Quarantine Speech

{{Short description|1937 speech by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt}}

{{Italic title}}__NOTOC__

The Quarantine Speech was a speech given by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt in Chicago on October 5, 1937. The speech called for an international "quarantine" against the "epidemic of world lawlessness" by aggressive nations as an alternative to the political climate of American neutrality and non-intervention that was prevalent at the time. No countries were directly mentioned in the speech, although it was interpreted as referring to the Empire of Japan, the Kingdom of Italy, and Nazi Germany.{{cite book |author=Patrick J. Maney |url=https://archive.org/details/rooseveltpresenc00mane |title=The Roosevelt presence: the life and legacy of FDR |publisher=University of California Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-520-21637-2 |page=[https://archive.org/details/rooseveltpresenc00mane/page/114 114] |quote=quarantine speech italy japan. |url-access=registration}} Roosevelt suggested the use of economic pressure, a forceful response, but less direct than outright aggression. The speech was given at the dedication of the Outer Drive Bridge between north and south outer Lake Shore Drive. The speech received backlash for its interventionist ideals, causing protest from non-interventionists and heightening America's isolationist sentiments.

Public response to the speech was mixed. Famed cartoonist Percy Crosby, creator of Skippy (comic strip) and very outspoken Roosevelt critic, bought a two-page advertisement in the New York Sun to attack it.[http://www.dcdave.com/article5/101003.htm Percy Crosby on Franklin Roosevelt], David Martin, October 3, 2010 In addition, it was heavily criticized by Hearst-owned newspapers and Robert R. McCormick of the Chicago Tribune, but several subsequent compendia of editorials showed overall approval in US media.{{cite book|title=Franklin D. Roosevelt and the search for security: American-Soviet relations, 1933-1939|author=Edward Moore Bennett|year=1995|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=waaATTy24WUC&q=quarantine+speech+roosevelt+Hearst|pages=98,99,100 | isbn=978-0-8420-2247-7}}

Roosevelt realized the impact that those writing in favor of isolationism had on the nation. He hoped that the storm isolationists had created would fade away and allow the general public to become educated and even active in international policy.{{Cite journal|last=John McV. Haight|first=Jr.|date=1962|title=Roosevelt and the Aftermath of the Quarantine Speech|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1405491|journal=The Review of Politics|volume=24|issue=2|pages=233–259|doi=10.1017/S0034670500009669|jstor=1405491|s2cid=143361915 |issn=0034-6705}} However, this was not the response that grew over time, with the controversy eventually intensifying isolationism views in more Americans.{{Cite web|last=Andrew Glass|title=FDR calls for 'quarantine' of aggressor nations, Oct. 5, 1937|url=https://politi.co/2y2PY9g|access-date=2021-03-03|website=POLITICO|date=5 October 2018 |language=en}} Roosevelt even mentioned in two personal letters written on October 16, 1937, that "he was 'fighting against a public psychology which comes very close to saying 'peace at any price.'"{{Cite journal|last=John McV. Haight|first=Jr.|date=1962|title=Roosevelt and the Aftermath of the Quarantine Speech|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1405491|journal=The Review of Politics|volume=24|issue=2|pages=235|jstor=1405491|issn=0034-6705}} Disappointed in how the public reacted to the speech, Roosevelt decided to take a step back with regards to his foreign policy, even to the point of accepting an apology from Japan after the sinking of the USS Panay.{{Cite web|title=Franklin D. Roosevelt - Foreign policy|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Franklin-D-Roosevelt|access-date=2021-03-03|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}