Franklin D Roosevelt - In His Own Words by Edo Segal

Table of Contents Introduction

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QuoteBank Twenty Famous Quotes Economy War Politics & Government Wisdom Inspirational Democracy Personal

Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Historic speeches Commonwealth Club First Inaugural Speech Second Inaugural Speech The Arsenal of Democracy The Four Freedom Speech Infamy Speech The D-Day Prayer Speech Roosevelt as Author Looking Forward

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt The 32nd President of the United States

Roosevelt Makes History and Inspires Hope He took his Presidential oath exuding charm and a quiet confidence under the s h a d ow o f t h e G r e a t Depression which had paralyzed the nation. No President since Lincoln had taken the oath in a more dismal scenario. Americans looked at him w i t h expectation and hope and he did not disappoint. He arrived as the man of the hour, lifting the nation’s spirit and reviving its shaken

confidence giving back its self pride. His New Deal released a flurry of measures for the battered economy and helped put it back on its feet once more. Such was his popularity that Roosevelt is the only President in the history of US to be elected for more than two ter ms. Under his sterling leadership America successfully faced the Second World War and emerged as a super power. President Barack Obama seems to have taken a page out of Franklin Roosevelt’s book. Obama too is facing an economic crisis though of a lesser magnitude. Both presidents took prompt action. Obama’s stimulus bill to bail out the economy is

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somewhat similar to Roosevelt’s New Deal. Time will tell whether the stimulus bill is as successful in s a l v a g i n g t h e e c o n o my a s Roosevelt’s New Deal.

“We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for th e future.” Franklin D. Rooseve lt

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Formative years Roosevelt hailed from a wealthy and distinguished family. The Roosevelts could boast of being one of the oldest families of the New York state. Franklin came into the world on January 30, 1882 in the Hudson Valley town of Hyde Park, New York. He was the only child of James and Sarah Roosevelt. He was brought up in the lap of luxury. The person who influenced young Franklin most in those early years of his childhood was his mother. Roosevelt was admitted to Groton School. His headmaster Endicott Peabody, was a major influence in his life. It was Endicott who taught young Roosevelt to help people who were less fortunate and inspired him to enter public life. Besides academics young Roosevelt was taught popular pursuits like riding, shooting, rowing, and playing polo and lawn tennis. He was also a frequent visitor to Europe. After school Roosevelt entered Harvard where he lived a life of luxury. He was a member of the Alpha fraternity, and the president of T he Harvard C r i m s o n d a i l y n e w s p a p e r. Another momentous happening which influenced him deeply took

place while Franklin was in Harvard. Franklin’s fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became President of America. Franklin hero worshiped him and looked up to Theodore as a role model. Personal life Franklin met Eleanor, who was to become his wife at a White House reception in 1902. Eleanor was Theodore’s niece. Franklin was char med. Franklin entered Columbia Law School in 1905. He however was not destined to graduate from that institution as he passed the New York State Bar exam. 1908 found him working in the renowned Wall Street firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn, dealing mainly with corporate law. Meanwhile Franklin was seeing more of Eleanor whom he married on March 17, 1905. His mother was opposed to the match. The marriage was not an easy one as both were very dif fere n t f ro m e a ch o t h e r. Outgoing and charming Franklin enjoyed an active social life while shy and retiring Eleanor was a social recluse. The couple had six children. Franklin was not a faithful husband. He frequently strayed and reportedly had an affair with Eleanor’s social secretary Lucy Mercer. At one point of time he was even thinking of obtaining a divorce. However mediators and his mother intervened. Eleanor was deeply hurt and set up a separate establishment in Hyde Park at Valkill. Eleanor however stood by Franklin when he was paralyzed and gave full support to his political ambitions. Budding Political career Roosevelt decided to take the plunge into politics when he ran

for the New York State Senate in 1910. His name spelled magic and he won an overwhelming victory. On January 1, 1911, Roosevelt staged his entry into the state house as a senator. He soon gained popularity among the d e m o c r a t s . Ro o s e v e l t w a s reelected for a second term. In 1913, he added another feather to his cap when he was appointed as Assistant Secretary of the Navy by Woodrow Wilson. Roosevelt now wanted to make his mark in the national scene. His ambition received a setback when he was defeated in the democratic primary election for the United States Senate. After the defeat, Roosevelt threw his heart and soul into the navy. He founded the United States Navy Reserves. Roosevelt served in the Navy during World War I. The year 1920 marked another turning point in Roosevelt’s career He was chosen by the Democratic National Convention as thecandidatefor Vice President. Though he once again tasted defeat he made a favorable impression in the minds of the public and many predicted that he would return to public life

soon. He was perceived as a rising star. Misfortune Unfortunately fortune dealt a severe blow to Roosevelt in the form of a serious illness. In August 1921, while he was enjoying a vacation with his family at Campobello Island, N e w B r u n s w i c k , Ro o s eve l t became a victim of a mysterious illness, similar to polio. The illness left him paralyzed from waist down. He tried a wide range of therapies but in vain. Roosevelt however did not give up hope. Displaying exemplary courage in 4

the face of adversity, he taught h i m s e l f t o w a l k fo r s h o r t distances, fitting his hips and legs with iron braces. Though he used a wheelchair, he was never seen on it in public.

Power Roosevelt once again threw all his energies into public life. He campaigned for Alfred E. Smith who later became Governor of New York in 1922. In 1929 Smith resigned his seat as he was running for Presidency. He asked Roosevelt to run for the post of governor. Roosevelt won by a narrow margin to become the Governor of New York. As governor Roosevelt initiated many new social programs. He was reelected for a second term. In the 1932 elections Roosevelt was the democratic candidate for the 1932 Presidential election which he got by hectic lobbying with people who mattered. The Great Depression had hit America hard as Wall Street crashed in 1929. Roosevelt said: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people" a slogan which rapidly became popular. Roosevelt advocated “immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless c o m m i s s i o n s a n d o f fi c e s , c o n s o l i d at i n g bu re a u s a n d e l i m i n a t i n g e x t r av a g a n c e s reductions in bureaucracy," and for a "sound currency to be maintained at all hazards." The election was a triumph for Roosevelt who gathered 57 per cent of the votes. He had become the 32nd President of America but faced mammoth problems. The Great Depression had gripped the nation and was slowly but surely sucking out its breath. Bank accounts were frozen.

Unemployment was the order of the day. Industrial production had fallen by half. Almost two million people were literally on the streets as they had no homes. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states, as well as the District of Columbia had closed their banks .

The New Deal and the first 100 days Roosevelt knew he had to act quickly in order to lift the country out of the morass into which it had fallen. In his first 100 days of office he focused on his economic agenda which aimed at “Relief, recover y and refo r m ” . H e proposed a New Deal (a series of economic measures) which would infuse fresh blood into the ailing e c o n o my. T h e s e e c o n o m i c proposals were designed to create jobs which would bring immediate relief, reform existing business and financial practices and finally bring about the recovery of the sick economy. He decided to promote his economic reforms through a series of radio talks known as fire side chats. The first step in his New Deal was to bring prompt relief. The Congress passed a record number of bills from March 9 to June 16 1933. Roosevelt’s top priority was to give immediate relief. Relief measures included the continuation of Hoover's major relief program for the unemployed under the new name, Fe d e r a l E m e r g e n c y Re l i e f Administration. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which hired 250,000 unemployed young men to work on rural local projects, was one of Roosevelt’s favorite measures. Armed with new powers the Federal Trade Commission provided mortgage relief to millions of farmers and

homeowners. He laid the foundation to the Agricultural Adjustment Act which brought relief to farmers. The Re c o n s t r u c t i o n F i n a n c i a l Cooperation which aimed at financing railroads and industries was expanded. National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) targeted economic reforms. This act forced industries to come up with codes that established the rules of operation for all firms within specific industries, such as minimum prices, agreements not to compete, and production restrictions. However the NIRA proved to be controversial as it was declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. In 1933, major new banking regulations were passed. Roosevelt is credited for bringing in fresh reforms in the banking sector. In 1934, the Securities and Exchange Commission was created to regulate Wall Street. In order to boost the economy the government went on a spending spree and money was pumped in. Roosevelt coordinated with Republican Senator George Norris to create the largest government-owned industrial enterprise in American history, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which built dams and power stations, controlled floods, as well as modernized agriculture and living conditions in the impoverished Tennessee Valley. He repealed prohibition which gave new tax revenues to the country. He made certain unpopular moves which raised a storm of protest. Executive Order 6102 declared that all gold privately owned by individuals was government property. He slashed military expenditure as well as introduced 40 per cent cuts to veteran spending. He removed 500,000 veterans and widows from the pension rolls 5

which hit them hard. Roosevelt was forced to give it up as opposition strengthened and angry veterans protested. After 1934 America witnessed another surge of New Deal provisions. These measures included the Works Progress Administration (WPA) which set up a national relief agency that employed two million people. The Social Security Act took care of the elderly, the poor and the sick. The National Labor Relations Act gave workers the right to organize unions which enabled them to make collective bargains and organize strikes. These measures helped to revive the economy. Unemployment fell. The limping economy began to register substantial growth thanks to the New Deal. The days of the great depression became a thing of the past and American economy flourished. However the problem of unemployment could not be overcome completely before World War II.

War Clouds While Roosevelt was battling against the grave economic crisis that had gripped the country, another crisis was looming in the horizon. War clouds began to gather in Europe as Hitler came to power. In 1935 Italy invaded Ethiopia—an act of blatant aggression. Most people felt that the world would not be able to avoid a Second World War. The Congress passed the Neutrality Act. This act banned the shipment of being actively involved in the war. Roosevelt personally felt that intervention may be necessary. He had developed a deep friendship with Winston Churchill. As nation after nation collapsed against the

German juggernaut, US realized the vulnerability of Britain and France and the need to give military aid. In 1940, 50 destroyers were given to Britain. This was the beginning of the massive military aid that US would provide to the Allies. Roosevelt initiated the Lend Lease program to help the allies The Congress approved of giving $ 50 billion of military supplies. This enormous sum was non repayable.

