PATRIOTISM BREEDS HEROES 
BY 

REV. JOHN F. CRONI IN, S. S. 
Director of the I n s t i t u t e of Catholic Social Studies a t t h e 

Catholic University of America, Washington, D. C. 

The f o u r t h in a series of five addresses on T H E P A T H OF DUTY, de-
livered in the Catholic Hour, broadcast by the National Broadcasting Company, 
in cooperation with the National Council of Catholic Men, on A u g u s t 22, 1943. 

National Council of Catholic Men 
Washington, D. C. 



PATRIOTISM I 
A pagan poet once s a i d : It is 

sweet and fitting to die f o r one's 
country. None of us would chal-
lenge t h i s statement. America 
has never lacked heroes who would 
die f o r the land of their birth. We 
were born in a bloody war of inde-
pendence. The plains of Saratoga 
were consecrated by the death of 
brave men. The soil of Yorktown 
was hallowed by the triumph of 
our armies. We revere the name 
of Washington who led the forces 
of freedom through b i t t e r and 
lonely days'. We think of the 
m a r t y r president, Abraham Lin-
coln, who died t h a t the nation 
might be one. Above all, we honor 
the common man, the unknown sol-
dier who was not to know fame, 
but who did know greatness. Many 
of our sons lie in foreign soil— 
in the Philippines, in France, in 
Africa—our airmen shot down 
over Germany and Italy and China 
—but though their honored re-
mains are f a r f r o m us, they are 
enshrined in our hearts. 

There are heroes a t home, too. 
Words of praise cannot express 
our debt to the wives and mothers 
who remain behind. Their courage 
is an inspiration to t h e i r loved 
ones in the field. Their burden of 
loneliness and anxiety is not light, 
but they do not complain. Strong 
of heart, like the valiant women of 

IEEDS HEROES 
all times, they have given every-
t h i n g and have claimed nothing 
f o r themselves. As t h e Virgin 
Mary on the Mount of Calvary 
consoled her dying Son, so they 
have been a comfort to t h e 
afflicted and a source of s t r e n g t h 
to those who a r e f a i n t i n g by t h e 
way. 

We honor the old who have re-
t o f t e d to work, though they know* 
it often means to them a literal 
sentence of death. There are doc-
tors wearing themselves out in the 
service of the sick, to replace t h e 
younger men in the service. 
Nurses have returned to duty a f t e r 
years of home life. Other women 
have gone into our war plants and 
shipyards, living a life which is 
often hard and t r y i n g . Capital 
and labor, with f e w exceptions, 
have given without stint in t h e 
service of their country. Business 
men and workers have sacrificed 
the work of a lifetime, because 
their country asked this. Anyone 
close to t h e h e a r t of w a r t i m e 
America must t e s t i f y t h a t t h i s 
h e a r t is great. We do love our na-
tive land. We will give, and give, 
and give again when our country 
asks of us. The spirit of our 
f a t h e r s is not dead within us. 
Honor and nobility dwell in our 
midst. 

It is good to be able to say t h a t 



Americans will r e f u s e nothing 
when the welfare of the nation is 
at stake. If ever we have failed, 
then it is because we did not see 
clearly; it was not t h a t we shirk-
ed the burden. We may not have 
realized what our country demand-
ed of us. Had we known it, ,we 
would have done it. Blindness, not 
malice, was our f a u l t . 

Yet, good will is not always 
enough. There are certain errors 
which are f a t a l . In good f a i t h we 
may take poison, when we thought 
it was medicine. A hidden defect 
in our car may one day cause a 
f a t a l wreck. So it is with our 
country. Through ignorance, a 
loyal citizen may do it g r e a t harm. 
At times the nation may survive, 
but a t other times, t h e damage 
cannot be undone. The cause is 
lost. Freedom has perished. Thus 
it was with France during the 
years between two great wars. In 
those days, the nation was divided. 
Quarrelling groups insisted t h a t 
t h e i r course was the only one. 
Some of these were selfish. A f e w 
p u t personal interest above na-
tional honor. But we may be sure 
t h a t most have repented with t e a r s 
t h e mistakes which l e f t a nation 
weak and divided in the face of t h e 
conqueror. At the time they 
thought t h a t labor, or capital, or 
some political p a r t y was t h e 
enemy. Their s t r e n g t h was dissi-
pated in t h e struggle against t h e i r 

brothers, and when t h e invader 
came, they could no longer act as 
one. Once they said t h a t these 
were honest differences among 
good men. Now they know t h a t a 
divided people cannot defend itself. 

