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Press Releases, vol. XVIII, p. 253
The Secretary of State to the
Honorable Louis Ludlow, House Of Representatives
WASHINGTON, February 10, 1938.
MY DEAR CONGRESSMAN:
I have your letter of February 9 [7] in which you express yourself as perplexed by "the maze of contradictions and uncertainties" with respect to the problems relating to national defense and peace, and conclude by requesting certain specific information.
I may say that being in possession, as you
doubtless are, of the texts of my public statements and published
communications which I have made on the subject of our foreign policy and our
foreign relations, you should not permit yourself to be disturbed by
affirmations from other sources which are contradictory to statements of fact
which, as a responsible official, I have repeatedly made. I have in mind
especially my statement of principles underlying all interna-
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tional law and order and normal relations between nations, on July 16,
1937; my statement of August 23, 1937; my letter to Senator Smathers of
December 13 [18], 1937; my letter to the Vice President on January 8,
1938; and numerous statements to the press in addition during the past seven
months, setting forth in almost every detail our foreign policy. You will
recall that in addition I addressed an executive meeting of some one hundred
and fifty Congressmen one evening at the House Office Building on all phases of
our foreign policy and invited questions at the conclusion. If you were not present,
I am sorry. I have in addition conferred with many Congressmen, as I have with
numerous Senators, touching any and every phase of foreign policy in which they
expressed the least interest.
Your specific inquiry reads as follows:
"1. Whether all of the
ships and auxiliary services provided for in the proposed program are regarded
as necessary for defense of our homeland and our possessions, or
"2. Whether the program
contemplates the use of some of the units in cooperation with any other nation
in any part of the world."
I am glad to have the opportunity to make
categorical statements in regard to this matter. First, in my opinion all of
the ships and auxiliary services provided for in the proposed program are
needed for the national defense of the United States and its possessions. It is
the desire of the people and of the Government of the United States that this
country be not drawn into or forced into war. It is the duty and the intention
of the Administration to make effective so far as lies within its power the
desire of the country in this as in other respects. It is the belief of those
of us who, with full sense of responsibility, advocate these increases in our
naval strength, that the making of these increases will contribute toward
attainment of that objective. As you know, in the opinion of the expert
technical authorities, our Navy, even with these increases, would not be able
to embark upon offensive or aggressive operations overseas. In our foreign
policy there is not any disposition or intent to engage in warfare.
We believe, however, that the people of this
country desire that the country be respected, that our nationals and our
interests abroad be given fair treatment, and that there should prevail in the
world conditions of peace, order, and security. This country always has exerted
its influence in support of such objectives. We believe that within the
limitations of its traditional policies it should continue to do so. If it is
prepared and known to be prepared, the likelihood
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its being drawn into trouble will either be absent or greatly diminished.
With regard to your second question, I might
refer to the letter which I wrote to Senator Pittman under date of February 7 [8],
which as read by Senator Pittman in the Senate on February 8. I am glad to
repeat or to amplify or in any other possible way restate any of the statements
which I have heretofore made public, if by so doing I can be to the least
extent helpful to you. For present purposes and in express reply to your
question, I may say, the proposed program does not contemplate the use of any
of the units in cooperation with any other nation in any part of the world. To
be still more specific, I may say that the policy I announced during last
August is still being strictly observed; that is that this Government carefully
avoids, on the one hand, extreme internationalism with its political
entanglements, and, on the other hand, extreme isolation, with its tendency to
cause other nations to believe that this nation is more or less afraid; that
while avoiding any alliances or entangling commitments, it is appropriate and
advisable, when this and other countries have common interests and common
objectives, for this Government to exchange information with governments of
such other countries, to confer with those governments, and, where practicable,
to proceed on parallel lines, but reserving always the fullest freedom of
judgment and right of independence of action.
Naturally, we believe that it is a matter of
simple common sense for nations which desire peace to cooperate in every
satisfactory and practical way toward maintaining peace. If every peaceful
nation were to insist on remaining entirely aloof from every other peaceful
nation and on pursuing a policy of armament limitation without reference to
relative armaments, the inevitable consequence would be that other nations
inclined to play lawless roles would thereby be given great encouragement and
even assistance toward so doing.
Sincerely yours,
CORDELL HULL