The Third Term Meanwhile the next election was around the corner. Roosevelt had once again filed his nomination for the post of president. He drew criticism as there was an unwritten rule that no president had ruled for more than two terms. When the Democratic Convention was held at Chicago, the delegates screamed in support of Roosevelt’s candidature and cries of “We want Roosevelt” rent the air. He won 947 votes as against a meager 147 by the opposition. He emerged victorious in the next election with 50 per cent of votes in his favor. He became the only president of the US who was elected for a third term. World War II was in full swing. Roosevelt was already providing military aid to the Allies by the Lend Lease program. In 1939 America began a secret policy of re armament. Roosevelt declared that America was the “arsenal of democracy” and could not afford to sit quietly. He was criticized for being a war monger. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union, US extended the Lend Lease aid to the Soviet Union too. It decided to give all possible military and financial aid to the allies short of actual participation

in the war. On August 14, 1941 Roosevelt held the first of a series of wartime conferences with Winston Churchill; then prime minister of Britain to develop the Atlantic Charter. Meanwhile rearmament program had started in earnest in the US. Roosevelt knew that sooner or later the US would be sucked into the war

Pearl Harbor Japan which had joined Italy and Germany began to chart out an aggressive course. On December 7, 1941 the Japanese made their biggest mistake. They attacked the US Pacific Fleet stationed at Pe a r l H a r b o r. A r o u n d 1 6 warships were destroyed and 2,400 people killed. America had entered World War II. Those who had previously been anti- war n o w s u p p o r t e d Ro o s e v e l t . Roosevelt knew that even though Japan was the culprit, he had to ensure the defeat of Germany first. With the US entry into the war with its massive resources, the war tilted in favor of the Allies. The Allies which included France, Britain, Soviet Union and China held a series of War Conferences to decide strategy. All possible aid was provided to the Soviet Union to push back Germany from their land. Meanwhile American and British soldiers were to launch an offensive to free Western Europe including France. Their plan worked and Germany found it difficult to fight the war on two fronts. The US also increased pressure by bombing Germany on a massive scale. Roosevelt chose Dwight D. Eisenhower, to lead the cross channel invasion. His faith was justified as France was liberated and Italy succumbed. The battle with Japan continued. The morale of American troops received a boost when it emerged 6

victorious in the Battle of Midway in 1942.

Death During the war Roosevelt’s popularity soared and reached dizzying heights. He was elected for a fourth term in 1944. Unfortunately Roosevelt did not live to see the fruits of victory. He passed away on April 12, 1945, when victory was within sight and the Allies had invaded Germany and the surrender of Berlin was just a matter of time. Roosevelt’s health had declined since 1940. He was a victim of multiple ailments like chronic high blood pressure, emphysema, atherosclerosis, angina pectoris

and end-stage heart disease. While his life was drawing to an end, Roosevelt had participated in the Yalta conference in February. In March he addressed the Congress. It was obvious to everyone that his end was near. The germs of the Cold War was sown in Roosevelt’s era when it became apparent that the US and Soviet Union had g rave differences. In March Roosevelt accused Stalin of breaking the commitments he made during the Yalta Conference. On April 12 he retired to bed complaining of a “massive headache”. He collapsed under a severe attack of massive cerebral hemorrhage and later passed away. On his death The N e w Yo rk T i m e s e d i t o r i a l declared, "Men will thank God on

their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House," Roosevelt was buried in the Rose Garden of the Springwood estate, the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park.

Twenty Famous Quotes “First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed it must be achieved.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “If you treat people right they will treat you right - ninety percent of the time.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “We cannot always build the future for our youth, but we can build our youth for the future.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I sometimes think that the saving grace of America lies in the fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans are possessed of two great qualities- a sense of humor and a sense of proportion.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Be sincere; be brief; be seated.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Human kindness has never weakened the stamina or softened the fiber of a free people. A nation does not have to be cruel to be tough.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“I do not look upon the United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I think we consider too much the good luck of the early bird and not enough the bad luck of the early worm.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“It is the duty of the President to propose and it is the privilege of the Congress to dispose.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “This is the moment when we must come together to save this planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Economy On October 24 1929 the New York Stock market collapsed leading to the Great Depression which not only gripped US but spread to the whole world When Roosevelt came to power the Great Depression was in full swing and the economy was in shambles. In a daring measure Roosevelt initiated The New Deal and set about to revive the economy with a series of economic planning programs. His New Deal worked like a tonic to the ailing economy and helped it to get back to its feet. Roosevelt inherited an economy in ruins but when he died in harness, America was one of the most prosperous nations in the whole world.

“True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Here is my principle: Taxes shall be levied according to ability to pay. That is the only American principle.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“If we can boondoggle ourselves out of this depression, that word is going to be enshrined in the hearts of the American people for years to come.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“It isn't sufficient just to want - you've got to ask yourself what you are going to do to get the things you want.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Not only our future economic soundness but the very soundness of our democratic institutions depends on the determination of our government to give employment to idle men.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Prosperous farmers mean more employment, more prosperity for the workers and the business men of every industrial area in the whole country.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Our national debt after all is an internal debt owed not only by the Nation but to the Nation. If our children have to pay interest on it they will pay that interest to themselves. A reasonable internal debt will not impoverish our children or put the Nation into bankruptcy.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

War Roosevelt was the President of America when World War II broke out. Though America’s sympathies lay with the Allies and it provided them with massive financial and military aid, the US did not actively participate in the war. The bombing of Pearl Harbor proved to be a turning point and America was sucked into the war. As President, Roosevelt was also the Commander in chief of the armed forces. He took a keen interest in planning strategies and worked closely with his military advisers. Under his inspiring leadership America proved its mettle. The war also revealed the awesome might of the Armed Forces of America. Under Roosevelt’s leadership America emerged as one of the most powerful nations in the world with a decisive say in world politics. “I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen 200 limping, exhausted “men come out of line—the survivors of a regiment of 1,000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Yesterday, December seventh, 1941, a date which will live in infamy, the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Slowly, and in spite of anything we Americans do or do not do, it looks a little as if you and some other good people are going to have to answer the old question of whether you want to keep your country unshackled by taking even more definite steps to do so — even firing shots — or, on the other hand, submitting to be shackled for the sake of not losing one American life.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginning of all wars - yes, an end to this brutal, inhuman and thoroughly impractical method of settling the differences between governments” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Our national determination to keep free of foreign wars and foreign entanglements cannot prevent us from feeling deep concern when ideals and principles that we have cherished are challenged.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“War is a contagion.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I have passed unnumbered hours, I shall pass unnumbered hours thinking and planning how war may be kept from this nation.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “If there is anyone who still wonders why this war is being fought, let him look to Norway. If there is anyone who has any delusions that this war could have been averted, let him look to Norway; and if there is anyone who doubts the democratic will to win, again I say, let him look to Norway” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Politics and Government Coming from an influential family, (many members had already participated in politics), Roosevelt was familiar with the world of politics from a tender age. He proved to be a consummate politician with an uncanny ability to gauge the pulse of the people. The invention of radio revolutionized the world and Roosevelt took full advantage of this new device to reach out to the maximum number of people. He never forgot the fact that it was the people who could make and unmake governments. “They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers. . . call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I am neither bitter nor cynical but I do wish there was less immaturity in political thinking.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “No government can help the destinies of people who insist in putting sectional and class consciousness ahead of general weal.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “No group and no government can properly prescribe precisely what should constitute the body of knowledge with which true education is concerned.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “It is fun to be in the same decade with you.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt to Winton Churchill.

“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know that a financial element in the large centers has owned the government of the U.S. since the days of Andrew Jackson. History depicts Andrew Jackson as the last truly honorable and incorruptible American president” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

â&#x20AC;&#x153;The true conservative is the man who has a real concern for injustices and takes thought against the day of reckoning.â&#x20AC;? -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Wisdom Roosevelt pondered deeply over human affairs and voiced his opinion on most subjects. According to many historians he was a great visionary. His words of wisdom are relevant even today. Roosevelt himself conquered his illness which left him paralyzed from waist down to occupy the highest post in the land. “Illness gave him strength and courage he had not had before. He had to think out the fundamentals of living and learn the greatest of all lessons... Infinite patience and never-ending persistence"...Eleanor Roosevelt Perhaps the bitter blows of life made him a wiser person and he was able to gain greater insight into human nature and affairs of the world. "Never before have we had so little time in which to do so much." -Franklin D. Roosevelt “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself. Forests are the lungs of our land, purifying the air and giving fresh strength to our people.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Art is not a treasure in the past or an importation from another land, but part of the present life of all living and creating peoples.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Confidence... thrives on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Favor comes because for a brief moment in the great space of human change and progress some general human purpose finds in him a satisfactory embodiment.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “If civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships - the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world at peace.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up or else all go down as one people.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“It takes a long time to bring the past up to the present.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “One thing is sure. We have to do something. We have to do the best we know how at the moment... If it doesn't turn out right, we can modify it as we go along.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Physical strength can never permanently withstand the impact of spiritual force.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Remember you are just an extra in everyone else's play.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Rules are not necessarily sacred, principles are.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Self-interest is the enemy of all true affection.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “There are as many opinions as there are experts.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “There are many ways of going forward, but only one way of standing still.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Inspirational A born optimist and endowed with courage, his words inspired a nation to rise to greater heights. One of the greatest leaders America has ever produced; he succeeded in turning despair into hope. He occupied the White House when the nation was reeling under the Great Depression and succeeded in lifting its morale by prompt action. His New Deal gradually took the nation on the road to prosperity. His life itself served as an inspiration to others. He proved that everything was possible if there was a strong will by battling against disability to reach the highest position in the land. During World War II his inspiring words goaded the nation to perform heroic deeds and led it to victory. “We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “To reach a port, we must sail - sail, not tie at anchor - sail, not drift.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “We, and all others who believe in freedom as deeply as we do, would rather die on our feet than live on our knees” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all of mankind” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy” -Franklin D. Roosevelt "I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average." -Franklin D. Roosevelt “If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands they must be made brighter in our own” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

