1943 F. D. Roosevelt
Radio Address on the Casablanca Conference
Feb 12, 1943
The decisions reached and the actual plans made at
Casablanca were not confined to any one theater of war
or to any one continent or ocean or sea. Before this
year is out, it will be made known to the world-in
actions rather than words-that the Casablanca Conference
produced plenty of news; and it will be bad news for the
Germans and Italians-and the Japanese.
We have lately concluded a long, hard battle in the
Southwest Pacific and we have made notable gains. That
battle started in the Solomons and New Guinea last
summer. It has demonstrated our superior power in planes
and, most importantly, in the fighting qualities of our
individual soldiers and sailors.
American armed forces in the Southwest Pacific are
receiving powerful aid from Australia and New Zealand
and also directly from the British themselves.
We do not expect to spend the time it would take to
bring Japan to final defeat merely by inching our way
forward from island to island across the vast expanse of
the Pacific.
Great and decisive actions against the Japanese will
be taken to drive the invader from the soil of China.
Important actions will be taken in the skies over
China-and over Japan itself.
The discussions at Casablanca have been continued in
Chungking with the Generalissimo by General Arnold and
have resulted in definite plans for offensive
operations.
There are many roads which lead right to Tokyo. We
shall neglect none of them.
In an attempt to ward off the inevitable disaster,
the Axis propagandist are trying all of their old tricks
in order to divide the United Nations. They seek to
create the idea that if we win this war, Russia,
England, China, and the United States are going to get
into a cat-and-dog fight.
This is their final effort to turn one nation against
another, in the vain hope that they may settle with one
or two at a time-that any of us may be so gullible and
so forgetful as to be duped into making "deals" at the
expense of our Allies.
To these panicky attempts to escape the consequences
of their crimes we say-all the United Nations say-that
the only terms on which we shall deal with an Axis
government or any Axis factions are the terms proclaimed
at Casablanca: "Unconditional Surrender." In our
uncompromising policy we mean no harm to the common
people of the Axis nations. But we do mean to impose
punishment and retribution in full upon their guilty,
barbaric leaders...
In the years of the American and French revolutions
the fundamental principle guiding our democracies was
established. The cornerstone of our whole democratic
edifice was the principle that from the people and the
people alone flows the authority of government.
It is one of our war aims, as expressed in the
Atlantic Charter, that the conquered populations of
today be again the masters of their destiny. There must
be no doubt anywhere that it is the unalterable purpose
of the United Nations to restore to conquered peoples
their sacred rights.
Source: Public Papers of F. D. Roosevelt, Vol 12, p.
71
