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Is The United States Going To Decide, Are The People Of This Country Going To Decide That Their Federal Government Shall In The Future Have No Right Under Any Implied Power Or Any Court-approved Power To Enter Into A Solution Of A National Economic Problem, But That That National Economic Problem Must Be Decided Only By The States?... We Thought We Were Solving It, And Now It Has Been Thrown Right Straight In Our Faces. We Have Been Relegated To The Horse-and-buggy Definition Of Interstate Commerce.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Is The United States

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Is The United States Going To Decide, Are The People Of This Country Going To Decide That Their Federal Government Shall In The Future Have No Right Under Any Implied Power Or Any Court-approved Power To Enter Into A Solution Of A National Economic Problem, But That That National Economic Problem Must Be Decided Only By The States?... We Thought We Were Solving It, And Now It Has Been Thrown Right Straight In Our Faces. We Have Been Relegated To The Horse-and-buggy Definition Of Interstate Commerce.

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In Time Of This Grave National Danger, When All Excess Income Should Go To Win The War, No American Citizen Ought To Have A Net Income, After He Has Paid His Taxes, Of More Than $25,000 A Year.

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.

This Generation

There Is Nothing I Love As Much As A Good Fight.

To Carry Adequate Life Insurance Is A Moral Obligation Incumbent Upon The Great Majority Of Citizens.

Continued Dependence On Relief Inducers A Spiritual And Moral Disintegration Fundamentally Destructive To The National Fiber.

Freedom Of Speech Is Of No Use To A Man Who Has Nothing To Say And Freedom Of Worship Is Of No Use To A Man Who Has Lost His God.

Freedom Of Speech

We Are Going To Tax And Tax, Spend And Spend, Elect And Elect.

I Am Accustomed To Hearing Malicious Falsehoods About Myself . . . But I Think I Have A Right To Resent, To Object To Libelous Statements About My Dog.

We Had To Struggle With The Old Enemies Of Peace - Business And Financial Monopoly, Speculation, Reckless Banking, Class Antagonism, Sectionalism, War Profiteering. They Had Begun To Consider The Government Of The United States As A Mere Appendage To Their Own Affairs. We Know Now That Government By Organized Money Is Just As Dangerous As Government By Organized Mob. Never Before In All Our History Have These Forces Been So United Against One Candidate As They Stand Today. They Are Unanimous In Their Hate For Me - And I Welcome Their Hatred.

People Die, But Books Never Die. No Man And No Force Can Abolish Memory.

These Economic Royalists Complain That We Seek To Overthrow The Institutions Of America. What They Really Complain Of Is That We Seek To Take Away Their Power. Our Allegiance To American Institutions Requires The Overthrow Of This Kind Of Power. In Vain They Seek To Hide Behind The Flag And The Constitution. In Their Blindness They Forget What The Flag And The Constitution Stand For.

Too Often In Recent History Liberal Governments Have Been Wrecked On Rocks Of Loose Fiscal Policy.

Are You Laboring Under The Impression That I Read These Memoranda Of Yours? I Can't Even Lift Them.

Government Cannot Close Its Eyes To The Pollution Of Waters, To The Erosion Of Soil, To The Slashing Of Forests Any More Than It Can Close Its Eyes To The Need For Slum Clearance And Schools.

Sometimes The Best Way To Keep Peace In The Family Is To Keep The Members Of The Family Apart For Awhile.

I Ask You To Judge Me By The Enemies I Have Made.

Chamberlain's Visit To Hitler Today May Bring Things To A Head Or May Result In A Temporary Postponement Of What Looks To Me Likean Inevitable Conflict Within The Next Five Years.

No Country, However Rich, Can Afford The Waste Of Its Human Resources. Demoralization Caused By Vast Unemployment Is Our Greatest Extravagance. Morally, It Is The Greatest Menace To Our Social Order.