“We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance, and slavery, and war.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Throughout the world, change is the order of the day” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “We do not see faith, hope, and charity as unattainable ideals, but we use them as stout supports of a nation fighting the fight for freedom in a modern civilization.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Democracy Democracy has produced great leaders and one of her greatest sons was Franklin Roosevelt. He kept the flag of democracy flying high when most nations had succumbed to communism or fascism. He described America as an arsenal of democracy. Democratic ideals were close to his heart. He knew that the true power of any nation was not its military strength but its people. The people of America placed their faith in him again and again and he did not let them down and led them to greater glory. “Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “All free peoples are deeply impressed by the courage and steadfastness of the Greek nation.” Franklin D. Roosevelt “We must be the great arsenal of Democracy” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Faith — in the soundness of democracy in the midst of dictatorships” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Personal Roosevelt exuded charisma. He was one of the most charming presidents whose wise words captivated the nation .World leaders like Churchill found him hard to resist. A born survivor, he possessed human values which are so necessary for a leader--- courage, optimism, a strong will, a sharp mind and a powerful personality. His life stands as a shining example to people with any form of disability. “I am a Christian and a Democrat, that's all.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “I'm not the smartest fellow in the world, but I can sure pick smart colleagues.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “After you leave me tonight, Jimmy, I am going to pray. I am going to pray that God will help me, that he will give me the strength and the guidance to do this job and to do it right. I hope that you will pray for me, too, Jimmy.”

-Franklin D. Roosevelt to his son

“Are you laboring under the impression that I read these memoranda of yours? I can't even lift them” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “There is nothing I love as much as a good fight” “Love is union with somebody, or something, outside oneself, under the condition of retaining the separateness and integrity of one's own self.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Roosevelt’s Historic Speeches Franklin D. Roosevelt, September 23rd, 1932 Commonwealth Club address, Commonwealth Club of San Francisco. Roosevelt exuded charisma. He was one of the most charming presidents whose wise words captivated the nation .World leaders like Churchill found him hard to resist. A born survivor, he possessed human values which are so necessary for a leader--- courage, optimism, a strong will, a sharp mind and a powerful personality. His life stands as a shining example to people with any form of disability. Full Transcript: I count it a privilege to be invited to address the Commonwealth Club. It has stood in the life of this city and State, and it is perhaps accurate to add, the nation, as a group of citizen leaders interested in fundamental problems of government, and chiefly concerned with achievement of progress in government through none—partisan means. The privilege of addressing you, therefore, in the heat of a political campaign, is great. I want to respond to your courtesy in terms consistent with your policy. I want to speak not of politics but of government. I want to speak not of parties, but of universal principles. They are not political, except in that larger sense in which a great American once expressed a definition of politics, that nothing in all of human life is foreign to the science of politics. I do want to give you, however, a recollection of a long life spent for a large part in public office. Some of my conclusions and observations have been deeply accentuated in these past few weeks. I have traveled far —— from Albany to the Golden Gate. I have seen many people, and heard many things, and today, when in a sense my journey has reached the half—way mark, I am glad of the opportunity to discuss with you what it all means to me. Sometimes, my friends, particularly in years such as these, the hand of discouragement falls upon us. It seems that things are in a rut, fixed, settled, that the world has grown old and tired and very much out of joint. This is the mood of depression, of dire and weary depression. But then we look around us in America, and everything tells us that we are wrong. America is new. It is the process of change and development. It has the great potentialities of youth and particularly is this true of the great West, and of this coast, and of California. I would not have you feel that I regard this as in any sense a new community. I have traveled in many parts of the world, but never have I felt the arresting thought of the change and development more that here, where the old, mystic East would seem to be near to us, where the currents of life and thought and commerce of the whole world meet us. This factor alone is sufficient to cause man to stop and think of the deeper meaning of things, when he stands in this community. But more than that, I appreciate that the membership of this club consists of men who are thinking in terms beyond the immediate present, beyond their own immediate tasks, beyond their

own individual interests. I want to invite you, therefore, to consider with me in the large, some of the relationships of government and economic life that go deeply into our daily lives, our happiness, our future and our security. The issue of government has always been whether individual men and women will have to serve some system of government or economics, or whether a system of government and economics exists to serve individual men and women. This question has persistently dominated the discussion of government for many generations. On questions relating to these things men have differed, and for time immemorial it is probable that honest men will continue to differ. The final word belongs to no man; yet we can still believe in change and in progress. Democracy, as a dear old friend of mine in Indiana, Meredith Nicholson, has called it, is a quest, a never ending seeking for better things, and in the seeking for these things and the striving for them, there are many roads to follow. But, if we map the course of these roads, we find that there are only two general directions. When we look about us, we are likely to forget how hard people have worked to win the privilege of government. The growth of the national governments of Europe was a struggle for the development of a centralized force in the nation, strong enough to impose peace upon ruling barons. In many instances the victory of the central government, the creation of a strong central government, was a haven of refuge to the individual. The people preferred the master far away to the exploitation and cruelty of the smaller master near at hand. But the creators of national government were perforce—ruthless men. They were often cruel in their methods, but they did strive steadily toward something that society needed and very much wanted, a strong central State able to keep the peace, to stamp out civil war, to put the unruly nobleman in his place, and to permit the bulk of individuals to live safely. The man of ruthless force had his place in developing a pioneer country, just as he did in fixing the power of the central government in the development of the nations. Society paid him well for his services and its development. When the development among the nations of Europe, however, had been completed, ambition and ruthlessness, having served their term, tended to overstep their mark. There came a growing feeling that government was conducted for the benefit of a few who thrived unduly at the expense of all. The people sought a balancing —— a limiting force. There came gradually, through town councils, trade guilds, national parliaments by constitution and by popular participation and control, limitations on arbitrary power. Another factor that tended to limit the power of those who ruled, was the rise of the ethical conception that a ruler bore a responsibility for the welfare of his subjects. The American colonies were born in this struggle. The American Revolution was a turning point in it. After the Revolution the struggle continued and shaped itself in the public life of the country. There were those who because they had seen the confusion which attended the years of war for American independence surrendered to the belief that popular government was essentially dangerous and essentially unworkable. They were honest people, my friends, and we cannot deny that their experience had warranted some measure of fear. The most brilliant, honest and able exponent of this point of view was Hamilton. He was too impatient of slow—moving methods. Fundamentally he believed that the safety of the republic lay in the autocratic strength of its government, that the destiny of individuals was to serve that government, and that fundamentally a great and strong group of central institutions, guided by a small group of able and public spirited citizens, could best direct all government. But Mr. Jefferson, in the summer of 1776, after drafting the Declaration of Independence turned his mind to the same problem and took a different view. He did not deceive himself with outward

forms. Government to him was a means to an end, not an end in itself; it might be either a refuge and a help or a threat and a danger, depending on the circumstances. We find him carefully analyzing the society for which he was to organize a government. "We have no paupers. The great mass of our population is of laborers, our rich who cannot live without labor, either manual or professional, being few and of moderate wealth. Most of the laboring class possess property, cultivate their own lands, have families and from the demand for their labor, are enabled to exact from the rich and the competent such prices as enable them to feed abundantly, clothe above mere decency, to labor moderately and raise their families." These people, he considered, had two sets of rights, those of "personal competency" and those involved in acquiring and possessing property. By "personal competency" he meant the right of free thinking, freedom of forming and expressing opinions, and freedom of personal living, each man according to his own rights. To insure the first set of rights, a government must so order its functions as not to interfere with the individual. But even Jefferson realized that the exercise of property rights might so interfere with the rights of the individual that the government, without whose assistance the property rights could not exist, must intervene, not to destroy individualism, but to protect it. You are familiar with the great political duel which followed; and how Hamilton, and his friends, building toward a dominant centralized power were at length defeated in the great election of 1800, by Mr. Jeffersonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s party. Out of that duel came the two parties, Republican and Democratic, as we know them today. So began, in American political life, the new day, the day of the individual against the system, the day in which individualism was made the great watchword of American life. The happiest of economic conditions made that day long and splendid. On the Western frontier, land was substantially free. No one, who did not shirk the task of earning a living, was entirely without opportunity to do so. Depressions could, and did, come and go; but they could not alter the fundamental fact that most of the people lived partly by selling their labor and partly by extracting their livelihood from the soil, so that starvation and dislocation were practically impossible. At the very worst there was always the possibility of climbing into a covered wagon and moving west where the untilled prairies afforded a haven for men to whom the East did not provide a place. So great were our natural resources that we could offer this relief not only to our own people, but to the distressed of all the world; we could invite immigration from Europe, and welcome it with open arms. Traditionally, when a depression came a new section of land was opened in the West; and even our temporary misfortune served our manifest destiny. It was in the middle of the nineteenth century that a new force was released and a new dream created. The force was what is called the industrial revolution, the advance of steam and machinery and the rise of the forerunners of the modern industrial plant. The dream was the dream of an economic machine, able to raise the standard of living for everyone; to bring luxury within the reach of the humblest; to annihilate distance by steam power and later by electricity, and to release everyone from the drudgery of the heaviest manual toil. It was to be expected that this would necessarily affect government. Heretofore, government had merely been called upon to produce conditions within which people could live happily, labor peacefully, and rest secure. Now it was called upon to aid in the consummation of this new dream. There was, however, a shadow over the dream. To be made real, it required use of the talents of men of tremendous will and tremendous ambition, since by no other force could the problems of financing and engineering and new developments be brought to a consummation. So manifest were the advantages of the machine age, however, that the United States fearlessly, cheerfully, and, I think, rightly, accepted the bitter with the sweet. It was thought that no price was