Germany and Italy also traveled 
the same road. Their citizens were 
much concerned with the problems 
of the moment. Capital f e a r e d the 
growing might of labor. The un-
employed cast desperately about 
f o r an avenue of hope. F a r m e r s 
and middlemen found themselves 
crushed between big business and 
organized labor. As a result, all 
vvelcomed the new p a r t y which 
promised everything. They put on 
black s h i r t s or brown shirts, prac-
ticed t h e p a r t y salute, and waited 
f o r a perfect world to come about. 
Today they have learned a h a r d 
and bitter lesson. Over t h e graves 
of t h e i r fallen sons and brothers 
they shed t e a r s of sorrow and re-
pentance. But t h e damage has 
been done. 

The lesson is clear. There a r e 
problems of peace which a r e j u s t 
as critical as t h e decisions made 
at war. A nation can perish f r o m 
within as well as f r o m without. 
Failure to meet great issues may 
be as disastrous as f a i l u r e to pre-
p a r e f o r attack by an enemy. In-
deed, it is often more dangerous 
to be unprepared f o r peace t h a n 
it is to be unarmed before the 
invader. Attack f r o m without may 



strengthen and u n i f y a nation. Dis-
ruption f r o m within kills the soul. 
The first is dramatic and clear. I t 
b r i n g s f o r t h hidden strength and 
provokes supreme effort. The sec-
ond is confusing and deadening. I t 
leads to apathy and despair. F r o m 
t h e one a people may arise puri-
fied and strengthened. ' From the 
other, they may emerge debased 
and enslaved. 

This, then, we may learn f r o m 
Europe between w a r s : A nation at 
peace may face g r e a t e r dangers 
than a nation a t war. A higher pa-
triotism is often needed to pre-
vent disunity a t home t h a n in-
vasion f r o m abroad. When a na-
tion is attacked, the issue is clear. 
All differences disappear before the 
common peril. But with the prob-
lems at home, the issues a r e often 
most confused. The more serious 
the question the g r e a t e r t h e dan-
ger of division and dissension. 
Good men and patriotic men may 
feel it their duty to oppose t h e i r 
fellow citizens. Debate and com-
promise may result, when dramatic 
and definite steps are vitally need-
ed. Here is a supreme test of 
good-will. Our nation may f a c e it 
before many years a r e past. 

There a r e deep cleavages in 
America which could lead to dan-
gerous divisions. Even in time of 
war, we a r e painfully aware of 
the struggle between capital and 
labor, f a r m and city, government 

and some of its citizens. Three 
times during t h i s war t h e r e have 
been m a j o r campaigns against or-
ganized labor. F i r s t , it was t h e 
strike question; then the f o r t y -
hour week; and finally, the prob-
lem of absenteeism. While these 
campaigns were on, a s t r a n g e r 
might have found it • difficult to 
discover who was our enemy, Hit-
ler and Tojo, or the American 
workman. While these minor w a r s 
were being waged, sensible per-
sons advised caution. Each time 
they pointed to production figures 
to show t h a t these attacks were 
based on wild exaggerations. 
Eventually the attacks died down 
and we heard nothing more about 
them. But the damage they did 
was g r e a t . They produced b i t t e r -
ness, and class cleavages will per-
sist f o r many years to come. They 
turned our soldiers against orga-
nized labor a t t h e very time t h a t 
production totals were unbelieve-
ably high. F o r example, when our 
President set as a goal f o r air-
plane production t h e figure of fifty 
thousand planes a year, his state-
ment was dismissed as f a n t a s t i c . 
Many good people pardoned it as 
a war s t r a t a g e m designed to de-
ceive the enemy. Yet today we a r e 
almost doubling t h i s impossible' 
goal, and t h a t in an industry which 
some consider one of our less ef-
ficient w a r industries. How then 
can we say t h a t labor h a s not done 



its p a r t ? or t h a t capital is more 
interested in profits than produc-
tion? 

Equally dangerous is the setting 
of the f a r m against city. The f a r m -
er has had real problems during 
t h i s war. He has seen a g r e a t mi-
gration of f a r m workers into the 
war plants, and this at a time when 
production goals were set higher 
t h a n ever. In spite of these dif-
ficulties he has done his patriotic 
duty to the full. Incidentally, he 
has been making profits. But none 
will begrudge him this. Had things 
stopped here, t h e r e would have 
been no problem. But some busy-
bodies f e l t t h a t they could spare 
the time and energy to stir up the 
f a r m e r against labor. They paint-
ed wild pictures of war wages, con-
veniently overlooking the costs of 
city living. Thus they would incite 
the f a r m e r to seek unreasonable 
profits. They claimed t h a t he 
should be exempt f r o m t h e common 
struggle against inflation. As a 
result, unregulated food costs f o r 
a time threatened the entire eco-
nomic s t r u c t u r e of the nation. Here 
a r e the seeds of a dangerous class 
struggle. 