More Than An End To War, We Want An End To The Beginnings Of All Wars. Yes, An End To This Brutal, Inhuman And Thoroughly Impractical Method Of Settling The Differences Between Governments. The Once Powerful Malignant Nazi State Is Crumbling; The Japanese Warlords Are Receiving In Their Homelands The Retribution For Which They Asked When They Attacked Pearl Harbor. But The Mere Conquest Of Our Enemies Is Not Enough; We Must Go On To Do All In Our Power To Conquer The Doubts And The Fears, The Ignorance And The Greed, Which Made This Horror Possible.

Unless The Peace That Follows Recognizes That The Whole World Is One Neighborhood And Does Justice To The Whole Human Race, The Germs Of Another World War Will Remain As A Constant Threat To Mankind.

I Have A Terrific Headache.

I Tell The American People Solemnly That The United States Will Never Survive As A Happy And Fertile Oasis Of Liberty Surrounded By A Cruel Desert Of Dictatorship.

'peace On Earth, Good Will Toward Men' - Democracy Must Cling To That Message. For It Is My Deep Conviction That Democracy Cannot Live Without That True Religion Which Gives A Nation A Sense Of Justice And Moral Purpose.

My Fellow Americans: Last Night When I Spoke With You About The Fall Of Rome, I Knew At That Moment That The 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 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. . .

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.

The Country Needs And, Unless I Mistake Its Temper, The Country Demands Bold, Persistent Experimentation .

The Truth Is Found When Men Are Free To Pursue It.

Necessitous Men Are Not Free Men.

All Of Our People All Over The Country-except The Pure-blooded Indians-are Immigrants Or Descendants Of Immigrants, Including Even Those Who Came Over Here On The Mayflower.

The Presidency Is Not Merely An Administrative Office...it Is Pre-eminently A Place Of Moral Leadership.

Moral Leadership

Freedom Of Conscience, Of Education, Of Speech, Of Assembly Are Among The Very Fundamentals Of Democracy And All Of Them Would Be Nullified Should Freedom Of The Press Ever Be Successfully Challenged.

Freedom Of Speech

The Best Customer Of American Industry Is The Well Paid Worker.

Working Conditions

We May Make Mistakes-but They Must Never Be Mistakes Which Result From Faintness Of Heart Or Abandonment Of Moral Principle.

Where Freedom Of Religion Has Been Attacked, The Attack Has Come From Sources Opposed To Democracy. Where Democracy Has Been Overthrown, The Spirit Of Free Worship Has Disappeared. And Where Religion And Democracy Have Vanished, Good Faith And Reason In International Affairs Have Given Way To Strident Ambition And Brute Force.

Democracies Have

The True Conservative Seeks To Protect The System Of Private Property And Free Enterprise By Correcting Such Injustices And Inequalities As Arise From It. The Most Serious Threat To Our Institutions Comes From Those Who Refuse To Face The Need For Change. Liberalism Becomes The Protection For The Far-sighted Conservative.

Lives Of Nations Are Determined Not By The Count Of Years, But By The Lifetime Of The Human Spirit. The Life Of A Man Is Three-score Years And Ten: A Little More, A Little Less. The Life Of A Nation Is The Fullness Of The Measure Of Its Will To Live.

That Is The Spiral Galaxy In Andromeda. It Is As Large As Our Milky Way. It Is One Of A Hundred Million Galaxies. It Consists Of One Hundred Billion Suns. Now I Think We Are Small Enough.

For Three Long Years I Have Been Going Up And Down This Country Preaching That Government . . . Costs Too Much. I Shall Not Stop That Preaching.

Peace, Like Charity, Begins At Home.

The Fate Of America Cannot Depend On Any One Man. The Greatness Of America Is Grounded In Principles And Not On Any Single Personality.

Tell That To The Marines!

You Are, I Am Sure, Aware That Genuine Popular Support In The United States Is Required To Carry Out Any Government Policy, Foreign Or Domestic. The American People Make Up Their Own Minds And No Governmental Action Can Change It.

