Home : Why Men Fight? :What We Fought For In World War IIOfficial Statements ByFranklin Delano RooseveltPresident of the United States during World War II-Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy President Roosevelt, upon request of the historians for this volume, sent from the White House a personal letter in which he stated: "I have had some extracts made from my addresses and messages from which I think you may gather suitable material." These selections from his writings, presented to us under title, "Some Pertinent Statements by the President on What We Are Fighting For," are herewith given historical record. They constitute what may be called by historians the "Ten Commandments of World War II."
The foregoing statements selected at the White House for this History of World War II are from the following official documents: (I) Radio Address from Hyde Park Library, September 1, 1941 - (II) Radio Address December 9, 1941 - (III) Message to Congress January 6, 1942 - (IV) Statement July 4, 1942 - (V) Address to ILO November 6, 1941 - (VI) Presidential Release May 9, 1943 - (VII) Radio Address October 12, 1942 - (VIII) Radio Address December 24, 1943 - (IX) Radio Address February 22, 1943 - (X) Message to Congress January 7, 1943.
Franklin D. RooseveltOn December 6, 1941, the United States was a nation of approximately 132 million people. It had an armed force totaling 1.4 million men, primarily the result of the Selective Service Act, which had been signed on September 16, 1940. A major war had been under way in Europe since September of 1939, and to those Americans who followed events outside their daily lives it seemed more and more inevitable that America would eventually be drawn into the war on the side of England, France, and Russia - against Germany and Italy. Americans were divided as to whether the United States should enter the fighting in Europe. Things were not going well for the Allies. Many Americans - including President Franklin D. Roosevelt - wanted the country to enter the war against Adolf Hitler, who most Americans had by then conceded was an enemy of civilization. But many others were reluctant to get involved. Japan was active in the Pacific and Indochina, but most Americans did not take the Japanese threat seriously. Hitler was the enemy. Then, on December 7, the Japanese delivered a surprise attack on the American military base in Honolulu known as Pearl Harbor. The Japanese brought America out of its isolation and settled conclusively the debate as to whether or not America should enter the fighting. On December 8, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and a few days later Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Thus, abruptly, America was involved in a world at war, and in the dark days of 1942 it became more and more apparent that the outcome would probably be determined by whether or not the American people had the strength and endurance to stay to the finish. One man who was determined that America would see it through was President Roosevelt. Periodically he spoke to the nation over a national radio network in his "fireside chats," inspiring Americans to keep behind the war effort until victory was achieved. The impact of the attack on Pearl Harbor was almost as dramatic on Washington as it was on Honolulu. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the man who had put the nation on the road to economic recovery in 1939, the man who helped the American people regain faith in themselves, the man who brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," quickly became the nation's wartime leader, our commander-in-chief. And with FDR providing the words and inspiration, almost overnight Washington was transformed from a sleepy little southern town into the capital of a free world. With Paris burning, London under siege, and Moscow threatened with a Nazi invasion, the people of the Allied nations instinctively looked to Washington - invulnerable from land, sea, and air attacks - as the center of Allied resistance. The year 1945 was possibly the most significant year in American history, certainly in the twentieth century. In April, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had been president for twelve years, longer than any president in our history, died. It was not only a traumatic experience for many Americans, it symbolized the end of an era. In May, the war in Europe ended, and with it the most destructive human force in modern history - the German Nazis. I personally thought President Roosevelt was a hero. I thought everything he did about the war was right. You couldn't understand how these Japanese, who didn't consider themselves our military equal or threat, could wreak the havoc they did. All of a sudden, for the first time in our generation, we were underdogs. You didn't know what was going on about Roosevelt's conduct of the war, except that after two or three years all of a sudden we're getting those islands back and we are winning battles on the seas and we're landing in Italy, and then, of course, D day. I will never forget that. I think that story broke at two o'clock in the morning. Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the "good neighbor" policy, transforming the Monroe Doctrine from a unilateral American manifesto into arrangements for mutual action against aggressors. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement. I was not a Roosevelt man before the war, but he converted me when he started the lend-lease assistance to Great Britain and followed with the deal leasing fifty destroyers to England. Being a navy man, I knew that was a particularly intelligent move. Britain was in danger of losing control of the North Atlantic to German submarines. As for our destroyers, most of them were literally sinking at the moorings. I was aware of this because I had a friend who commanded one of them. They were built under a crash program in World War I, made of steel that was less than first quality. With the passage of time, the hulls were rusted, and the navy had actually put new bottoms in most of them before they went to England. Furthermore, in the conference at Quebec that outlined allied policy in World War II, I thought the president was just marvelous - and I still think so.
| ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
. Hawthorn Books, NY. Copyright 1977.
History of World War II| Links & Recommended Sites | Oneliners, Stories, etc. |
| Questions? Anything Not Work? Not Look Right? My Policy Is To Blame The Computer. |
| About The Military And Wars | Link To Us | Site Navigation | Parting Shots |