Brief introduction to the speaker :

Herber Hoover (1874-1964) When United States voters elected Herbert Hoover, who had established a worldwide reputation as mining engineer, writer, and war-relief administrator, 31st president in 1928, the country was enjoying an industrial and financial boom. Within seven months of his taking office, however, the country was swallowed up in the Great Depression that swept the entire world. Hoover's conservative economics were inappropriate for dealing with the crisis. By the end of his term more than 12 million people were unemployed. Blamed for the hard times, he was defeated in the 1932 election.

Fellow Americans of the radio audience, this is one of the saddest weeks that has come to humanity in a hundred years. A senseless war seems inevitably forced upon hundreds of millions of people. The whole world still prays for some miracle that might deliver us. For war means the killing of millions of the best and the most courageous of men who might contribute something to human progress. It means the kil1ing and starvation ofmil1ions of women and children. It means another quarter of a century of impoverishment for the whole world. And it will likely be a long war, it is possible that the brave people of Poland may be overrun in a few months, but there seems no point of access from which an overwhelming attack can be delivered from the British and French on one side, to the Germans on the other, which might quickly end this war. It's like1y to be a war of slow attrition, and the fate of Poland will depend upon its ending. The air defenses of France and England, their greatly superior nava1 strength, their manpower resources, their resolution, make it certain that they can defend themselves. And it is true that vast fleets of airplanes on both sides contribute a new and uncertain factor, but there is nothing which proves that even the superiority in airplanes can win the war. And while assurances have been given that there will be no bombing of women and children, there may come a time of desperation when all restraints go to the winds It's likely to be the most barbarous war that we have ever known.

This situation in the world today is not the act of the German people themselves, it's the act of a group who hold them in subjection. The whole Nazi system is repugnant to the American people. The most of American sympathy will be to the democracies, but whatever our sympathies are, we cannot solve the problems of Europe. America must keep out of this war. The President and the Congress should be supported in their every efforts to keep us out. We can keep out, if we have the resolute national will to do so. We can be of more service to Europe and to humanity if we preserve the vitality and strength of the United States for use in the period of peace
which must sometime come. And we must keep out if we are to preserve for civilization the very foundations of democracy and of free men.

演讲者简介：

当美国选民于1928年选举赫伯特·胡佛，一个世界著名的矿业工程师、作家和战争亲善官，当美国第三十一任总统时，美国的工业和金融业正处繁荣时期。然而，他上任后七个月，全国即被世界性的经济萧条所席卷。胡弗保守的经济政策不适于处理这一危机。他任期届满时，全国已有一千二百万人失业。他因这段艰难岁月受到指责，在1932年大选中败下阵来。

收音机前的美国同胞们，这是近百年来人类最悲痛的一个星期。一场毫无意义的战争强加到亿万人民头上。整个世界仍在祈求奇迹出现，拯救众生。因为战争意味着数百万可能为人类进步作出贡献的最优秀、最勇敢的栋梁之材的牺牲；意味着数百万妇女儿童惨遭杀害，饥饿而死；意味着本世纪的随后二十五年世界资源枯竭，陷入穷困。这极可能是场旷日持久的战争。几个月后，勇敢的波兰人民也许就会遭人蹂躏，但无论是英法方面，还是德国方面看来都没有绝对的优势可以尽快结束这场战争。这场消耗战将决定波兰的命运。英国和法国牢固的空中防御，强大的海上力量，充裕的人力物力和不屈不挠的精神，确保了他们自卫的能力。但同时，双方庞大的战机队，也给战争带来新的、不确定的因素。当然战争的胜负不仅仅取决于空中的力量。虽然双方都保证绝不将炸弹投向妇孺，然而一旦双方都毫无顾忌时，可怕的日子将随之而来。这将会是一场我们所知道的最残忍的战争。

当今世界的形势不是德国人民本身，而是由统治德国人民的那伙人造成的。整个纳粹体制令我们厌恶。绝大多数的美国人民赞成民主的体制。可是不论我们赞成什么，都不能解决欧洲的问题。美国应该置身战争之外。总统和国会为此所做的一切努力都应得到支持；美国可以置身战争之外，只要全国人民意志坚定。如果我们将美国的生机和力量用于必将到来的和平，我们就能为欧洲和人类作出更大的贡献。为了我们的文明而捍卫民主与自由，我们也必须置身战争之外。