A Point Has Been Reached Where The Peoples Of The Americas Must Take Cognizance Of Growing Ill-will, Of Marked Trends Toward Aggression, Of Increasing Armaments, Of Shortening Tempers--a Situation Which Has In It Many Of The Elements That Lead To The Tragedy Of General War.... Peace Is Threatened By Those Who Seek Selfish Power.

It Is A Terrible Thing To Look Over Your Shoulder When You Are Trying To Lead - And Find No One There.

If Civilization Is To Survive, The Principles Of The Prince Of Peace Must Be Restored. Shattered Trust Between Nations Must Be Revived. Most Important Of All, The Will For Peace On The Part Of Peace-loving Nations Must Express Itself To The End That Nations That May Be Tempted To Violate Their Agreements And The Rights Of Others Will Desist From Such A Cause. There Must Be Positive Endeavors To Preserve Peace. America Hates War. America Hopes For Peace. Therefore, America Actively Engages In The Search For Peace.

A Conservative Is A Man With Two Perfectly Good Legs Who, However, Has Never Learned How To Walk Forward.

In This Nation I See Tens Of Millions Of Its Citizens, A Substantial Part Of Its Whole Population, 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 One Third Of A Nation Ill-housed, Ill-clad, Ill-nourished. 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.

There Is One Front And One Battle Where Everyone In The United States-every Man, Woman, And Child-is In Action, And Will Be Privileged To Remain In Action Throughout This War. That Front Is Right Here At Home, In Our Daily Lives, And In Our Daily Tasks.

We Must Remember That Any Oppression, Any Injustice, Any Hatred, Is A Wedge Designed To Attack Our Civilization.

The World Order Which We Seek Is The Co-operation Of Free Countries, Working Together In A Friendly, Civilized Society.

No Man Can Tame A Tiger Into A Kitten By Stroking It.

Pearl Harbor Day

Those Newspapers Of The Nation Which Most Loudly Cried Dictatorship Against Me Would Have Been The First To Justify The Beginnings Of Dictatorship By Somebody Else.

So Many Figures Are Quoted To Prove So Many Things. Sometimes It Depends On What Paper You Read Or What Broadcast You Listen In On.

It Is One Of The Characteristics Of A Free And Democratic Nation That It Have Free And Independent Labor Unions.

Organized Labor

We Have Always Known That Heedless Self Interest Was Bad Morals, We Now Know That It Is Bad Economics.

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.

Do Something. If It Works, Do More Of It. If It Doesn't, Do Something Else.

I'm Not The Smartest Fellow In The World, But I Can Sure Pick Smart Colleagues.

The Motto Of War Is: "let The Strong Survive; Let The Weak Die." The Motto Of Peace Is: "let The Strong Help The Weak To Survive."

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.

Better The Occasional Faults Of A Government That Lives In A Spirit Of Charity Than The Consistent Omissions Of A Government Frozen In The Ice Of Its Own Indifference.

There Has Been One Persistent Theme Through All Axis Propaganda. This Theme Has Been That Americans Are Admittedly Rich, That Americans Have Considerable Industrial Power - But That Americans Are Soft And Decadent, That They Cannot And Will Not Unite And Work And Fight. ... Let Them Tell That To The Marines!

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 Little.

Economic Inequality

Lord, Reform Thy World, Beginning With Me.

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.

A Government Can Be No Better Than The Public Opinion Which Sustains It.

Self-interest Is The Enemy Of All True Affection.

As Commander-in-chief, I Take Pleasure In Commending The Reading Of The Bible To All Who Serve In The Armed Forces Of The United States. Throughout The Centuries, Men Of Many Faiths And Diverse Origins Have Found In The Sacred Book Words Of Wisdom, Counsel, And Inspiration. It Is A Fountain Of Strength...an Aid In Attaining The Highest Aspiration Of The Human Soul.

It Is The Habit Of The Unthinking To Turn To The Illusions Of Economic Magic. These Unhappy Times Call For The Building Of Plans That Put Their Faith Once More In The Forgotten Man At The Bottom Of The Economic Pyramid

We Are Fighting To Save A Great And Precious Form Of Government For Ourselves And For The World.

