The League

". . . (Complete opposition to the League in any form) means that the United States withdraws from the Society of Nations and throws away all chance of paying dividends on the capital in men and ideals she invested in the war . . . A tremendous majority (in the College straw ballot) for a compromise between the Senator Lodge and Democratic reservations in order to facilitate the ratification alone can show that college men have appreciated the issue. It must not fail." (January 13, 1920)

Roosevelt - I

". . . The first duty of the new administration is obviously to restore confidence in the banking system . . . first of all ... a national bank holiday of about a week ... Whatever solution is put into effect, the era of incompetent banking, banking that exists in so many cases for the maximum of private gain and the minimum of public good must be forcibly brought to a close." (March 6, 1933)

Roosevelt - II

". . . Harvard wants recovery fully as much as its distinguished graduate; its vote yesterday (a straw ballot) damning Roosevelt policies) does not signify that it wants to return to the old deal of the twenties. It does mean that undergraduates do not want the type of recovery which can only lead to chaos through uncontrolled expenditure and through the substitution of opportunism for a definite program." (October 25, 1934)

Ethiopia

". . . History seldom offers, in its tragedies, so clear-out a role for the villain of the piece as is now occupied by Mussolini. We westerners dismissed his warlike utterances as mere sabrerattling for mass consumption. We will soon pay for refusing to face the facts." (September 25, 1935)

Neutrality

". . . This country wants a program of strict and workable neutrality in which all exports whatsoever to a country at war shall be forbidden, and it is the duty of Congress to put this through ..." (December 5, 1935)

The Crimson Fence

"Like Janus, the two-faced god of the Romans, the Crimson is looking in both directions during the period preceding its straw vote (on the Roosevelt-Landon election) . . . editorials will appear by . . . two Crimson editorial writers of opposing views. The former tends to look in the general direction of Kansas; the latter veers toward Washington." (October 3, 1936)

Munich

". . . Pressure for the repeal of the Neutrality Act has been tremendous, and Congress should act on this demand at its first chance. Then Germany and its cohorts will have been warned that America will not watch one man steal, without chastisement, the whole of Central Europe." (September 24, 1938)

Intervention

". . . Given a choice on the one hand the sure and immediate horrors and costs of war, to ourselves as individuals and to our nation as a social democracy, and on the other hand, peace now but the possibility of a German victory and some future threat to the United States as a result, we choose the latter alternative. And we think that here stands with us the vast Army of Americans." (May 17, 1940)

Handwriting

"The Crimson's stand on American Neutrality this spring has not been an easy one to uphold . . . This June morning we can still declare that coercive militarism in America boars no different stamp from militarism in Germany . . . But next September we may well be Americanized . . . and youth will be freed by definite action from skepticism and disillusionment." (June 12, 1940)

Pearl Harbor

". . . it will be no campaign of heroics and no lightning victory. We realize that we are the ones who will be manning the ships and the guns and facing the bombs and destruction of the enemy . . . We sincerely believe that we will be able to win our war . . . Then we will be the ones to face the manifold problems of establishing a just and honest and stable peace. We believe ourselves capable of accomplishing what our fathers failed to achieve. We have starry-eyed and idealistic hopes of a peace not just in our sons' time, but for all time . . ." (December 3, 1941)