Quarantine Speech
speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt
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 spread of 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. 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 and very outspoken Roosevelt critic, bought a two-page advertisement in the New York Sun to attack it. 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.
Roosevelt realized the impact that those writing in favor of isolationism had on the nation.
“Quarantine Speech” enters the record as speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Quarantine, Speech and speech can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Quarantine Speech” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.