Remarks to Members of the Marine Corps League

General Cates, Mr. Commander, members of the Marine Corps League:

I am happy to be with you this morning. You succeeded in enticing me over here.

There are incidents, sometimes, that appear to be almost the end of the world when they happen, that usually turn out for the good of the cause.

The thing that I am most interested in is a unified approach to the crisis which we face. My whole endeavor for 5 years has been to attain a peaceful settlement of the greatest war in history. I have striven for that since I have been President of the United States. That effort seemed to be approaching a consummation until the 25th day of June. Then we were faced with the situation in which we had to stand up and say that we supported the United Nations in its effort to attain peace in the world, or we had to back out and surrender. That is not my way of doing business.

When I make a mistake, I try to correct it. I try to make as few as possible. I hope that this organization will support the President of the United States in his effort to get peace in the world--that's all I want.

Conditions have come about--due, I must say, to a certain political event which will take place in November--which have caused unfounded attacks to be made on certain men in public service. This has made it almost impossible to get the men capable of filling the jobs to come here and stand for a barrage of that kind. It is not only unfair, it is unjust, and those attacks in the long run are not on the individuals on whom they are made, they are direct attacks on the President of the United States, who is responsible under the present situation for the Government, and for its actions and for its policy.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate your cordial reception, how kind you have been to me, and I hope that from now on there will never be any misunderstanding between US.