too high to pay for the advantages which we could draw from a finished industrial system. This history of the last half century is accordingly in large measure a history of a group of financial Titans, whose methods were not scrutinized with too much care, and who were honored in proportion as they produced the results, irrespective of the means they used. The financiers who pushed the railroads to the Pacific were always ruthless, often wasteful, and frequently corrupt; but they did build railroads, and we have them today. It has been estimated that the American investor paid the American railway system more than three times over in the process; but despite this fact the net advantage was to the United States. As long as we had free land; as long as population was growing by leaps and bounds; as long as our industrial plants were insufficient to supply our own needs, society chose to give the ambitious man free play and unlimited reward provided only that he produced the economic plant so much desired. During this period of expansion, there was equal opportunity for all and the business of government was not to interfere but to assist in the development of industry. This was done at the request of businessmen themselves. The tariff was originally imposed for the purpose of "fostering our infant industry," a phrase I think the older among you will remember as a political issue not so long ago. The railroads were subsidized, sometimes by grants of money, oftener by grants of land; some of the most valuable oil lands in the United States were granted to assist the financing of the railroad which pushed through the Southwest. A nascent merchant marine was assisted by grants of money, or by mail subsidies, so that our stream shipping might ply the seven seas. Some of my friends tell me that they do not want the government in business. With this I agree; but I wonder whether they realize the implications of the past. For while it has been American doctrine that the government must not go into business in competition with private enterprises, still it has been traditional particularly in Republican Administrations for business urgently to ask the government to put at private disposal all kinds of government assistance. The same man who tells you that he does not want to see the government interfere in business —— and he means it, and has plenty of good reasons for saying so —— is the first to go to Washington and ask the government for a prohibitory tariff on his product. When things get just bad enough —— as they did two years ago —— he will go with equal speed to the United States government and ask for a loan; and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation is the outcome of it. Each group has sought protection from the government for its own special interests, without realizing that the function of government must be to favor no small group at the expense of its duty to protect the rights of personal freedom and of private property of all its citizens. A glance at the situation today only too clearly indicates that equality of opportunity as we have known it no longer exists. Our industrial plant is built; the problem just now is whether under existing conditions it is not overbuilt. Our last frontier has long since been reached, and there is practically no more free land. More than half of our people do not live on the farms or on lands and cannot derive a living by cultivating their own property. There is no safety valve in the form of a Western prairie to which those thrown out of work by the Eastern economic machines can go for a new start. We are not able to invite the immigration from Europe to share our endless plenty. We are now providing a drab living for our own people. Our system of constantly rising tariffs has at last reacted against us to the point of closing our Canadian frontier on the north, our European markets on the east, many of our Latin American markets to the south, and a goodly proportion of our Pacific markets on the west, through the retaliatory tariffs of those countries. It has forced many of our great industrial institutions who exported their surplus production to such countries, to establish plants in such countries, within the tariff walls. This has resulted in the reduction of the operation of their American plants, and opportunity for employment.

Just as freedom to farm has ceased, so also the opportunity in business has narrowed. It still is true that men can start small enterprises, trusting to native shrewdness and ability to keep abreast of competitors; but area after area has been pre—empted altogether by the great corporations and even in the fields which still have no great concerns, the small man starts under a handicap. The unfeeling statistics of the past three decades show that the independent businessman is running a losing race. Perhaps he is forced to the wall; perhaps he cannot command credit; perhaps he is "squeezed out," in Mr. Wilson’s words, by highly organized corporate competitors, as your corner grocery man can tell you. Recently a careful study was made of the concentration of business in the United States. It showed that our economic life was dominated by some six hundred odd corporations who controlled two—thirds of American industry. Ten million small businessmen divided the other third. More striking still, it appeared that if the process of concentration goes on at the same rate, at the end of another century we shall have all American industry controlled by a dozen corporations, and run by perhaps a hundred men. But plainly, we are steering a steady course toward economic oligarchy, if we are not there already. Clearly, all this calls for a re—appraisal of values. A mere builder of more industrial plants, a creator of more railroad systems, an organizer of more corporations, is as likely to be a danger as a help. The day of the great promoter or the financial Titan, to whom we granted everything if only he would build, or develop, is over. Our task now is not discovery, or exploitation of natural resources, or necessarily producing more goods. It is the soberer, less dramatic business of administering resources and plants already in hand, of seeking to reestablish foreign markets for our surplus production, of meeting the problem of under consumption, of adjusting production to consumption, of distributing wealth and products more equitably of adapting existing economic organizations to the service of the people. The day of enlightened administration has come. Just as in older times the central government was first a haven of refuge, and then a threat, so now in a closer economic system the central and ambitious financial unit is no longer a servant of national desire, but a danger. I would draw the parallel one step farther. We did not think because national government had become a threat in the 18th century that therefore we should abandon the principle of national government. Nor today should we abandon the principle of strong economic units called corporations, merely because their power is susceptible of easy abuse. In other rimes we dealt with the problem of an unduly ambitious central government. So today we are modifying and controlling our economic units. As I see it, the task of government in its relation to business is to assist the development of an economic declaration of rights, an economic constitutional order. This is the common task of statesman and businessman. It is the minimum requirement of a more permanently safe order of things. Every man has a right to life; and this means that he has also a right to make a comfortable living. He may by sloth or crime decline to exercise that right; but it may not be denied him. We have no actual famine or dearth; our industrial and agricultural mechanism can produce enough and to spare. Our government formal and informal, political and economic owes to every one an avenue to possess himself of a portion of that plenty sufficient for his needs, through his own work. Every man has a right to his own property, which means a right to be assured, to the fullest extent attainable, in the safety of his savings. By no other means can men carry the burdens of those parts of life which, in the nature of things, afford no chance of labor; childhood, sickness, old age. In all thought of property, this right is paramount; all other property rights must yield to it. If, in accord with this principle, we must restrict the operations of the speculator, the manipulator, even

the financier, I believe we must accept the restriction as needful, not to hamper individualism but to protect it. These two requirements must be satisfied, in the main, by the individuals who claim and hold control of the great industrial and financial combinations, which dominate so large a part of our industrial life. They have undertaken to be not businessmen, but princes —— princes of property. I am not prepared to say that the system which produces them is wrong. I am very clear that they must fearlessly and competently assume the responsibility which goes with the power. So many enlightened businessmen know this that the statement would be little more than a platitude, were it not for an added implication. This implication is, briefly, that the responsible heads of finance and industry instead of acting each for himself, must work together to achieve the common end. They must, where necessary, sacrifice this or that private advantage; and in reciprocal self—denial must seek a general advantage. It is here that formal government —— political government, if you choose, comes in. Whenever in the pursuit of this objective the lone wolf, the unethical competitor, the reckless promoter, the Ishmael or Insull whose hand is against every man’s, declines to join in achieving an end recognized as being for the public welfare, and threatens to drag the industry back to a state of anarchy, the government may properly be asked to apply restraint. Likewise, should the group ever use its collective power contrary to the public welfare, the government must be swift to enter and protect the public interest. The government should assume the function of economic regulation only as a last resort, to be tried only when private initiative, inspired by high responsibility, with such assistance and balance as government can give, has finally failed. As yet there has been no final failure, because there has been no attempt; and I decline to assume that this nation is unable to meet the situation. The final term of the high contract was for liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We have learnt a great deal of both in the past century. We know that individual liberty and individual happiness mean nothing unless both are ordered in the sense that one man’s meat is not another man’s poison. We know that the old "rights of personal competency —— the right to read, to think, to speak, to choose and live a mode of life, must be respected at all hazards. We know that liberty to do anything which deprives others of those elemental rights is outside the protection of any compact; and that government in this regard is the maintenance of a balance, within which every individual may have a place if he will take it; in which every individual may find safety if he wishes it; in which every individual may attain such power as his ability permits, consistent with his assuming the accompanying responsibility. Faith in America, faith in our tradition of personal responsibilities, faith in our institutions, faith in ourselves demands that we recognize the new terms of the old social contract. We shall fulfill them, as we fulfilled the obligation of the apparent Utopia which Jefferson imagined for us in 1776, and which Jefferson, Roosevelt and Wilson sought to bring to realization. We must do so, lest a rising tide of misery engendered by our common failure, engulf us all. But failure is not an American habit; and in the strength of great hope we must all shoulder our common load.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, March 4th, 1933 First Inaugural speech at Washington DC Franklin Roosevelt assumed office when America was facing one of its worst crises since the civil war in the form of the Great Depression. The Great Depression had hit the country hard and left millions unemployed facing a life of ruin. Roosevelt knew that the situation in the country was grave and needed immediate redress. In his very first inaugural address he gave a stirring address including his oft quoted words â&#x20AC;&#x153;The only thing we have to fear is fear itself â&#x20AC;? By initiating the New Deal which brought about sweeping economic reforms, he pulled back America from the brink of disaster and put it firmly on the road to a healthy economy.

Full Transcript: President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends: This is a day of national consecration, and I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our nation impels. This is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear. . .is fear itself. . . nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels: taxes have risen, our ability to pay has fallen, government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income, the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade, the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side, farmers find no markets for their produce, the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone. More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment. Yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failures and abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.

True, they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored conditions. They know only the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish. The money changers have fled their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money, it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellow-men. Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be values only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit, and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance. Without them it cannot live. Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accompanied in part by direct recruiting by the government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our national resources. Hand in hand with this, we must frankly recognize the over-balance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land. The task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities. It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss, through foreclosure, of our small homes and our farms. It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, State, and local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced. It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical and unequal. It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities which have a definitely public character.

