White House Press Release, Speech by Admiral William D. Leahy

TEXT OF SPEECH DELIVERED BY FLEET ADMIRAL WILLIAM D. LEAHY, USN OVER THE FACILITIES OF MBS AT 1:15 PM EWT, August 15, 1945 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE My fellow Americans: We, with our allies, have won what President Roosevelt called on December 8, 1941 the "inevitable victory". The terms we laid down at that time -- unconditional surrender -- have been met. The cost we have been forced to bear to accom- plish this is terrible to contemplate. Millions of lives have been lost. More millions of lives have been blasted and twisted beyond hope. We have spent hundreds of billions of dollars. Our fighting allies and the occupied lands have been impoverished, Our own peace- loving nation has been converted into an armed camp and an arsenal of Democracy. We must now turn to the binding up of our / KAUMAD own and of the world's wounds. We must demobilize NARA our nation's arms. We must return to a peace-time economy and, I pray, to a peace-time prosperity. In doing this, however, we have the stern duty of remaining vigilant and strong. We must never permit our nation to return to the state of weakness in which the Japanese and the Nazis found us in 1940 -- a state which led them to believe that they could conduct their limitless conquests and brutalities without fear of redress from America. We have assumed heavy wor 1d responsibilities that must be discharged. We must not forget, in our pride and gratitude in victory, that thi war was not won by our efforts alone. Although in this world conflict, as in 1918, it was the United States which tipped the scales in the direction of victory, it was our allies who held the ramparts through long months of solitary trial and sacrifice. And although in the Pacific, American forces launched at all points the decisive blows, the Pacific war was but part of the world struggle. Today we have the biggest and most powerful navy in the world, more powerful than any other two navies in existence. We have the best equipped and most completely mechanized ground force in the world. The army and navy together have the world's largest and most efficient air force. We possess, with our British allies, the secret of the world's most fearsome weapon. All of our fighting men, on land, on the sea, and in the air have covered themselves with undying glory. We have evolved a military organization of unified command which has proved itself beyond question. In all this we have great strength we are one of the world's most powerful nations, if not the most powerful. (OVER)