And While I Am Talking To You Mothers And Fathers, I Give You One More Assurance. I Have Said This Before, But I Shall Say It Again And Again And Again: Your Boys Are Not Going To Be Sent Into Any Foreign Wars.

The Ultimate Victory Of Tomorrow Is Democracy, And Through Democracy With Education, For No People In All The World Can Be Kept Eternally Ignorant Or Eternally Enslaved.

The Real Safeguard Of Democracy Is Education.

The Country Needs And, Unless I Mistake Its Temper, The Country Demands Bold, Persistent Experimentation. 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. The Millions Who Are In Want Will Not Stand By Silently Forever While The Things To Satisfy Their Needs Are Within Easy Reach.

I Am Neither Bitter Nor Cynical But I Do Wish There Was Less Immaturity In Political Thinking.

A Good Leader Can't Get Too Far Ahead Of His Followers.

There Is No Group In America That Can Withstand The Force Of An Aroused Public Opinion.

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.

We, And All Others Who Believe In Freedom As Deeply As We Do, Would Rather Die On Our Feet Than Live On Our Knees.

I Suggest A Nationwide Reading Of The Holy Scriptures During The Period From Thanksgiving Day To Christmas.

Thanksgiving Day

Failure Is Not An American Habit.

But The Challenge Is Always The Same - Whether Each Generation Facing Its Own Circumstances Can Summon The Practical Devotion To Attain And Retain That Greatest Good For The Greatest Number Which This Government Of The People Was Created To Ensure.

Freedom Of Speech...freedom Of Worship...freedom From Want...freedom From Fear.

Freedom Of Speech

One Reason--perhaps The Chief--of The Virility Of The Roosevelts Is [their] Very Democratic Spirit. They Have Never Felt That Because They Were Born In A Good Position They Could Put Their Hands In Their Pockets And Succeed. They Have Felt, Rather, That Being Born In A Good Position, There Is No Excuse For Them If They Did Not Do Their Duty By The Community.

We Had To Struggle With The Old Enemies Of Peace - Business And Financial Monopoly, Speculation, Reckless Banking, Class Antagonism, Sectionalism, War Profiteering

I've Fired My Last Shot. I Think I Should Have Another Round In My Belt.

The Presidency Is Not Merely An Administrative Office. Thats The Least Of It. It Is More Than An Engineering Job, Efficient Or Inefficient. It Is Pre-eminently A Place Of Moral Leadership. All Our Great Presidents Were Leaders Of Thought At Times When Certain Historic Ideas In The Life Of The Nation Had To Be Clarified.

Moral Leadership

The Nation That Destroys Its Soil Destroys Itself.

All Free Peoples Are Deeply Impressed By The Courage And Steadfastness Of The Greek Nation.

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.

The Social Security Act Offers To All Our Citizens A Workable And Working Method Of Meeting Urgent Present Needs And Of Forestalling Future Need. It Utilizes The Familiar Machinery Of Our Federal-state Government To Promote The Common Welfare And The Economic Stability Of The Nation.

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.

There Are Many Ways Of Going Forward, But Only One Way Of Standing Still.

The Value Of Love Will Always Be Stronger Than The Value Of Hate. Any Nation Or Group Of Nations Which Employs Hatred Eventually Is Torn To Pieces By Hatred.

No Business Is Above Government; And Government Must Be Empowered To Deal Adequately With Any Business That Tries To Rise Above Government.

The Core Of Our Defense Is The Faith We Have In The Institutions We Defend.

Every Man Has A Right To Life, And This Means That He Has Also A Right To Make A Comfortable Living.

I Call For Effort, Courage, Sacrifice, Devotion. Granting The Love Of Freedom, All Of These Are Possible. And The Love Of Freedom Is Still Fierce And Steady In The Nation Today. June 10, 1940

The Success Of Our Whole National Program Depends, Of Course, On The Cooperation Of The Public--on Its Intelligent Support And Its Use Of A Reliable System.