There a r e ' o t h e r serious cleavages 
in America today. Thus there have 
been attempts to set one group 
of taxpayers against another, or 
against the government. There are 
complaints of impossible demands 
made upon our citizens. I t is t r u e 

t h a t taxes a r e high. But war is 
always costly, and t h i s war is most 
expensive. Our pocketbooks have 
h u r t , but other nations have borne 
g r e a t e r sacrifices. Our taxes are 
much less t h a n those of England 
and Canada. We a r e paying but 
t h i r t y per cent of t h e cost of t h e 
w a r : They are paying over half. 
Are we less patriotic t h a n they? 
Of course n o t ! The average Amer-
ican may grumble a bit, but he 
will do his p a r t . 

Cleavage and disunity do not 
spring naturally f r o m the h e a r t of 
the common man. He is not com-
plaining or reviling his fellow cit-
izens. Our differences a r e r a t h e r 
the work of a f e w troublemakers, 
unwilling to adjourn private w a r s 
in the hour of peril. They a r e 
seeking political gain or promoting 
class interests, sowing confusion 
and doubt and d i s t r u s t a t a time 
when unity is imperative. They 
are weakening us as we face the 
f e a r f u l problems of peace, when 
millions of workers must r e t u r n 
to private industry. If America 
is to survive the next ten years, 
it must be united as never before. 
The greatest crises of our history 
lie before us. Are we to meet them 
with capital in arms against labor? 
soldiers against civilians? f a r m in 
opposition to city? promoting dis-
unity would be treason in time of 
war, f o r it m i g h t lead to the loss 
of a battle or a campaign. But 



w h a t of disunity which might lead 
to the loss of our country? We do 
not wish to be alarmists, but we 
cannot f o r g e t the formula which 
led to the rise of Hitler and Mus-
solini in Europe. It was a simple 
mixture—a g r e a t crisis, plus a di-
vided nation. 

Today, then, and tomorrow we 
need an even g r e a t e r patriotism 
t h a n we have shown in these days 
of war. We need unity in the face 
of the difficult social and economic 
problems which our nation must 
solve. Labor, capital, f a r m , and 
city must work together f o r the 
survival of a f r e e America. Name-
calling and selfishness will not ac-
complish t h i s t a s k ; they will only 
lead to ruin. We must work to-
gether, submerging our differences 
in our devotion to the common 
cause. Unity must be real, not 
merely lip service to a name. It 
must mean a genuine effort to see 
the entire picture, to learn others' 
points of view first-hand, not by 
reading about them in our news-
papers, or hearing them in our 
clubs. Furthermore, it means prac-
ticing unity now, each in our own 
community. May we offer one 
practical suggestion as a means 
of s t a r t i n g the practice of u n i t y ? 
What of a program like t h i s : 
Businessmen in every city and 
town to have informal meetings at 
lunch with labor leaders. F a r m 
leaders might well sit in a t t h e 

same table. At the same time ser-
vice clubs and other luncheon 
groups would invite, speakers to 
give a different point of view f r o m 
the usual class picture. In these 
face-to-face gatherings differences 
could be ironed out in a friendly, 
open fashion, not l e f t to bitter, 
heated controversy. When this is 
tried, and it h a s been tried in some 
p a r t s of the land, then t h e results 
could be amazing. We would find 
out t h a t t h e other man is a human 
being, a patriotic citizen, a reason-
able type of person. Prejudices and 
misunderstanding would melt away 
like ice on a summer pavement. 
Some differences would remain, but 
nothing which could not be settled 
by reasonable compromise. And, 
above all, a g r e a t lesson in prac-
tical democracy and patriotism 
would be t a u g h t . We would learn 
how to work together by the only 
way it can be learned—by prac-
tice. This would be real patriot-
ism. 

Let us r e p e a t : America faces its 
most critical hour, not in winning 
the war, but in saving the peace. 
I t is the hardest problem we have 
ever faced. Divided, we cannot solve 
it. United, we shall be invincible. 
Here is the challenge to our pa-
triotism, our love of country, 
which is second only to love of 
God. Here is t h e real test of t h a t 
p r i m a r y virtue of charity. We a r e 
a strong nation. Never have we 



failed to meet a crisis. But now 
is the time f o r greatness. I t is 
the day f o r heroism. For the love 
of our g r e a t nation, let us keep the 
sacred t r u s t which has been given 

to us—let us walk united, one peo-
ple, dedicated to the cause of f r e e -
dom and justice. May God give 
us this grace, t h a t together we 
may honor His Holy Name. 



THE CATHOLIC HOUR 
1 9 3 0 — T h i r t e e n t h Y e a r — 1 9 4 3 

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