1940, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used a commencement address
at the University of Virginia, where his son, Franklin Jr., was graduating from
the law school, to warn the United States could no longer be “a lone island in
a world dominated by the philosophy of force.”

Italy had
declared war on France and Great Britain just that morning, and FDR said:

“On
this tenth day of June 1940, the hand that held the dagger has struck it into
the back of its neighbor.

“On this
tenth day of June 1940, in this university founded by the first great American
teacher of democracy, we send forth our prayers and our hopes to those beyond
the seas who are maintaining with magnificent valor their battle for freedom,”
he said.

The speech,
received with cheers and rebel yells in Charlottesville, presaged the United
States’ eventual entry intoA SURVIVOR of the July massacre on a Norwegian island which left 69 people dead has warned Irish people about the dangers of ignoring racism in our society.

Elin L'Estrange, whose father is from Dublin, spoke yesterday about her horrifying experiences on Utoya Island in July.

She heard the shots being fired by deranged gunman Anders Behring Breivik but managed to escape by swimming 700 metres to safety on the mainland.

"This is a story about the very worst thing racism can lead to -- violence and murder," she said.

Ms L'Estrange (24) said Behring Breivik was motivated by his racist beliefs and wanted to destroy multiculturalism in Norway.

"This guy, he hated Muslims. He thought Muslims had a twisted plan to take over Europe," she said.

She had been invited to speak yesterday