These Are Bad Days For All Of Us Who Remember Always That When Real World Forces Come Into Conflict, The Final Result Is Never As Dark As We Mortals Guess It In Very Difficult Days.

Hostilities Exist. There Is No Blinking At The Fact 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.

If In Other Lands The Press And Books And Literature Of All Kinds Are Censored, We Must Redouble Our Efforts Here To Keep Them Free

Forests Are The Lungs Of Our Land.

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.

We Must Recognize The Fundamental Rights Of Man. There Can Be No True National Life In Our Democracy Unless We Give Unqualified Recognition To Freedom Of Religious Worship And Freedom Of Education.

The Most Difficult Place In The World To Get A Clear And Open Perspective Of The Country As A Whole Is Washington.

The Driving Force Of A Nation Lies In Its Spiritual Purpose, Made Effective By Free, Tolerant But Unremitting National Will.

Democracy, The Practice Of Self-government, Is A Covenant Among Free Men To Respect The Rights And Liberties Of Their Fellows.

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.

I've Never Been Unemployed. I've Never Been Very Fully Employed Either.

I See An America Whose Rivers And Valleys And Lakes Hills And Streams And Plains The Mountains Over Our Land And Nature's Wealth Deep Under The Earth Are Protected As The Rightful Heritage Of All The People.

I Never Forget That I Live In A House Owned By All The American People And That I Have Been Given Their Trust.

No Group And No Government Can Properly Prescribe Precisely What Should Constitute The Body Of Knowledge With Which True Education Is Concerned.

It Is Time To Provide A Smashing Answer For Those Cynical Men Who Say That A Democracy Cannot Be Honest, Cannot Be Efficient.... We Have In The Darkest Moments Of Our National Trials Retained Our Faith In Our Own Ability To Master Our Own Destiny.

I Hope That Your Committee Will Not Permit Doubt As To Constitutionality, However Reasonable, To Block The Suggested Legislation

Against Naked Force The Only Possible Defense Is Naked Force. The Aggressor Makes The Rules For Such A War; The Defenders Have No Alternative But Matching Destruction With More Destruction, Slaughter With Greater Slaughter.

Taxes Are Paid In The Sweat Of Every Man Who Labors. If Those Taxes Are Excessive, They Are Reflected In Idle Factories, In Tax-sold Farms, And In Hordes Of Hungry People, Tramping The Streets And Seeking Jobs In Vain. Our Workers May Never See A Tax Bill, But They Pay. They Pay In Deductions From Wages, In Increased Cost Of What They Buy, Or - As Now - In Broad Unemployment Throughout The Land.

If You Have Spent Two Years In Bed Trying To Wiggle Your Big Toe, Everything Else Seems Easy.

The Chief Problem Is, Of Course, Whether The Marching Of The General Spirit Of Things Is Heading Consciously Or Sub- Consciously Toward An Idea Of Extension Of Boundaries.

A Radical Is A Man With Both Feet Firmly Planted-in The Air. A Conservative Is A Man With Two Perfectly Good Legs, Who, However, Has Never Learned To Walk Forward. A Reactionary Is A Somnambulist Walking Backwards. A Liberal Is A Man Who Uses His Legs And Hands At The Behest Of His Head.

If We Do Not Halt This Steady Process Of Building Commissions And Regulatory Bodies And The Special Legislation Like Huge Inverted Pyramids Over Every One Of The Simple Constitutional Provisions, We Shall Soon Be Spending Many Billions Of Dollars More.

That, In Its Essence, Is Fascism — Ownership Of Government By An Individual, By A Group, Or By Any Other Controlling Private Power.

Buying And Selling Securities On The Stock Exchange Do Not Start New Industries. Big Business Never Starts Anything New. It Merely Absorbs, Consolidates And Profits At The Expense Of Others.

Taxes, After All, Are Dues That We Pay For The Privileges Of Membership In An Organized Society.

