Roosevelt, in New Blow at Totalitarian States, Calls on U.S. to Uphold Democracy

Declaring that America’s action would influence history for centuries to come, president Roosevelt today called upon the nation to maintain “successful democracy” at home, for “many other democracies look to us for leadership that world democracy might survive.”

The President’s speech, which referred to “regimented people whose every thought and act on is directed by one man or two men,” gained added significance as his first public utterance since his conferences on persecution of racial and religious minorities abroad with the Ambassadors to Germany and Italy, which will be resumed tomorrow.

Mr. Roosevelt spoke before the political forum of the University of North Carolina, which conferred on him an honorary degree. In introducing him, the dean of the university made reference to his utterances regarding “oppressed minorities.”

“There may be those,” the President said in the concluding portion of his address, “who believe that regimented people whose every thought and action is directed by one man or two men may give some people a type of security which is pleasing to them. But whatever convictions I have none is stronger than my abiding belief that the security and well-being of the American people can best be served by the democratic processes which have made this country strong and great.

“The future, however, rests not on chance alone, not on mere conservatism, mere smugness, mere fatalism, but on the affirmative action which we take in America. What America does or fails to do in the next few years has a far greater bearing and influence on the history of the whole human race for centuries to come than most of us who are here today can ever conceive. We are not only the largest and most powerful democracy in the whole world, but many other democracies look to us for leadership that world democracy might survive.

“I am speaking not of the external policies of the United States. They are exerted on the side of peace and they are exerted even more strongly than ever before toward the self-preservation of democracies through the assurance of peace. What I would emphasize is the maintenance of successful democracy at home. Necessarily democratic methods within a nation’s life entail change — the kind of change through legal processes described by Mr. Justice Cardozo, the kind of change to meet new social and economic needs through recognized processes of government.”

At the opening of his address the President had explained the philosophy of Justice Cardozo by saying: “A very old friend of mine, the late Justice Cardozo of the Supreme Court of the United States, said this a five years ago: ‘We live in a world of change. If a body of law were in existence adequate for the civilization of today, it could not meet the demands of tomorrow. Society is inconstant. So long as it is inconstant there can be no constancy in law. Law defines a relationship not always between fixed points but often between points of varying position. There is change whether we will it or not.'”