Leonard Wood

“ He understood that a nation is most effective as a force for peace and for justice when it is of resolute faith, and understands that the strength of right must be organized against the day when it may be necessary to meet the forces of wrong. He understood, as few have, that it is not enough to be filled with the spirit of sacrifice — to have lofty ideas — but that if our sacrifice is to be effective, if our ideals are to be realized, we must have ready the necessary force and organization, moral and physical. ”

“ His life was characterized by the spirit of service and sacrifice. He stood for America, law abiding and prosperous at home, and respected abroad. He loved America. He believed in her institutions — saw in her the hope of countless millions yet unborn. He breathed the spirit of intense Americanism. In his opinion there was no room in America for those who were part American, and part something else. ”

“ America lost, indeed the world lost, its soundest and most effective advocate of peace when Theodore Roosevelt died. The soundest and most effective because while hating war, as do most normal men, he realized that the peace of righteousness is often maintained through preparedness to do our duty even through war, if necessary; and that arbitration is most effective when a nation is not only right, but also able to use force, if needed, to back up the right. ”