There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act, and act quickly. Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order: there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments; there must be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency. These are the lines of attack. I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the several States. Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo. Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are, to point in time and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy. I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first. I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment. The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not narrowly nationalistic. It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States . . . recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer. It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure. In the field of world policy I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the good neighbor. . .the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others. . .the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of neighbors. If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize, as we have never realized before, our interdependence on each other: that we cannot merely take, but we must give as well, that if we are to go forward we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of Bøê Coêine, becaus =Dêithout such discipline, no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective. We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and property to such discipline because it makes possibly a leadership which aims at a larger good. This I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will hind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in time of armed strife. With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people, dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems. Action in this image and to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.

That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has produced. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations. It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure. I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these courses, and in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis. . .broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe. For the trust reposed in me I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time. I can do no less. We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity, with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values, with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike. We aim at the assurance of a rounded and permanent national life. We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I will take it. In this dedication of a nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us! May He guide me in the days to come!

Franklin D. Roosevelt, January 20th 1937 Second Inaugural address at Washington DC 1937 saw a more confident Roosevelt. He had registered a thumping victory and was adored by the public. For the first time in the history of America the presidential inauguration was held on January 20th. Even though Roosevelt hailed from a privileged family he always spoke up for the common man and identified himself with them. Though America had made considerable progress from the bleak days of the Great Depression, he reminds the nation that there was still a long way to go and much to be done as one third of the nation was “ill housed, ill clad, ill nourished” In this speech he also gives a broad outline of his future plans. Full Transcript: When four years ago we met to inaugurate a President, the Republic, single-minded in anxiety, stood in spirit here. We dedicated ourselves to the fulfillment of a vision—to speed the time when there would be for all the people that security and peace essential to the pursuit of happiness. We of the Republic pledged ourselves to drive from the temple of our ancient faith those who had profaned it; to end by action, tireless and unafraid, the stagnation and despair of that day. We did those first things first. Our covenant with ourselves did not stop there. Instinctively we recognized a deeper need—the need to find through government the instrument of our united purpose to solve for the individual the ever-rising problems of a complex civilization. Repeated attempts at their solution without the aid of government had left us baffled and bewildered. For, without that aid, we had been unable to create those moral controls over the services of science which are necessary to make science a useful servant instead of a ruthless master of mankind. To do this we knew that we must find practical controls over blind economic forces and blindly selfish men. We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic government has innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered unsolvable. We would not admit that we could not find a way to master economic epidemics just as, after centuries of fatalistic suffering, we had found a way to master epidemics of disease. We refused to leave the problems of our common welfare to be solved by the winds of chance and the hurricanes of disaster. In this we Americans were discovering no wholly new truth; we were writing a new chapter in our book of self-government. This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Constitutional Convention which made us a nation. At that Convention our forefathers found the way out of the chaos which followed the Revolutionary War; they created a strong government with powers of united action sufficient then and now to solve problems utterly beyond individual or local solution. A century and a half ago they established the Federal Government in order to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to the American people. Today we invoke those same powers of government to achieve the same objectives. Four years of new experience have not belied our historic instinct. They hold out the clear hope that government within communities, government within the separate States, and government of the United States can do the things the times require, without yielding its democracy. Our tasks in the last four years did not force democracy to take a holiday.

Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human relationships increase, so power to govern them also must increaseâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;power to stop evil; power to do good. The essential democracy of our Nation and the safety of our people depend not upon the absence of power, but upon lodging it with those whom the people can change or continue at stated intervals through an honest and free system of elections. The Constitution of 1787 did not make our democracy impotent. In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of all power more democratic; for we have begun to bring private autocratic powers into their proper subordination to the public's government. The legend that they were invincibleâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;above and beyond the processes of a democracyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;has been shattered. They have been challenged and beaten. Our progress out of the depression is obvious. But that is not all that you and I mean by the new order of things. Our pledge was not merely to do a patchwork job with secondhand materials. By using the new materials of social justice we have undertaken to erect on the old foundations a more enduring structure for the better use of future generations. In that purpose we have been helped by achievements of mind and spirit. Old truths have been relearned; untruths have been unlearned. We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals; we know now that it is bad economics. Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays. We are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical from the ideal; and in so doing we are fashioning an instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a morally better world. This new understanding undermines the old admiration of worldly success as such. We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary decencies of life. In this process evil things formerly accepted will not be so easily condoned. Hard-headedness will not so easily excuse hardheartedness. We are moving toward an era of good feeling. But we realize that there can be no era of good feeling save among men of good will. For these reasons I am justified in believing that the greatest change we have witnessed has been the change in the moral climate of America. Among men of good will, science and democracy together offer an ever-richer life and everlarger satisfaction to the individual. With this change in our moral climate and our rediscovered ability to improve our economic order, we have set our feet upon the road of enduring progress. Shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that lies ahead? Shall we call this the promised land? Or, shall we continue on our way? For "each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth." Many voices are heard as we face a great decision. Comfort says, "Tarry a while." Opportunism says, "This is a good spot." Timidity asks, "How difficult is the road ahead?" True, we have come far from the days of stagnation and despair. Vitality has been preserved. Courage and confidence have been restored. Mental and moral horizons have been extended. But our present gains were won under the pressure of more than ordinary circumstances. Advance became imperative under the goad of fear and suffering. The times were on the side of progress. To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult. Dulled conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already reappear. Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster! Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose. Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision of that fourth day of March 1933? Have we found our happy valley? I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations. I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under

democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence. But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;a substantial part of its whole populationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life. I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day. I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago. I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children. I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions. I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished. It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hopeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little. If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry on. Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will; men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication; men and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical purpose as well. They will insist that every agency of popular government use effective instruments to carry out their will. Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people. It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts. It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does. If I know aught of the will of our people, they will demand that these conditions of effective government shall be created and maintained. They will demand a nation uncorrupted by cancers of injustice and, therefore, strong among the nations in its example of the will to peace. Today we reconsecrate our country to long-cherished ideals in a suddenly changed civilization. In every land there are always at work forces that drive men apart and forces that draw men together. In our personal ambitions we are individualists. But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up, or else we all go down, as one people. To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount of patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount of humility. But out of the confusion of many voices rises an understanding of dominant public need. Then political leadership can voice common ideals, and aid in their realization. In taking again the oath of office as President of the United States, I assume the solemn obligation of leading the American people forward along the road over which they have chosen to advance. While this duty rests upon me I shall do my utmost to speak their purpose and to do their will, seeking Divine guidance to help us each and every one to give light to them that sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, December 29th, 1940 The Arsenal of democracy radio address from Washington. The arsenal of democracy speech was one of the 30 fire side chats through which Roosevelt spoke to the public over radio. This speech was given when World War II was in full swing though America had not yet joined the war. Hitler was at his height and most of Europe had bowed before the German might. In this speech Roosevelt makes it clear that America could no longer afford to watch the proceedings of the war from the sidelines but should intensify military aid to the allies. This great speech foreshadows America’s eventual entry into the war. The famous phrase “Arsenal of democracy “refers to the Detroit, Michigan area which was rapidly churning out armaments. Full Transcript: My friends: This is not a fireside chat on war. It is a talk on national security; because the nub of the whole purpose of your President is to keep you now, and your children later, and your grandchildren much later, out of a last-ditch war for the preservation of American independence and all of the things that American independence means to you and to me and to ours. Tonight, in the presence of a world crisis, my mind goes back eight years to a night in the midst of a domestic crisis. It was a time when the wheels of American industry were grinding to a full stop, when the whole banking system of our country had ceased to function. I well remember that while I sat in my study in the White House, preparing to talk with the people of the United States, I had before my eyes the picture of all those Americans with whom I was talking. I saw the workmen in the mills, the mines, the factories; the girl behind the counter the small shopkeeper; the farmer doing his Spring plowing; the widows and the old men wondering about their life's savings. I tried to convey to the great mass of American people what the banking crisis meant to them in their daily lives. Tonight I want to do the same thing, with the same people, in this new crisis which faces America. We met the issue of 1933 with courage and realism. We face this new crisis- this new threat to the security of our nation-with the same courage and realism. Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now. For on September 27, 1940-this year-by an agreement signed in Berlin. three powerful nations, two in Europe and one in Asia, joined themselves together in the threat that if the United States of America interfered with or blocked the expansion program of these three nations-a program aimed at world control-they would unite in ultimate action against the United States. The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world. It was only three weeks ago that their leader stated this: "There are two worlds that stand opposed to each other." And then in defiant reply to his opponents he said this: "Others are correct when they say: 'With this world we cannot ever reconcile ourselves.' . . . I can beat any other power in the world." So said the leader of the Nazis.

