Statement by the President of the United States (Roosevelt)
at the End of Hostilities, March 13, 1940

In a statement given to the press on December 1, 1939, the President said, "It is tragic to see the policy of force spreading, and to realize that wanton disregard for law is still on the march." At the same time, the President declared that all peace-loving peoples still hope for relations throughout the world on the basis of law and order and unanimously condemn resort to military force as the arbiter of international differences.

The President also asserted that news of the Soviet naval and military bombings within Finnish territory had come as a profound shock; that to the great misfortune of the world, the present trend to force makes insecure the independent existence of small nations in every continent and jeopardizes the rights of mankind to self-government.

The President now adds to his statement of December 1, 1939, by saying that the people of Finland, by their unexcelled valor and strong resistance in the face of overwhelming armed forces, have won the moral right to live in everlasting peace and independence in the land they have so bravely defended.

The President reiterates that the people and Government of Finland have again increased the respect and warm regard in which they are held by the people and Government of the United States, even though it is clear that by virtue of an attack by a neighbor many times stronger they have been compelled to yield territory and to accept a material weakening of their own future defense of their independenee.

The ending of this war does not yet clarify the inherent right of small nations to the maintenance of their integrity against attack by superior force.
Published in the book: Documents on American Foreign Relations, July 1939-June 1940, Vol. II. World Peace Foundation, Boston, 1940.
President Roosevelt's statement on Dec. 1, 1939.

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