It Drives On With A Courage Which Is Stronger Than The Storm. It Drives On With A Mercy Which Does Not Quail In The Presence Of Death. It Drives On As Proof, A Symbol, A Testimony That Man Is Created In The Image Of God And That Valour And Virtue Have Not Perished In The British Race.

Economic Diseases Are Highly Communicable. It Follows Therefore That The Economic Health Of Every Country Is A Proper Matter Of Concern To All Its Neighbors, Near Or Distant.

A Small Group Had Concentrated Into Their Own Hands An Almost Complete Control Over Other People's Property, Other People's Money, Other People's Labor - Other People's Lives. For Too Many Of Us Life Was No Longer Free; Liberty No Longer Real; Men Could No Longer Follow The Pursuit Of Happiness.

Pursuit Of Happiness

We Defend And We Build A Way Of Life, Not For America Alone, But For All Mankind.

Democracy Can Thrive Only When It Enlists The Devotion Of Those Whom Lincoln Called The Common People. Democracy Can Hold That Devotion Only When It Adequately Respects Their Dignity By So Ordering Society As To Assure To The Masses Of Men And Women Reasonable Security And Hope For Themselves And For Their Children.

A Radical Is A Man With Both Feet Firmly Planted-in The Air.

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.

The Future Lies With Those Wise Political Leaders Who Realize That The Great Public Is Interested More In Government Than In Politics. The Growing Independence Of Voters, After All, Has Been Proven By The Votes In Every Presidential Election Since My Childhood And The Tendency, Frankly, Is On The Increase.

Once You've Spent Two Years Trying To Wiggle One Toe, Everything Is In Proportion.

Be Sincere; Be Brief; Be Seated.

Among American Citizens, There Should Be No Forgotten Men And No Forgotten Races.

There Is Much To Be Said Against The Climate On The Coast Of British Columbia And Alaska; Yet, I Believe That The Scenery Of One Good Day Will Compensate The Tourists Who Will Go There In Increasing Numbers.

Let Us Move Forward With Strong And Active Faith.

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.

Inequality May Linger In The World Of Material Things, But Great Music, Great Literature, Great Art And The Wonders Of Science Are, And Should Be, Open To All.

All Government Employees Should Realize That The Process Of Collective Bargaining, As Usually Understood, Cannot Be Transplanted Into The Public Service.

Put Two Or Three Men In Positions Of Conflicting Authority. This Will Force Them To Work At Loggerheads, Allowing You To Be The Ultimate Arbiter.

I Hope That You Have Re-read The Constitution Of The United States In These Past Few Weeks. Like The Bible, It Ought To Be Read Again And Again.

These Republican Leaders Have Not Been Content With Attacks On Me, On My Wife, Or On My Sons. No, Not Content With That, They Now Include My Little Dog, Fala. Well, Of Course, I Don't Resent Attacks... But Fala Does Resent Them.

We Think Of Our Land And Water And Human Resources Not As Static And Sterile Possessions But As Life Giving Assets To Be Directed By Wise Provisions For Future Days.

Eternal Truths Will Be Neither True Nor Eternal Unless They Have Fresh Meaning For Every New Social Situation.

Meaning Of Life

The Frontier Of America Is On The Rhine.

If You Treat People Right They Will Treat You Right... Ninety Percent Of The Time.

The Money-changers Have Fled From Their High Seats In The Temple Of Our Civilization. We May Now Restore That Temple To The Ancient Truths.

Organized Money Hates Me--and I Welcome Their Hatred!

...we Now Realize As We Have Never Before Our Interdependence On Each Other; That We Cannot Merely Take, But We Must Be Willing To Sacrifice For The Good Of A Common Discipline, Because Without Such Discipline, No Progress Is Made, No Leadership Becomes Effective.

Real Estate Cannot Be Lost Or Stolen, Nor Can It Be Carried Away. Purchased With Common Sense, Paid For In Full, And Managed With Reasonable Care, It Is About The Safest Investment In The World.