In other words, the Axis not merely admits but the Axis proclaims that there can be no ultimate peace between their philosophy-their philosophy of government- and our philosophy of government. In view of the nature of this undeniable threat, it can be asserted, properly and categorically, that the United States has no right or reason to encourage talk of peace until the day shall come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world. At this moment the forces of the States that are leagued against all peoples who live in freedom are being held away from our shores. The Germans and the Italians are being blocked on the other side of the Atlantic by the British and by the Greeks, and by thousands of soldiers and sailors who were able to escape from subjugated countries. In Asia the Japanese are being engaged by the Chinese nation in another great defense. In the Pacific Ocean is our fleet. Some of our people like to believe that wars in Europe and in Asia are of no concern to us. But it is a matter of most vital concern to us that European and Asiatic war-makers should not gain control of the oceans which lead to this hemisphere. One hundred and seventeen years ago the Monroe Doctrine was conceived by our government as a measure of defense in the face of a threat against this hemisphere by an alliance in Continental Europe. Thereafter, we stood guard in the Atlantic, with the British as neighbors. There was no treaty. There was no "unwritten agreement." And yet there was the feeling, proven correct by history, that we as neighbors could settle any disputes in peaceful fashion. And the fact is that during the whole of this time the Western Hemisphere has remained free from aggression from Europe or from Asia. Does any one seriously believe that we need to fear attack anywhere in the Americas while a free Britain remains our most powerful naval neighbor in the Atlantic? And does any one seriously believe, on the other hand, that we could rest easy if the Axis powers were our neighbors there? If Great Britain goes down, the Axis powers will control the Continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the high seas-and they will be in a position to bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. It is no exaggeration to say that all of us in all the Americas would be living at the point of a gun-a gun loaded with explosive bullets, economic as well as military. We should enter upon a new and terrible era in which the whole world, our hemisphere included, would be run by threats of brute force. And to survive in such a world, we would have to convert ourselves permanently into a militaristic power on the basis of war economy. Some of us like to believe that even if Britain falls, we are still safe, because of the broad expanse of the Atlantic and of the Pacific. But the width of those oceans is not what it was in the days of clipper ships. At one point between Africa and Brazil the distance is less than it is from Washington to Denver, Colorado, five hours for the latest type of bomber. And at the north end of the Pacific Ocean, America and Asia almost touch each other. Why, even today we have planes that could fly from the British Isles to New England and back again without refueling. And remember that the range of the modern bomber is ever being increased. During the past week many people in all parts of the nation have told me what they wanted me to say tonight. Almost all of them expressed a courageous desire to hear the plain truth about the gravity of the situation. One telegram, however, expressed the attitude of the small minority who

want to see no evil and hear no evil, even though they know in their hearts that evil exists. That telegram begged me not to tell again of the ease with which our American cities could be bombed by any hostile power which had gained bases in this Western Hemisphere. The gist of that telegram was: "Please, Mr. President, don't frighten us by telling us the facts." Frankly and definitely there is danger ahead-danger against which we must prepare. But we well know that we cannot escape danger, or the fear of danger, by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads. Some nations of Europe were bound by solemn nonintervention pacts with Germany. Other nations were assured by Germany that they need never fear invasion. Nonintervention pact or not, the fact remains that they were attacked, overrun, thrown into modern slavery at an hour's notice or even without any notice at all. As an exiled leader of one of these nations said to me the other day, "the notice was a minus quantity. It was given to my government two hours after German troops had poured into my country in a hundred places." The fate of these nations tells us what it means to live at the point of a Nazi gun. The Nazis have justified such actions by various pious frauds. One of these frauds is the claim that they are occupying a nation for the purpose of "restoring order." Another is that they are occupying or controlling a nation on the excuse that they are "protecting it" against the aggression of somebody else. For example, Germany has said that she was occupying Belgium to save the Belgians from the British. Would she then hesitate to say to any South American country: "We are occupying you to protect you from aggression by the United States"? Belgium today is being used as an invasion base against Britain, now fighting for its life. And any South American country, in Nazi hands, would always constitute a jumping off place for German attack on any one of the other republics of this hemisphere. Analyze for yourselves the future of two other places even nearer to Germany if the Nazis won. Could Ireland hold out? Would Irish freedom be permitted as an amazing pet exception in an unfree world? Or the islands of the Azores, which still fly the flag of Portugal after five centuries? You and I think of Hawaii as an outpost of defense in the Pacific. And yet the Azores are closer to our shores in the Atlantic than Hawaii is on the other side. There are those who say that the Axis powers would never have any desire to attack the Western Hemisphere. That is the same dangerous form of wishful thinking which has destroyed the powers of resistance of so many conquered peoples. The plain facts are that the Nazis have proclaimed, time and again, that all other races are their inferiors and therefore subject to their orders. And most important of all, the vast resources and wealth of this American hemisphere constitute the most tempting loot in all of the round world. Let us no longer blind ourselves to the undeniable fact that the evil forces which have crushed and undermined and corrupted so many others are already within our own gates. Your government knows much about them and every day is ferreting them out. Their secret emissaries are active in our own and in neighboring countries. They seek to stir up suspicion and dissension, to cause internal strife. They try to turn capital against labor, and vice versa. They try to reawaken long slumbering racial and religious enmities which should have no place in this country. They are active in every group that promotes intolerance. They exploit for their own ends our own natural abhorrence of war. These trouble-breeders have but one purpose. It is to divide our people, to divide them into hostile groups and to destroy our unity and shatter our will to defend ourselves. 37

There are also American citizens, many of them in high places, who, unwittingly in most cases, are aiding and abetting the work of these agents. I do not charge these American citizens with being foreign agents. But I do charge them with doing exactly the kind of work that the dictators want done in the United States. These people not only believe that we can save our own skins by shutting our eyes to the fate of other nations. Some of them go much further than that. They say that we can and should become the friends and even the partners of the Axis powers. Some of them even suggest that we should imitate the methods of the dictatorships. But Americans never can and never will do that. The experience of the past two years has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. No man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement with ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Nazis only at the price of total surrender. Even the people of Italy have been forced to become accomplices of the Nazis; but at this moment they do not know how soon they will be embraced to death by their allies. The American appeasers ignore the warning to be found in the fate of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and France. They tell you that the Axis powers are going to win anyway; that all of this bloodshed in the world could be saved, that the United States might just as well throw its influence into the scale of a dictated peace and get the best out of it that we can. They call it a "negotiated peace." Nonsense! Is it a negotiated peace if a gang of outlaws surrounds your community and on threat of extermination makes you pay tribute to save your own skins? Such a dictated peace would be no peace at all. It would be only another armistice, leading to the most gigantic armament race and the most devastating trade wars in all history. And in these contests the Americas would offer the only real resistance to the Axis powers. With all their vaunted efficiency, with all their parade of pious purpose in this war, there are still in their background the concentration camp and the servants of God in chains. The history of recent years proves that the shootings and the chains and the concentration camps are not simply the transient tools but the very altars of modern dictatorships. They may talk of a "new order" in the world, but What they have in mind is only a revival of the oldest and worst tyranny. In that there is no liberty, no religion, no hope. The proposed "new order" is the very opposite of a United States of Europe or a United States of Asia. It is not a government based upon the consent of the governed. It is not a union of ordinary, self-respecting men and women to protect themselves and their freedom and their dignity from oppression. It is an unholy alliance of power and pelf to dominate and to enslave the human race. The British people and their allies today are conducting an active war against this unholy alliance. Our own future security is greatly dependent on the outcome of that fight. Our ability to "keep out of war" is going to be affected by that outcome. Thinking in terms of today and tomorrow, I make the direct statement to the American people that there is far less chance of the United States getting into war if we do all we can now to support the nations defending themselves against attack by the Axis than if we acquiesce in their defeat, submit tamely to an Axis victory, and wait our turn to be the object of attack in another war later on. If we are to be completely honest with ourselves, we must admit that there is risk in any course we may take. But I deeply believe that the great majority of our people agree that the course that I advocate involves the least risk now and the greatest hope for world peace in the future. 38

The people of Europe who are defending themselves do not ask w to do their fighting. They ask us for the implements of war, the planes, the tanks, the guns, the freighters which will enable them to fight for their liberty and for our security. Emphatically we must get these weapons to them, get them to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough so that we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of war which others have had to endure. Let not the defeatists tell us that it is too late. It will never be earlier. Tomorrow will be later than today. Certain facts are self-evident. In a military sense Great Britain and the British Empire are today the spearhead of resistance to world conquest. And they are putting up a fight which will live forever in the story of human gallantry. There is no demand for sending an American expeditionary force outside our own borders. There is no intention by any member of your government to send such a force. You can therefore, nail, nail any talk about sending armies to Europe as deliberate untruth. Our national policy is not directed toward war. Its sole purpose is to keep war away from our country and away from our people. Democracy's fight against world conquest is being greatly aided, and must be more greatly aided, by the rearmament of the United States and by sending every ounce and every ton of munitions and supplies that we can possibly spare to help the defenders who are in the front lines. And it is no more unneutral for us to do that than it is for Sweden, Russia and other nations near Germany to send steel and ore and oil and other war materials into Germany every day in the week. We are planning our own defense with the utmost urgency, and in its vast scale we must integrate the war needs of Britain and the other free nations which are resisting aggression. This is not a matter of sentiment or of controversial personal opinion. It is a matter of realistic, practical military policy, based on the advice of our military experts who are in close touch with existing warfare. These military and naval experts and the members of the Congress and the Administration have a single-minded purpose-the defense of the United States. This nation is making a great effort to produce everything that is necessary in this emergency-and with all possible speed. And this great effort requires great sacrifice. I would ask no one to defend a democracy which in turn would not defend every one in the nation against want and privation. The strength of this nation shall not be diluted by the failure of the government to protect the economic well-being of its citizens. If our capacity to produce is limited by machines, it must ever be remembered that these machines are operated by the skill and the stamina of the workers. As the government is determined to protect the rights of the workers, so the nation has a right to expect that the men who man the machines will discharge their full responsibilities to the urgent needs of defense. The worker possesses the same human dignity and is entitled to the same security of position as the engineer or the manager or the owner. For the workers provide the human power that turns out the destroyers, and the planes and the tanks. The nation expects our defense industries to continue operation without interruption by strikes or lockouts. It expects and insists that management and workers will reconcile their differences by voluntary or legal means, to continue to produce the supplies that are so sorely needed.

