Leon Jouhaux Quotes

I thought that in general we in the United States were too optimistic in believing that the Soviets might alter what had been for a long time, as a matter of fact for centuries, fundamental Russian policies in respect to the rest of the world.

Most of them are military commanders, country notables and landowners, and educated people. It is inconceivable that such a group should incline to the theory of Communism. But if Western countries persist in applying unjust pressure, they may well throw themselves into Russia’s arms.

Personally, I would have dealt with the Soviets as the de facto Government of Russia. So would President Wilson. But we both agreed that we could not carry to that extent our colleagues at the Congress [Versailles], nor the public opinion of our countries which was frightened by Bolshevik violence and feared its spread.

I tried to contribute to the defeat of the Soviets. If I contributed 1%, it is 1% of something enormous.

Nineteen-seventy-nine had been a year of American setbacks around the globe. Before the year began, Cuban troops were already roaming Angola, and a pro-Communist regime ruled Ethiopia.

War on terrorism defines the central preoccupation of the United States in the world today, and it does reflect in my view a rather narrow and extremist vision of foreign policy of the world's first superpower, of a great democracy, with genuinely idealistic traditions.

I learned later, just as a footnote, that the World Assembly of Youth was a CIA front.

From time to time, the irresponsible acts of the Cuban government remind us that this is far more than about the freedom of one country, but it really is about the stability and security of the region and the national security interests of the United States.

Attempts to put pressure on Russia and to compel it to abandon its values, truth and justice have no prospects whatsoever.

We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war.

The rest of the world cares about how we conduct our affairs because they then take that lead. We're the only leader in the world today. Some are wishing us well, others think that we're down and are not going to get back up again, but they are all watching with great interest to see how we conduct our business over the next couple of years.

There's a tendency on the part of Americans, all of us, to say, 'Hey, the Cold War is over, the Soviet Union is gone, we don't have to worry about these guys again.' We always have to be worried about them, we always have to be concerned about them, and we have to be well-informed.

It came as a great shock to me when I heard that England and Soviet Russia had become allies. So much so that I thought that the people responsible in London were acting in a manner that no longer coincided with British imperial interests.

Force-backed humanitarianism, which relies on rational influence over events in other countries, may have been a more feasible project in the bipolar era of the Cold War, with its relatively defined and stable web of alliances and proxies.

The United States influences government and life everywhere else.

When I was 18, I went to the Soviet Union. I kept hearing that America was planning to bomb them - lots of bombs were going to come down on these people. I went there not knowing anything, except that I thought the whole thing was stupid and that I wanted to see who these people were that we were going to bomb.

The opportunities that Gorbachev created for international relations have also been missed, perhaps even lost - here, however, primarily because of the United States.

Great powers engage.

The participation of the Soviet Union in the League of Nations no more transforms the character of the League … than the participation of a Communist in Parliament transforms the character of Parliament.

It's a very popular sport [in America] to talk about power struggle[s] in the Kremlin.

If any good reason exists why we should persevere longer in withholding our recognition of the independence and sovereignty of Hayti [sic] and Liberia, I am unable to discern it.... I submit for your consideration the expediency of an appropriation for maintaining a chargé d'affaire near each of these new states.

Containment was merely appeasement on the installment plan.

The overall or political objective is to impose upon Russia the will of the United States and British Empire.

Why were the Europeans bothered about the Soviet Union at all? It was nothing to do with us. China had nothing to do with us. Why were we not building, without reference to the Soviet Union, a good society in our own countries? But no, we were all — in one way or another — obsessed with the bloody Soviet Union, which was a disaster…

I don't put any dates on these things. I don't say what is going to happen in one year, five years, ten years, but I am confident that the trend toward freedom in the Communist world is a basic truth.