Design for Peace (ca. 1948)

[Music] today the crosscurrents of life in America Flow Free and untrammeled in the mainstream of a peaceful existence a way of life designed to provide a full measure of happiness and security to a free people these are the ways of peace la [Music] but let us remember that peace is neither easily come by nor easily safeguarded let us remember that the process of History enjoins us to protect the peace with all our strength lest our people again look on the face of War next time perhaps in our own Homeland but lest we forget and forgetting become victims to our own complacency let us review those dark days when peace on Earth had vanished and Good Will to man was turned to hate [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] Wing Death Rides the skyways over Europe [Music] w [Music] in Modern Warfare no one is [Music] innocent this is total [Music] war a people in Exile clogging the roads that lead where [Music] to death on the roadside without even the final Dignity of a grave in which to sleep the last sleep of all [Music] [Applause] eternity at long last the war is over peace is returned to Earth and for the Victor it is a day for rejoicing six years of toil sweat and tears and now peace comes to [Applause] England here in America our manner of spontaneous celebration [Music] [Applause] these are the Russians as they Harald the end of the war crowded streets public squares packed full in Amsterdam in prag in Warsaw to celebrate the return of [Music] Peace Paris on the day of Liberation an end to Gloom and [Music] [Applause] [Music] despair Daka and booken Wald on the day of Liberation freedom for The Condemned who can do no more than stare silently We Are The Victors yet what price glory to have defeated the enemy and now to be ourselves defeated by whom by what and there is no one to tell the answer who is the final Victor my name is y shorer and I am Marcel Lambo in the old days I was met at toel of the gayest nightclub in Paris Dr Ludwig Miller anzi German SST I am pet Hera once I had a family today I'm alive where my family is if they are alive I do not know but what of those who never live to see the day of Freedom can we believe that these were once people could they once have known Life As We The Living know it did they once walk the earth as we do could they once have been mothers and fathers glorying in the sight of their children children dare we believe that in those gruesome piles there was once the laughter Vigor of Youth let us not answer but remember that what happened here was part of a design for aggression to dominate the world including this land of ours the war is over and done with let's forget it forget it forget it yet how can they forget when all about them lie bitter reminders this land that once was bright is now this death and chaos have walked here their smell still hangs heavy in the air these people once sharing the little Joys and Sorrows common to people the world over now this these are the defeated this the self-styled super race these are their leaders seen once as Invincible demigods now Dishonored and disowned their country once a nation justly proud of its accomplishments in Commerce science and art now this laid waste in retaliation by a world enraged at unprovoked [Music] depression yet what is victory in this age of total warfare cities bombed beyond recognition National economies bankrupt peoples dispossessed Countryside laid [Music] waste but the enemy did not touch our Shores our land does not carry the scars that were generations to come will deface our allies let us highly resolved to keep the peace but as we dedicate ourselves to the preservation of peace let us measure our strength as a nation land mass that spans a continent a young giant of a Nation within whose boundaries are found riches beyond the limits of computation look to the power of the Earth itself vast Farm [Music] areas Rich mines and oil fields giving us wealth and minerals turned to the uses of modern living coal to fire our furnaces domestic and industrial iron copper zinc manganes and all the other Hidden Treasures of the earth to be molded into metals and Alloys whose uses our legion American manufacturer a modern Colossus asri the industrial World giving us an endless profusion the necessities and luxuries of a standard of living that is the Envy of the world but for America's greatest strength look to the people who inhabit this land to the life they have made for themselves and their children theirs is a proud Heritage whose roots are embedded deep in the institutions and traditions established when Freedom was but a dream and a hope hidden in the hearts of the first Americans these then are the sources from which we draw our strength and power giving us a way of life worth fighting for and if need be worth dying for today America no longer stands apart guarded by the buworks of two great oceans against the Havoc of War science has forced us from the periphery of world affairs into the Vortex swirling us into a swift current that rushes headlong toward a common Destiny peace on Earth or total obliteration with this in mind let us recall to our memories the challenge of a great American Patriot written almost 200 years ago in a time of national crisis the necessity of the times more than ever call for our utmost circumspection deliberation fortitude and perseverance let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack Upon Our Liberty we encourage it and involve others in our Doom finally let us call to mind the words of Tom Payne Firebrand of the American Revolution the those who expect to reap the blessings of Freedom must bear the fatigues of supporting it [Music] [Applause]