And on the economic side of our great defense program, we are, as you know, bending every effort to maintain stability of prices and with that the stability of the cost of living. Nine days ago I announced the setting up of a more effective organization to direct our gigantic efforts to increase the production of munitions. The appropriation of vast sums of money and a well-coordinated executive direction of our defense efforts are not in themselves enough. Guns, planes ships and many other things have to be built in the factories and the arsenals of America. They have to be produced by workers and managers and engineers with the aid of machines which in turn have to be built by hundreds of thousands of workers throughout the land. In this great work there has been splendid cooperation between the government and industry and labor. And I am very thankful. American industrial genius, unmatched throughout all the world in the solution of production problems, has been called upon to bring its resources and its talents into action. Manufacturers of watches, of farm implements, of Linotypes and cash registers and automobiles, and sewing machines and lawn mowers and locomotives, are now making fuses and bomb packing crates and telescope mounts and shells and pistols and tanks. But all of our present efforts are not enough. We must have more ships, more guns, more planesmore of everything. And this can be accomplished only if we discard the notion of "business as usual." This job cannot be done merely by superimposing on the existing productive facilities the added requirements of the nation for defense. Our defense efforts must not be blocked by those who fear the future consequences of surplus plant capacity. The possible consequences of failure of our defense efforts now are much more to be feared. And after the present needs of our defense are past, a proper handling of the country's peacetime needs will require all of the new productive capacity, if not still more. No pessimistic policy about the future of America shall delay the immediate expansion of those industries essential to defense. We need them. I want to make it clear that it is the purpose of the nation to build now with all possible speed every machine, every arsenal, every factory that we need to manufacture our defense material. We have the men-the skill-the wealth-and above all, the will. I am confident that if and when production of consumer or luxury goods in certain industries requires the use of machines and raw materials that are essential for defense purposes, then such production must yield, and will gladly yield, to our primary and compelling purpose. So I appeal to the owners of plants-to the managers-to the workers- to our own government employees-to put every ounce of effort into producing these munitions swiftly and without stint. With this appeal I give you the pledge that all of us who are officers of your government will devote ourselves to the same whole-hearted extent to the great task that lies ahead. As planes and ships and guns and shells are produced, your government. with its defense experts, can then determine how best to use them to defend this hemisphere. The decision as to how much shall be sent abroad and how much shall remain at home must be made on the basis of our overall military necessities. We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war. We have furnished the British great material support and we will furnish far more in the future.

There will be no "bottlenecks" in our determination to aid Great Britain. No dictator, no combination of dictators, will weaken that determination by threats of how they will construe that determination. The British have received invaluable military support from the heroic Greek Army and from the forces of all the governments in exile. Their strength is growing. It is the strength of men and women who value their freedom more highly than they value their lives. I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war. I base that belief on the latest and the best of information. We have no excuse for defeatism. We have every good reason for hope- hope for peace, yes, and hope for the defense of our civilization and for the building of a better civilization in the future. I have the profound conviction that the American people are now determined to put forth a mightier effort than they have ever yet made to increase our production of all the implements of defense, to meet the threat to our democratic faith. As President of the United States, I call for that national effort. I call for it in the name of this nation which we love and honor and which we are privileged and proud to serve. I call upon our people with absolute confidence that our common cause will greatly succeed.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, Januray 6th, 1941 The Four Freedom Speech. State of Union address delivered to the United States Congress in Washington. This important speech by Roosevelt demonstrates his concern for human rights in the broadest sense of the word. The four freedoms that Roosevelt talks about in the end of his speech are “Freedom of speech, Freedom of religion, Freedom from want and Freedom from fear”. They have a universal appeal. The last two freedoms mentioned above were new and not mentioned in the constitution. Roosevelt’s vision of an ideal world was a place where these four freedoms reigned supreme. These freedoms form the core of modern American liberalism and social security. This speech was delivered when World War II was at its peak. He asks the nation to make greater sacrifices and produce more armaments to help the Allied cause. Full Transcript: Mr. President, Mr. Speaker, members of the 77th Congress: I address you, the members of this new Congress, at a moment unprecedented in the history of the union. I use the word “unprecedented” because at no previous time has American security been as seriously threatened from without as it is today. Since the permanent formation of our government under the Constitution in 1789, most of the periods of crisis in our history have related to our domestic affairs. And, fortunately, only one of these -- the four-year war between the States -- ever threatened our national unity. Today, thank God, 130,000,000 Americans in 48 States have forgotten points of the compass in our national unity. It is true that prior to 1914 the United States often has been disturbed by events in other continents. We have even engaged in two wars with European nations and in a number of undeclared wars in the West Indies, in the Mediterranean and in the Pacific, for the maintenance of American rights and for the principles of peaceful commerce. But in no case had a serious threat been raised against our national safety or our continued independence. What I seek to convey is the historic truth that the United States as a nation has at all times maintained opposition -- clear, definite opposition -- to any attempt to lock us in behind an ancient Chinese wall while the procession of civilization went past. Today, thinking of our children and of their children, we oppose enforced isolation for ourselves or for any other part of the Americas. That determination of ours, extending over all these years, was proved, for example, in the early days during the quarter century of wars following the French Revolution. While the Napoleonic struggles did threaten interests of the United States because of the French foothold in the West Indies and in Louisiana, and while we engaged in the War of 1812 to vindicate our right to peaceful trade, it is nevertheless clear that neither France nor Great Britain nor any other nation was aiming at domination of the whole world. And in like fashion, from 1815 to 1914 -- ninety-nine years -- no single war in Europe or in Asia constituted a real threat against our future or against the future of any other American nation.

Except in the Maximilian interlude in Mexico, no foreign power sought to establish itself in this hemisphere. And the strength of the British fleet in the Atlantic has been a friendly strength; it is still a friendly strength. Even when the World War broke out in 1914, it seemed to contain only small threat of danger to our own American future. But as time went on, as we remember, the American people began to visualize what the downfall of democratic nations might mean to our own democracy. We need not overemphasize imperfections in the peace of Versailles. We need not harp on failure of the democracies to deal with problems of world reconstruction. We should remember that the peace of 1919 was far less unjust than the kind of pacification which began even before Munich, and which is being carried on under the new order of tyranny that seeks to spread over every continent today. The American people have unalterably set their faces against that tyranny. I suppose that every realist knows that the democratic way of life is at this moment being directly assailed in every part of the world -- assailed either by arms or by secret spreading of poisonous propaganda by those who seek to destroy unity and promote discord in nations that are still at peace. During 16 long months this assault has blotted out the whole pattern of democratic life in an appalling number of independent nations, great and small. And the assailants are still on the march, threatening other nations, great and small. Therefore, as your President, performing my constitutional duty to "give to the Congress information of the state of the union," I find it unhappily necessary to report that the future and the safety of our country and of our democracy are overwhelmingly involved in events far beyond our borders. Armed defense of democratic existence is now being gallantly waged in four continents. If that defense fails, all the population and all the resources of Europe and Asia, and Africa and AustralAsia will be dominated by conquerors. And let us remember that the total of those populations in those four continents, the total of those populations and their resources greatly exceed the sum total of the population and the resources of the whole of the Western Hemisphere -- yes, many times over. In times like these it is immature -- and, incidentally, untrue -- for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world. No realistic American can expect from a dictator’s peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion -- or even good business. Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. As a nation we may take pride in the fact that we are soft-hearted; but we cannot afford to be softheaded. We must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the "ism" of appeasement. We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American eagle in order to feather their own nests. I have recently pointed out how quickly the tempo of modern warfare could bring into our very midst the physical attack which we must eventually expect if the dictator nations win this war. There is much loose talk of our immunity from immediate and direct invasion from across the seas. Obviously, as long as the British Navy retains its power, no such danger exists. Even if there were no British Navy, it is not probable that any enemy would be stupid enough to attack us by landing troops in the United States from across thousands of miles of ocean, until it had acquired strategic bases from which to operate. 43

But we learn much from the lessons of the past years in Europe -- particularly the lesson of Norway, whose essential seaports were captured by treachery and surprise built up over a series of years. The first phase of the invasion of this hemisphere would not be the landing of regular troops. The necessary strategic points would be occupied by secret agents and by their dupes -and great numbers of them are already here and in Latin America. As long as the aggressor nations maintain the offensive they, not we, will choose the time and the place and the method of their attack. And that is why the future of all the American Republics is today in serious danger. That is why this annual message to the Congress is unique in our history. That is why every member of the executive branch of the government and every member of the Congress face great responsibility, great accountability. The need of the moment is that our actions and our policy should be devoted primarily -- almost exclusively -- to meeting this foreign peril. For all our domestic problems are now a part of the great emergency. Just as our national policy in internal affairs has been based upon a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all our fellow men within our gates, so our national policy in foreign affairs has been based on a decent respect for the rights and the dignity of all nations, large and small. And the justice of morality must and will win in the end. Our national policy is this: First, by an impressive expression of the public will and without regard to partisanship, we are committed to all-inclusive national defense. Secondly, by an impressive expression of the public will and without regard to partisanship, we are committed to full support of all those resolute people everywhere who are resisting aggression and are thereby keeping war away from our hemisphere. By this support we express our determination that the democratic cause shall prevail, and we strengthen the defense and the security of our own nation. Third, by an impressive expression of the public will and without regard to partisanship, we are committed to the proposition that principles of morality and considerations for our own security will never permit us to acquiesce in a peace dictated by aggressors and sponsored by appeasers. We know that enduring peace cannot be bought at the cost of other people's freedom. In the recent national election there was no substantial difference between the two great parties in respect to that national policy. No issue was fought out on this line before the American electorate. And today it is abundantly evident that American citizens everywhere are demanding and supporting speedy and complete action in recognition of obvious danger. Therefore, the immediate need is a swift and driving increase in our armament production. Leaders of industry and labor have responded to our summons. Goals of speed have been set. In some cases these goals are being reached ahead of time. In some cases we are on schedule; in other cases there are slight but not serious delays. And in some cases -- and, I am sorry to say, very important cases -- we are all concerned by the slowness of the accomplishment of our plans. The Army and Navy, however, have made substantial progress during the past year. Actual experience is improving and speeding up our methods of production with every passing day. And today's best is not good enough for tomorrow. I am not satisfied with the progress thus far made. The men in charge of the program represent the best in training, in ability, and in patriotism. They are not satisfied with the progress thus far made. None of us will be satisfied until the job is done.