They Realize That In Thirty-four Months We Have Built Up New Instruments Of Public Power. In The Hands Of A Peoples Government This Power Is Wholesome And Proper. But In The Hands Of Political Puppets Of An Economic Autocracy Such Power Would Provide Shackles For The Liberties Of The People.

No Democracy Can Long Survive Which Does Not Accept As Fundamental To Its Very Existence The Recognition Of The Rights Of Minorities.

The First Theory Is That If We Make The Rich Richer, Somehow They Will Let A Part Of Their Prosperity Trickle Down To The Rest Of Us. The Second Theory Was The Theory That If We Make The Average Of Mankind Comfortable And Secure, Their Prosperity Will Rise Upward Through The Ranks.

We Must Save The Constitution From The [supreme] Court And The Court From Itself.

We Cannot Read The History Of Our Rise And Development As A Nation, Without Reckoning With The Place The Bible Has Occupied In Shaping The Advances Of The Republic. Where We Have Been The Truest And Most Consistent In Obeying Its Precepts, We Have Attained The Greatest Measure Of Contentment And Prosperity.

People Die, But Books Never Die.

The Structure Of World Peace Cannot Be The Work Of One Man Or One Party Or One Nation. It Must Be A Peace Which Rests On The Cooperative Effort Of The Whole World.

When You See A Rattlesnake Poised To Strike, You Do Not Wait Until He Has Struck To Crush Him.

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.

In Politics, Nothing Happens By Accident. If It Happens, You Can Bet It Was Planned That Way.

I Am ... Willing To Make It Clear That American Foreign Policy Must Uphold The Sanctity Of International Treaties. That Is The Cornerstone On Which All Relations Between Nations Must Rest.

No Government Can Help The Destinies Of People Who Insist In Putting Sectional And Class Consciousness Ahead Of General Weal.

General De Gaulle Was A Thoroughly Bad Boy. The Day He Arrived, He Thought He Was Joan Of Arc And The Following Day He Insisted That He Was Georges Clemenceau.

Do Not Confuse Objectives With Methods. When The Nation Becomes Substantially United In Favor Of Planning The Broad Objectives Of Civilization, Then True Leadership Must Unite Thought Behind Definite Methods.

Old Women Are The Secret To The Fluffiest Cakes.

Liberty Requires Opportunity To Make A Living--a Living Decent According To The Standard Of The Time, A Living Which Gives A Man Not Only Enough To Live By, But Something To Live For.

The Winds That Blow Through The Wide Sky In These Mounts, The Winds That Sweep From Canada To Mexico, From The Pacific To The Atlantic - Have Always Blown On Free Men.

Goods Produced Under Conditions Which Do Not Meet A Rudimentary Standard To Decency Should Be Regarded As Contraband And Not Allowed To Pollute The Channels Of International Commerce.

The Handling Of Our Forests As A Continuous, Renewable Resource Means Permanent Employment And Stability To Our Country Life. The Forests Are Also Needed For Mitigating Extreme Climatic Fluctuations, Holding The Soil On The Slopes, Retaining The Moisture In The Ground, And Controlling The Equable Flow Of Water In Our Streams.

Dec. 7, 1941 - A Date Which Will Live In Infamy - 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.

The Democratic Aspiration Is No Mere Recent Phase In Human History. It Is Human History.

Once I Prophesied That This Generation Of Americans Had A Rendezvous With Destiny. That Prophecy Now Comes True. To Us Much Is Given; More Is Expected. This Generation Will Nobly Save Or Mainly Lose The Last Best Hope Of Earth. The Way Is Plain, Peaceful, Generous Just. A Way, Which If Followed, The World Will Forever Applaud, And God Must Forever Bless.

This Generation Of Americans Has A Rendezvous With Destiny.

