From the May 30, 1940, edition of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune:
Perhaps no national holiday in any land has an origin more beautiful than our Memorial Day.
Nations celebrate the overthrow of tyrants, the victories of armies, the birthdays of rulers. Memorial Day began as the glorification of peace and human brotherhood. It did not rise from victory over man. It expressed the victory over hate.
In its inception an occasion of patriotic tribute to those who had given their lives in service of the union in the Civil War, it has been broadened in scope to include the men and women who gave similar service in two other conflicts.
As the nation pauses today to observe Memorial Day, under the cloud of Europe's war, some may wonder whether the day, in its significance, has not become a taunting mockery. For the first few years following the World War, the nation gathered at the graves of its soldier dead and solemnly intoned the phrase "they have not died in vain," as it reminded itself of their sacrifice to end all wars and to preserve democracy.
The fury of a greater war has broken out in Europe that may yet engulf the world. There will be little talk today of a world made safe for democracy or of permanent peace.
And yet can anyone say that those dead whom we commemorate today have died in vain? Not if we remember the real significance of the day. Memorial Day remembers not the victories won in war, but rather the defeat and frustration which war brings to victor and vanquished alike.
Memorial Day is dedicated to the memory of the heroic dead, it is a day of mourning that the sacrifice of these lives was thought necessary. The day is also reminder of the cruel sacrifice which war imposes. As such, Memorial Day is a protest against the folly that is war.
We need no such reminder today, perhaps, but we do need to remember the ideals for which this nation fought are not dead and must never be allowed to die. We must preserve for ourselves and our posterity the democratic heritages that were handed down to us. We must learn to recognize the real dangers that threaten that heritage that we may guard against them.
We must choose the role we wish to take in days to come and, having made our choice, face the future calmly and courageously.