No matter whether the original goal was set too high or too low, our objective is quicker and better results. To give you two illustrations: We are behind schedule in turning out finished airplanes. We are working day and night to solve the innumerable problems and to catch up. We are ahead of schedule in building warships, but we are working to get even further ahead of that schedule. To change a whole nation from a basis of peacetime production of implements of peace to a basis of wartime production of implements of war is no small task. And the greatest difficulty comes at the beginning of the program, when new tools, new plant facilities, new assembly lines, new shipways must first be constructed before the actual material begins to flow steadily and speedily from them. The Congress of course, must rightly keep itself informed at all times of the progress of the program. However, there is certain information, as the Congress itself will readily recognize, which, in the interests of our own security and those of the nations that we are supporting, must of needs be kept in confidence. New circumstances are constantly begetting new needs for our safety. I shall ask this Congress for greatly increased new appropriations and authorizations to carry on what we have begun. I also ask this Congress for authority and for funds sufficient to manufacture additional munitions and war supplies of many kinds, to be turned over to those nations which are now in actual war with aggressor nations. Our most useful and immediate role is to act as an arsenal for them as well as for ourselves. They do not need manpower, but they do need billions of dollars’ worth of the weapons of defense. The time is near when they will not be able to pay for them all in ready cash. We cannot, and we will not, tell them that they must surrender merely because of present inability to pay for the weapons which we know they must have. I do not recommend that we make them a loan of dollars with which to pay for these weapons -a loan to be repaid in dollars. I recommend that we make it possible for those nations to continue to obtain war materials in the United States, fitting their orders into our own program. And nearly all of their material would, if the time ever came, be useful in our own defense. Taking counsel of expert military and naval authorities, considering what is best for our own security, we are free to decide how much should be kept here and how much should be sent abroad to our friends who, by their determined and heroic resistance, are giving us time in which to make ready our own defense. For what we send abroad we shall be repaid, repaid within a reasonable time following the close of hostilities, repaid in similar materials, or at our option in other goods of many kinds which they can produce and which we need. Let us say to the democracies: "We Americans are vitally concerned in your defense of freedom. We are putting forth our energies, our resources, and our organizing powers to give you the strength to regain and maintain a free world. We shall send you in ever-increasing numbers, ships, planes, tanks, guns. That is our purpose and our pledge." In fulfillment of this purpose we will not be intimidated by the threats of dictators that they will regard as a breach of international law or as an act of war our aid to the democracies which dare

to resist their aggression. Such aid -- Such aid is not an act of war, even if a dictator should unilaterally proclaim it so to be. And when the dictators -- if the dictators -- are ready to make war upon us, they will not wait for an act of war on our part. They did not wait for Norway or Belgium or the Netherlands to commit an act of war. Their only interest is in a new one-way international law, which lacks mutuality in its observance and therefore becomes an instrument of oppression. The happiness of future generations of Americans may well depend on how effective and how immediate we can make our aid felt. No one can tell the exact character of the emergency situations that we may be called upon to meet. The nation's hands must not be tied when the nation's life is in danger. Yes, and we must prepare, all of us prepare, to make the sacrifices that the emergency -- almost as serious as war itself -- demands. Whatever stands in the way of speed and efficiency in defense, in defense preparations of any kind, must give way to the national need. A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups. A free nation has the right to look to the leaders of business, of labor, and of agriculture to take the lead in stimulating effort, not among other groups but within their own group. The best way of dealing with the few slackers or trouble-makers in our midst is, first, to shame them by patriotic example, and if that fails, to use the sovereignty of government to save government. As men do not live by bread alone, they do not fight by armaments alone. Those who man our defenses and those behind them who build our defenses must have the stamina and the courage which come from unshakable belief in the manner of life which they are defending. The mighty action that we are calling for cannot be based on a disregard of all the things worth fighting for. The nation takes great satisfaction and much strength from the things which have been done to make its people conscious of their individual stake in the preservation of democratic life in America. Those things have toughened the fiber of our people, have renewed their faith and strengthened their devotion to the institutions we make ready to protect. Certainly this is no time for any of us to stop thinking about the social and economic problems which are the root cause of the social revolution which is today a supreme factor in the world. For there is nothing mysterious about the foundations of a healthy and strong democracy. The basic things expected by our people of their political and economic systems are simple. They are: Equality of opportunity for youth and for others. Jobs for those who can work. Security for those who need it. The ending of special privilege for the few. The preservation of civil liberties for all. The enjoyment -- The enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and constantly rising standard of living. These are the simple, the basic things that must never be lost sight of in the turmoil and unbelievable complexity of our modern world. The inner and abiding strength of our economic and political systems is dependent upon the degree to which they fulfill these expectations. Many subjects connected with our social economy call for immediate improvement. As examples:

We should bring more citizens under the coverage of old-age pensions and unemployment insurance. We should widen the opportunities for adequate medical care. We should plan a better system by which persons deserving or needing gainful employment may obtain it. I have called for personal sacrifice, and I am assured of the willingness of almost all Americans to respond to that call. A part of the sacrifice means the payment of more money in taxes. In my budget message I will recommend that a greater portion of this great defense program be paid for from taxation than we are paying for today. No person should try, or be allowed to get rich out of the program, and the principle of tax payments in accordance with ability to pay should be constantly before our eyes to guide our legislation. If the Congress maintains these principles the voters, putting patriotism ahead pocketbooks, will give you their applause. In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world. The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world. The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -everywhere in the world. The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world. That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called “new order” of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb. To that new order we oppose the greater conception -- the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear. Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change, in a perpetual, peaceful revolution, a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly, adjusting itself to changing conditions without the concentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order which we seek is the cooperation of free countries, working together in a friendly, civilized society. This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free men and women, and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means the supremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gain those rights and keep them. Our strength is our unity of purpose. To that high concept there can be no end save victory.

Frankiln D. Roosevelt, December 7th, 1941 Infamy speech delivered to the Congress of the US at Washington DC. This is regarded as one of the best political speeches of the twentieth century. It was delivered a day after Japanâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attack on Pearl Harbor. The outrage of the nation is reflected in this speech. Within one hour of delivering this soul stirring speech the Congress passed a declaration of war against Japan. Only one member voted against the resolution. This is a comparatively short speech just about 6 minutes long. It is packed with emotional appeal and makes it clear that America has no option but to go to war. The speech was broadcast by the radio and was heard by the largest audience in the history of American radio. Full Transcript Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with the government and its emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese ambassador to the United States and his colleagues delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack. It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time, the Japanese government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu. Yesterday, the Japanese government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night, Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night, Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.

Last night, the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning, the Japanese attacked Midway Island. Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation. As commander in chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense. Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory. I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire.

Frankiln D. Roosevelt, June 6th, 1944 D-Day prayer speech broadcast over radio from Washington DC. This impassioned speech which was more of a prayer than a speech was broadcast on the evening of D day when Allied troops which included American, British and Canadian troops landed in Normandy in France in order to liberate France from Nazi Germany. On the previous day Roosevelt had broadcast the news that Allied troops had conquered Rome. This prayer was written by Franklin Roosevelt. The original heading was â&#x20AC;&#x153;LET our hearts be stoutâ&#x20AC;?. In a unique moment in history the American President asks the nation to join him in prayer for the boys and their families from whom so much was expected and who were fighting in the beaches of Normandy. Around 9000 American soldiers lost their lives in this invasion. In this moving speech the President send up a fervent prayer to God for the success of the Allied mission. His prayer was answered as within a year of the Allied landing on Normandy, they were within reach of victory.

Full Transcript: My Fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far. And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer: Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity. Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith. They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph. They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war. For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home. Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice. Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts. Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces. And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be. And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil. Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen.

Franklin D. Roosevelt as Author Looking Forward The book is compiled from Franklin Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s articles and speeches and was first published in 1933, the year Roosevelt came to power. Written in clear but blunt prose, the book became a New York Times bestseller. He brings his incisive mind and lucid prose to write about the events which led the Great Depression paralyzing the economy. In the book he makes a strong attack on the banking system prevalent in his day. He also takes the government to task for its failure to prevent America from sliding down to the Great Depression. The book also contains his prescription for the economic crisis that gripped the country in the form of reforms and New Deal. Looking Forward includes chapters such as "Reappraisal of Values," "Need for Economic Planning," "Reorganization of Government," "Expenditure and Taxation," "The Power Issue," "Banking and Speculation," and "National and International Unity". The book reveals Rooseveltâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s firm grasp over the problems prevailing in America and their remedy. This book is of great value today as we face a similar crisis and we can look back to Roosevelt for inspiration.

The present financial crisis that has gripped America and the stimulus bill that President Obama has signed into law finds an echo in another era and another man. The time was the Great Depression and the man at the helm was Franklin D Roosevelt or FDR. Among the giants of the twentieth century Franklin D Roosevelt stands tall. He did more to give shape to the America we know today than any other leader of the twentieth century. In the dark days of the Great Depression he stood out like a beacon of light guiding the nation to better days ahead. A man of action, his New Deal brought in sweeping economic reforms and helped a battered nation face the future with confidence. A champion of democracy, his inspiring leadership brought victory to the Allies and spelled the doom of Fascism. Overcoming a serious disability Roosevelt proved that there was nothing impossible in this world. His stirring speeches and wise words charmed a nation and are relevant even today. He was one of the first Presidents to reach millions of people all over the world through radio. His fireside chats helped him to communicate directly with the people of the nation.

In this book you will find an abbreviated history of Roosevelt’s fascinating life along with over a hundred of his famous quotes and seven of his historic speeches. “First of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “There is a mysterious cycle in human events. To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed it must be achieved.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt “Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Brought to you by: 53 This book is licensed under creative commons. In short: you are free to distribute and modify the file as long as you attribute its author(s) or licensor(s).