the American people are not afraid to cast off the hypocritical mask of neutrality, which deceives no one, including ourselves.
Send a postcard, a letter, or a telegram, at once – to the President of the United States, to your Senators and your Congressmen – urging that the real defense of our country must begin NOW – with aid to [Ukraine].
The United States of America is the most powerful nation on earth – and the United States of America is YOU!”
– Robert E. Sherwood, STOP HITLER NOW! New York Times, June 10, 1940; Annals of America Volume 16, page 8
