WEBVTT

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I have asked the Congress to reassemble in extraordinary session in order that it may

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consider and act on the amendment of certain legislation which in my best

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judgment so alters the historic foreign policy of the United States that it

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impairs the peaceful relations of the United States with foreign nations and

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it was because of what I foresaw last January from watching the trend of

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foreign affairs and their probable effect upon us that I recommended to the

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Congress in July of this year that changes be enacted in our neutrality law

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I now ask again that such action be taken in respect to that part of the act

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which is wholly inconsistent with ancient precepts of the laws of nations

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the embargo provisions I ask it because they are in my opinion most vitally

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dangerous to American neutrality American security and above all American

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peace

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it has been erroneously said that return to that policy might bring us nearer

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war I give to you my deepened unalterable conviction based on years

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of experience as a worker in the field of international peace that by the

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repeal of the embargo the United States will more probably remain at peace than

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if the law remains that it stands today I say this because with the repeal of

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the embargo this government clearly and definitely will insist that American

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citizens and American ships keep away from the immediate perils of the actual

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zones of conflict this means less likelihood of incidents and controversies

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which tend to draw us into conflict as as they unhappily did before the last

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world war there lies the road to peace these perilous days demand cooperation

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between us without a trace of partisanship our acts must be guided by

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one single hard-headed thought keeping America out of this war