President Roosevelt has always taken an interest in Far Eastern affairs, partly because his ancestors were engaged in the China trade. He followed therefore with particular attention the Japanese invasion of China and the threat to the Open Door policy. Since American public opinion has never been so averse to ce-operative action in the Far East as it has to similar action in Europe the President attempted in October to rally the country to a vigorous policy. Despite large scale military operations he refused to invoke the Neutrality Act (which would have pressed more hardly upon China than Japan) and on October 5 in Chicago he advocated "quarantine" for aggressor nations.
The public reaction to the quarantine speech was disappointing agd the American participation at the Nine Power Brussells conference owing to opposition at home led to no great results, Then like a bolt from the blue came the sinking of the U.S.S. Panay. Public opinion was strongly moved. This was a direct affront to the United Staes and even isolationists who had no interest in "making the world safe for "pulling British chestnuts out of the fire" rallied behind the President in his demands for apologies, indemnities and guarantees against The close of the year found the President commanding the same measure of public support he had enjoyed at the year's beginning, but on a question of foreign policy not domestic reform.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.