Arthur Capper Quotes
We encounter the big stumbling block in any of our calculations in regard to the folks over in Europe. The racial feuds, fanned through generations of strife, are not helpful in working out methods which are economically sound.
At the time the term “race” referred to different ethnicities such as Germans, Slavs, Anglo Saxons, Japanese, Nubians, Egyptians, Jews, Chinese, etc.
Arthur Capper, 1865-1951, Governor of Kansas (Republican), U. S. Senator (Republican, KS), “The American Farmer and Foreign Policy”, Foreign Affairs, March 1923
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Turkey is not Arab at all. And the Israelis have had very good reltions with Turkey. The Secretary was not strong in the international area. Such ignorance on the part of a Secretary of Defense of even a CEO of a major corporation was not as unusual at the time as it would be in modern times.
At the time Turkey and the Ottoman Empire included Egypt and most of the Middle East, Chechnya, Georgia, Armenia, Usbekistan, Ajerbaijon, Greece, Albania, Serbia, Bosnia, Croatia and other countries.
For a similar sentiment, see Thurgood Marshall.
This resolution was bad enough for its overt racism. Ironically, the major victims of Japanese aggression have been Asians—China, Korea, Manchuria, and others. “White” empires had economic interests in throughout Asia and this was what Britten and many others were concerned with protecting. This quotation is important for another reason. At the very moment Britton introduced the resolution, Charles Evans Hughes our Secretary of State was welcoming a new, very high level ambassador to Washington. The administration had decided on a negotiating initiative and Britton and other Congressmen cut the legs out from under the administrations diplomatic efforts. It was particularly bad because one of the Japanese complaints about America and other white nations was their racism and discrimination against Asians. Congress undermining Administration diplomatic efforts has an all too frequent history in America.
Mehmet Talaat Pasha. This incredible quotation not only proves Talaat and the Young Turk Government was driving the extermination policy, but also admits that complete genocide was the policy. Talaat’s bizarre logic was this: We have killed so many Armenians that any remaining will certainly want revenge. Therefore, we have to exterminate them all lest they attempt to obtain justice at the expense of the Turks or even exact revenge against the Turks. The U. S. Ambassador was horrified at the Armenian genocide, and was constantly arguing with the Turkish officials to get them to modify their murderous policies. The Christian Armenians, a minority in Turkey and its lands, were discriminated against like other non Muslim minorities in the Ottoman Empire. But during the Turkish War with Russia and WWI, some Armenians defected and served on the Russian side. Many Turkish citizens took revenge on Armenians by means of murder and torture. Soon, the extermination of the Armenians became the official “Young Turk” government policy. Hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed outright, and about an equal number were “deported” to special areas. Many died of malnutrition along the forced march of Ethnic Cleansing. Others were murdered as they were deported. No one knows exactly how many Armenians were killed with estimates ranging from ½ million to 4 million. This was the first genocide of the 20th century. Modern Turkish leaders however, are in denial about the Armenian deaths. They claim that there was a war and food was scarce; the only Armenians killed, the claimed were proven Russian agents. They further claim that the Armenian behavior was in large part responsible for the forced deportations because of their lack of patriotism and unwillingness to help the Turkish authorities identify the Russian agents. Most Turks today are unaware of the Armenian Genocide as nothing is taught about the massacres in schools or other institutions. It is against the law in Turkey to even have an intellectual study of the Turkish behavior towards the Armenians, much less publish anything about it.
It was not until this publication that people who suggested that discrimination and lack of education and opportunity might have something to do with the problem Blacks faced in society were regarded by many Americans as anything but left wing intellectuals.
The fascist, military clique that ran Japan at the time had no respect for treaties or International Law as understood by most Western nations. China was a land of warlords and corrupt military leaders. There was then an extensive history of Anti-Asian feeling and activity in America. Stimson, made the classic mistake of correctly assessing the Japanese leaders but generalizing from them and some Chinese corrupt military leaders to all Asians and their governments. Indeed, after the American occupation of Japan ending WWII, the Japanese adapted to democracy very well and have been instrumental in making and keeping many international treaties,
Arthur Capper was an American politician from Kansas. He was the 20th Governor of Kansas (the first born in the state) from 1915 to 1919 and a United States Senator from 1919 to 1949. He also owned a radio station (WIBW in Topeka), and was the publisher of a newspaper, the Topeka Daily Capital.
