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Department of State Bulletin, vol. I, p. 157
President Roosevelt to the
Chancelor of Germany (Hitler) [Telegram]
AUGUST 24, 1939.
In the message which I sent to you on April
14 last I stated that it appeared to me that the leaders of great nations had
it in their power to liberate their peoples from the disaster that impended,
but that unless the effort were immediately made with good will on all sides to
find a peaceful and constructive solution of existing controversies, the crisis
which the world was confronting must end in catastrophe. Today that catastrophe
appears to be very near at hand indeed.
To the message which I sent to you last April
I have received no reply, but because of my confident belief that the cause of
world peace—which is the cause of humanity itself—rises above all other
considerations, I am again addressing myself to you with the hope "that
the war which impends and the consequent disaster to all peoples everywhere may
yet be averted.
I therefore urge with all earnestness—and I
am likewise urging the President of the Republic of Poland—that the Governments
of Germany and of Poland agree by common accord to refrain from positive act of
hostility for a reasonable and stipulated period, that they agree likewise by
common accord to solve the controversies which have arisen between them by one
of the three following methods: first, by direct negotiation; second, by
submission of these controversies to an impartial arbitration in which they can
both have confidence; or, third, that they agree to the solution of these
controversies through the procedure of conciliation, selecting as conciliator
or moderator a national of one of the traditionally neutral states of Europe,
or a national of one of the American republics which are all of them free from
any connection with or participation in European political affairs.
Both Poland and Germany being sovereign
governments, it is understood, of course, that upon resort to any one of the
alternatives I suggest, each nation will agree to accord complete respect to
the independence and territorial integrity of the other.
The people of the United States are as one in
their opposition to policies of military conquest and domination. They are as
one in rejecting the thesis that any ruler, or any people, possess the right
achieve their ends or objectives through the taking of action
477
DOCUMENTS
which will plunge countless millions of people into war and which will
bring distress and suffering to every nation of the world, belligerent and
neutral, when such ends and objectives, so far as they are just and reasonable,
can be satisfied through processes of peaceful negotiation or by resort to
judicial arbitration.
I appeal to you in the name of the people of
the United States, and I believe in the name of peace-loving men and women
everywhere, to agree to the solution of the controversies existing between your
Government and that of Poland through the adoption of one of the alternative
methods I have proposed. I need hardly reiterate that should the Governments of
Germany and of Poland be willing to solve their differences in the peaceful
manner suggested, the Government of the United States still stands prepared to
contribute its share to the solution of the problems which are endangering
world peace in the form set forth in my message of April 14.
FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT