James Forrestal Quotes
From 1941 to 1945 we won a war by enlisting the whole-hearted support of all our people and all our resources.
Forrestal, James. The Forrestal Diaries. Edited by Walter Millis, Viking Press, 1951.
FDR’s attempt to cap WWII income with any excess going to pay for the war failed as the wealthy in the country pulled out “all the stops” to defeat the proposal. Roosevelt was able, however, to get a maximum tax bracket of 88 percent on all income over $200,000 which was less onerous to the very rich but still terrible. They could not defeat that proposal.
Unlike many socialists who were pacifists and against WWI, Foster and the communists were supporters of the war against fascist Germany, This was one of the reasons that Nazi Germany was virulently anti-communist later.
Note that he assumes that not only will there be another World War, but he assumes that we will be on opposite sides.
This quotation, over half a century later, was cited to show the contrast in the requested role of the American public during the War on Terror / Iraq War and in WWII. Every citizen in WWII had an important role involving personal and family effort and sacrifice, while the George W. Bush administration in contrast did not initiate oil utilization conservation, or ask the public to buy war bonds, pay additional taxes. Instead Americans were told to travel more and spend money.
“Removal” was interpreted by some as killing and by others as jailing. Complaining about wartime suffering or hardship was a crime in militaristic Japan.
James Vincent Forrestal was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense.
