International Unity Quotes
Historically, this quotation seems like an endorsement of motherhood, but it was an extremely important statement at the time. Eisenhower was convinced to run for the Presidency as a Republican in order to stop Senator Robert Taft and the conservative, isolationist, right wing of the Republican Party. These Republicans opposed American support of the United Nations. Eisenhower won the Republican nomination, then the general election, and clearly announced to the country and the world, that the moderate wing of the Republican Party was in control and the United Nations was an important part of our foreign policy.
At the time, Fascist Germany and Japan were aggressively attacking other nations who were trying to mobilize to stop their Fascist ideas of world domination. In America, unlike after WWII, many of the Republican Party Leaders were then isolationists and were adamant that we should not expand our military capability. They wanted to spend no more money on defense. ER and her husband wanted to increase defense spending to increase our military readiness and provide arms to England, China and others who were trying to defend against the Axis. They were castigated as ‘War Mongers’ by the isolationists. ER went to the people to explain that without spending on military strength, there would be no peace. Ironically, the conservative forces who criticized Mrs. Roosevelt as a war monger for building up our military, after WWII when the Cold War began, they criticized her for not being enough of a hawk and not sufficiently supporting the military and aggressive foreign policies.
3rd Earl Russell of Kingston