President Roosevelt warned last night of the “undiluted poison” of racial and political discord spread by the Fifth Column to create paralysis and panic.
In a broadcast fireside chat on the defense program, the President asserted that campaigns of group hatred were not making headway in American and asserted that “our moral and mental defenses must be raised as never before against those who would cast a smoke screen across our vision.”
The President explained: “The method is simple. First, discord. A group-not too large -a group that may be sectional or racial or political-is encouraged to exploit their prejudices through false slogans and emotional appeals. The aim of those who deliberately egg on these groups is to create confusion of counsel, public indecision, political paralysis and eventually a state of panic.”
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