The military arrangements made at Berlin were of course secret.
On our program, that was the most important item. It was the winning of the war against Japan. But there was one strictly military matter uppermost in the minds of the American delegates. The conference was concerned with many political and economic questions. Without their hard work and sound advice the conference would have been unable to accomplish as much as it did. am thankful also to the other members of the American delegation-Admiral Leahy and Ambassadors Harriman, Davies, and Pauley-and to the entire American staff. I want to express my thanks for the excellent services which were rendered at this conference by Secretary of State Byrnes, and which were highly commended by the leaders of the other two powers. There were no secret agreements or commitments-apart from current military arrangements.Īnd it was made perfectly plain to my colleagues at the conference that, under our Constitution, the President has no power to make any treaties without ratification by the Senate of the United States. The results of the Berlin conference have been published. And so thoroughly had they done their jobs that we were able to carry on and to reach many agreements essential to the future peace and security of the world. Each of them seems to have been ordained to lead his country in its hour of greatest need. Each had made a great contribution toward establishing and maintaining a lasting world peace. Each had done his work toward winning this war. Two of the three conferees of Teheran and Yalta were missing by the end of this conference. There was a fundamental accord and agreement upon the objectives ahead of us. And it was clear that those foundations rested upon much more than the personal friendships of three individuals. Strong foundations of good will and cooperation had been laid by President Roosevelt. In the conference of Berlin, it was easy for me to get along in mutual understanding and friendship with Generalissimo Stalin, with Prime Minister Churchill, and later with Prime Minister Attlee. That will be the guiding spirit in the peace settlements to come. That was the guiding spirit in the conference of Berlin.
That was the guiding spirit in the conference at San Francisco. We can never permit any aggressor in the future to be clever enough to divide us or strong enough to defeat us. That is why the United Nations are determined to remain united and strong. That is why the United Nations are determined that there shall be no next war. What we are doing to Japan now-even with the new atomic bomb-is only a small fraction of what would happen to the world in a third World War. No one can foresee what another war would mean to our own cities and our own people. We will acquire them by arrangements consistent with the United Nations Charter. Bases which our military experts deem to be essential for our protection, and which are not now in our possession, we will acquire. That is why, though the United States wants no territory or profit or selfish advantage out of this war, we are going to maintain the military bases necessary for the complete protection of our interests and of world peace. We must do all we can to spare her from the ravages of any future breach of the peace. How glad I am to be home again! And how grateful to Almighty God that this land of ours has been spared! We also saw some of the terrific destruction which the war had brought to the occupied countries of Western Europe and to England. The German people are beginning to atone for the crimes of the gangsters whom they placed in power and whom they wholeheartedly approved and obediently followed. It has come home in all the frightfulness with which the German leaders started and waged it. War has indeed come home to Germany and to the German people. German women and children and old men were wandering over the highways, returning to bombed-out homes or leaving bombed out cities, searching for food and shelter. We flew over the remains of Kassel, Magdeburg, and other devastated cities. Our party also visited what is left of Frankfurt and Darmstadt. The buildings are in ruins, its economy and its people are in ruins.
I have just returned from Berlin, the city from which the Germans intended to rule the world.
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