76-14-B8
- Main Page \ Reagan Radio Commentaries \ 1977
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Russians[edit]
Transcript[edit]When I was a young boy our nation fought a war to, "make the world safe for democracy". And in less than two decades we had a Hitler, a Mussolini and a Joseph Stalin abroad in the world. When I was a young adult we fought a war to end all wars. And, we've known hardly one day of peace in the world in the 32 years since that war ended. The other day a young man, R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., editor of a fine paper called THE ALTERNATIVE: AN AMERICAN SPECTATOR, wrote, -- QUOTE -- "Throughout the last three decades I cannot think of one threat to world peace that would not have paled into, at worst, a regional altercation, were it not for the eager presence of the Soviet Union, or one of its clients. Nor would international terrorism, hi-jackings, kidnapings and other assorted barbarities, peculiar to our time, be such vexed questions were it not for the Soviet Union, the world's arsenal of anarchy". -- UNQUOTE. That, in my opinion, is a blunt, but extremely accurate summation of the biggest single problem we face as a nation. Now, I expect those words will be dismissed as utter nonsense in our state department, and sneered at by those in the entertainment world who are writing fiction about the, -- QUOTE "McCarthy era" -- UNQUOTE -- and calling it history. I think if Demosthenes were standing in our market place today he'd have a low opinion of diplomats, pundits and enthusiastic disarmament buffs who ignore the Soviet effort to build the most powerful military force the world has ever seen. He'd be surprised that we slumbered while our lead in technology was being wiped out. Apparently, the Russians have a laser beam capable of blasting our missiles from the sky if we should ever try to use them. And, apparently, we had no inkling such a weapon was being added to their arsenal. He might even be surprised that the American Communist Party was on the ballot in our last election. And, he'd be dumbfounded to know that in California an effort was made to excuse that one party from obeying the election laws, with regard to identifying campaign contributors by name, because it might be embarrassing to them. Editor Tyrrell lists all the areas of the world where blood is being shed and lives taken by weapons bearing a Soviet trademark. And then adds, -- QUOTE "They continue to arm anybody on the globe so long as he shows a glimmer of interest in the Marxist whim-wham. Further, they rush ahead with gigantic civil defense projects and with a military build-up that strongly suggests they are attempting to achieve nothing less than a war-fighting, war-winning posture in strategic weaponry." -- UNQUOTE. Every Soviet leader up to and including Brezhnev has sworn to carry out to the letter the words of Lenin who said, -- QUOTE -- "It would not matter if three-fourths of the human race perished; the important thing is that the remaining one-fourth be Communist." -- UNQUOTE. He also said, -- QUOTE -- "To tie ones hands in advance and to openly tell an enemy, who is presently armed, that we will fight him, and when, is stupidity." -- UNQUOTE. Well, there's a lot of that around. |
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