“…the American people do not stand alone in the world in their desire for change. We seek it through processes which retain all of the deep essentials of that republican form of representative government first given to a troubled world by the United States.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his second State of the Union address in 1935.
” 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.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his second inaugural address on January 20, 1937.
“The people of this Nation have a right to be proud of the courage and fighting ability of the men in the armed forces–on all fronts. They also have a right to be proud of American leadership which has guided their sons into battle.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his fourth and final State of the Union address in 1945.
“The deeper purpose of democratic government is to assist as many of its citizens as possible - especially those who need it most - to improve their conditions of life, to retain all personal liberty which does not adversely affect their neighbors, and to pursue the happiness which comes with security and an opportunity for recreation and culture.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his second inaugural address on January 20, 1937.
“A nation, like a person, has a body—a body that must be fed and clothed and housed, invigorated and rested, in a manner that measures up to the objectives of our time. A nation, like a person, has a mind—a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself, that understands the hopes and the needs of its neighbors—all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world. And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more permanent, something larger than the sum of all its parts. It is that something which matters most to its future—which calls forth the most sacred guarding of its present.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his third inaugural address on January 20, 1941. What do you think FDR meant by the narrowing circle of the world?
“…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.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his second inaugural address on January 20, 1937.
“Different from a great part of the world, we in America persist in our belief in individual enterprise and in the profit motive; but we realize we must continually seek improved practices to insure the continuance of reasonable profits, together with scientific progress, individual initiative, opportunities for the little fellow, fair prices, decent wages and continuing employment.”
These remarks were made by FDR in a fireside chat broadcast to the American public on June 24, 1938.
“For action has been taken within the three-way framework of the Constitution of the United States. The coordinate branches of the Government continue freely to function. The Bill of Rights remains inviolate. The freedom of elections is wholly maintained. Prophets of the downfall of American democracy have seen their dire predictions come to naught.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his third inaugural address on January 20, 1941.
“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.”
These remarks were made by FDR in his second inaugural address on January 20, 1937.
“Generation after generation, America has battled for the general policy of the freedom of the seas. And that policy is a very simple one, but a basic, a fundamental one. It means that no nation has the right to make the broad oceans of the world at great distances from the actual theatre of land war, unsafe for the commerce of others. That has been our policy, proved time and (time) again, in all of our history. Our policy has applied from (time immemorial) the earliest days of the Republic — and still applies — not merely to the Atlantic but to the Pacific and to all other oceans as well.”
These remarks were made by FDR in a fireside chat to the American public on September 11, 1944.