Battle of the Bilge

BotB Verdict:

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Note: In the FDR quote I erroneously placed ‘immigrations’ in place of what he actually said, ‘immigrants’ – Hat tip to my trusted nitpicking sidekick, James “eyebrows” Naughton.

Summary

Although the words were spoken almost a hundred years ago, a speech given by Theodore Roosevelt regarding immigrants coming to the United States has been given new life recently by a chain email that has popped back up in to the cyberverse. The words are correctly attributed to President Roosevelt, but the email misstates the date and circumstance in which they were delivered. The accompanying picture is not one taken while he delivered this speech. In fact, it wasn’t delivered in a speech at all. While the email does not go in to any overt xenophobic rants, the quote has been used as a rallying cry for anti-immigration sites.

This Round’s Most Common Iteration

A 1907 PHOTO

Perhaps this is one email that needs to be forwarded until everyone with a computer receives it.
The year is 1907, over one hundred years ago.
READ THE PRINT UNDER THE PICTURE!

US President Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907:

“In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American… There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language…. and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 1907
Every citizen needs to read this!
KEEP THIS MOVING!

Historical Facts

While it may appear at first glance that the message President Roosevelt was trying to get across was against immigration, in reality the president was only advocating compulsory learning of the English language and a support for the nation at large, above and beyond the immigrant’s home nation. You’ll hear no objection to this point of view from us, but let’s get the facts straight.

First, the words in the email are from a letter that President Roosevelt sent to the American Defense Society in 1919, incidentally three days before he passed away. According to UrbanLegends.com:

“Americanization” was a favorite theme of Roosevelt’s during his later years, when he railed repeatedly against “hyphenated Americans” and the prospect of a nation “brought to ruins” by a “tangle of squabbling nationalities.”

He advocated the compulsory learning of English by every naturalized citizen. “Every immigrant who comes here should be required within five years to learn English or to leave the country,” he said in a statement to the Kansas City Star in 1918. “English should be the only language taught or used in the public schools.”

The entirety of the letter can be read at the Snopes.com page regarding the email, by clicking here.

One would be well off to ‘remember, remember always’, the quote at the top of this email from Teddy’s cousin FDR as well. While there is no doubt that to be an American should mean that you embrace and assimilate to better the national cause, we are a nation of immigrants, and that should never be forgotten.

Note: Battle of the Bilge apologizes for the long delay between posts, as I have been out due to sickness and am just now catching up on work

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