This Generation

We Need Enthusiasm, Imagination And The Ability To Face Facts, Even Unpleasant Ones, Bravely. We Need To Correct, By Drastic Means If Necessary, The Faults In Our Economic System From Which We Now Suffer. We Need The Courage Of The Young. Yours Is Not The Task Of Making Your Way In The World, But The Task Of Remaking The World Which You Will Find Before You. May Every One Of Us Be Granted The Courage, The Faith And The Vision To Give The Best That Is In Us To That Remaking!

The Fundamental Idea...is That The Country Belongs To The People, That It Is In Process Of Making For The Enrichment Of The Lives Of All Of Us.

Physical Strength Can Never Permanently Withstand The Impact Of Spiritual Force.

The Liberty Of A Democracy Is Not Safe If The People Tolerated The Growth Of Private Power To A Point Where It Becomes Stronger Than The Democratic State Itself. That In Its Essence Is Fascism: Ownership Of Government By An Individual, By A Group, Or Any Controlling Private Power.

We Have Nothing To Fear But Missing Our Massage Appointment Time

It Will Never Be Possible For Any Length Of Time For Any Group Of The American People, Either By Reason Of Wealth Or Learning Or Inheritance Or Economic Power, To Retain Any Mandate, Any Permanent Authority To Arrogate To Itself The Political Control Of American Public Life.

We Have Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself.

There Are As Many Opinions As There Are Experts.

We Know Now That Government By Organized Money Is Just As Dangerous As Government By Organized Mob.... [the Organized Moneyed People] Are Unanimous In Their Hate For Me And I Welcome Their Hatred.... I Should Like To Have It Said Of My Second Administration That These Forces Met Their Master.

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.

Those (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.

To A Great Extent The Achievements Of Invention, Of Mechanical And Of Artistic Creation, Must Of Necessity, And Rightly, Be Individual Rather Than Governmental. It Is The Self-reliant Pioneer In Every Enterprise Who Beats The Path Along Which American Civilization Has Marched. Such Individual Effort Is The Glory Of America.

Individual Effort

Frankly, I Do Not Like The Idea Of Conversations To Define The Term "unconditional Surrender."the German People Can Have Dinned Into Their Ears What I Said In My Christmas Eve Speech--in Effect, That We Have No Thought Of Destroying The German People And That We Want Them To Live Through The Generations Like Other European Peoples On Condition, Of Course, That They Get Rid Of Their Present Philosophy Of Conquest.

An Election Cannot Give A Country A Firm Sense Of Direction If It Has Two Or More National Parties Which Merely Have Different Names But Are As Alike In Their Principles And Aims As Peas In The Same Pod.

Hitler Built A Fortress Around Europe, But He Forgot To Put A Roof On It.

Our True Destiny Is Not To Be Ministered Unto But To Minister To Ourselves And To Our Fellow Men.

I Am Particularly Interested In The Indications That The People Seem To Understand And Approve The Necessity Of Pursuing The Course That Will Prevent A Further Effort On The Part Of The German Peoples To Continue The Struggle For World Domination, Even Though They Are Thoroughly Beaten In This War.

In The Final Analysis, The Progress Of Our Civilization Will Be Retarded If Any Large Body Of Citizens Falls Behind. Without The Help Of Thousands Of Others, Any One Of Us Would Die, Naked And Starved.

Okay, You've Convinced Me. Now Go Out There And Bring Pressure On Me.

No Business Which Depends For Existence On Paying Less Than Living Wages To Its Workers Has Any Right To Continue In This Country... By Living Wages I Mean More Than A Bare Subsistence Level - I Mean The Wages Of Decent Living.

Remember You Are Just An Extra In Everyone Else's Play.

As Americans, We Go Forward, In The Service Of Our Country, By The Will Of God.

We Count, In The Future As In The Past, On The Driving Power Of Individual Initiative, On The Incentive Of Fair Private Profit, Strengthened Of Course With The Acceptance Of Those Obligations To The Public Interest Which Rest Upon Us All.

It Is An Unfortunate Human Failing That A Full Pocketbook Often Groans More Loudly Than An Empty Stomach.

We Can Afford All That We Need; But We Can Not Afford All [that] We Want.

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 Goverment.

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