favor with Hitler as a potential ally against Russia, Senator BORAH was warning Americans against the dangers of fascism and nazi-ism. Listen to his declaration against these twin evils on the Senate floor in May 1937: Some things are transpiring, however, which ought to convince us that democracy is worth saving; that it is worth fighting for, as men fought for it of old-not necessarily on the field of battle but fighting the forces which ceaselessly seek to undermine and destroy it in the very citadel of its greatest triumph here in the United States. A few weeks later he declared in unmistakable terms, again referring to Fascist and Nazi ideals: These forces and influences which would sap and undermine the character and the stamina and the loyalty of the American people ought not to find any compromise or any palliation or excuse by anyone in this country. Here is no trace of appeasement, no trace of compromise with dictatorship. BORAH believed that nothing should be left undone to preserve democracy in what he called "the last citadel of its greatest triumph." But he felt that another futile attempt to impose our concept of democracy on Europe would result only in the possible final destruction of the American form of government. After the Treaty of Versailles, BORAH devoted himself to keeping this country out of the war he knew would follow the vengeful injustices perpetrated by that treaty. Again and again, in language we must now recognize as prophetic, he denounced it because of the results it would surely bring. Listen to his words: It will bring sorrow to the world again. Its basic principle is cruel, unconscionable, and remorseless imperialism. Its terms will awaken again the reckoning power of retribution. Probably BORAH is best remembered for his magnificent fight against our participation in the League of Nations. He was determined that the United States should not underwrite a peace which contained the seeds of inevitable war. In 1919 he lashed out at advocates of American entry into the League: Your treaty means injustice. It means slavery. It means war. And to all this you ask this Republic to become a party. You ask it to abandon the creed under which it has grown to power and accept the creed of autocracy, the creed of repression and force. When war came, Senator BORAH devoted the final months of his life to the cause of preventing the United States from being drawn into its horrible destruction. He felt that our entering the war might well mean the end of democracy in its last great stronghold in the world, that by our staying out of war our opportunities for service to civilization and to the peoples of war-torn Europe would be far greater than if we became embroiled in the conflict. I think I can pay no greater tribute to Senator BORAH'S memory than to give voice to my sincere belief that his wisdom offers to us today our brightest hope of saving this democracy and this civilization. Address by Senator Vandenberg Mr. VANDENBERG. Mr. President, no mortal words can add to the stature of a great character in human history. They can but acknowledge the vast and eternal debt of lesser men to the Olympians whom God occasionally gives to the Republic. It is in this humble spirit that I rise to speak a few simple sentences regarding the greatest man I ever knew. That he was the greatest friend I ever had in public life is my own personal legacy. That he was the greatest friend America had in my time and generation is the measure of the Nation's debt to the life and service and the vivid memory of the late United States Senator WILLIAM E. BORAH, of Idaho. There was something in him of the rugged strength of the mighty mountains of the West whence he came. There was something in him of the spirit of the lonely pioneer who dares against all odds for the faith of his objectives. There was something in him of the divine genius with which God occasionally touches one among us and bids him lead the sons of men. There was honor-against which no shadow of a syllable was ever lisped. There was power-the like of which this Senate Chamber has not known since the founding fathers made us what we are. There was simplicity-the badge of a great soul. And there was the gentle, kindly friendliness and simplicity which made him as beloved as he was respected and revered. Others have spoken in detail of his great career. Volumes would fail to do it justice. I but add a postscript, as it were, in behalf of what I know was the aching sorrow of tens of millions of his fellow countrymen when they learned, in veritable consternation, that his great heart had ceased to beat and that his invincible eloquence was no longer available |