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Let Me Make It Clear That I Do Not Assert That A President And The Congress Must On All Points Agree With Each Other At All Times. Many Times In History There Has Been Complete Disagreement Between The Two Branches Of The Government, And In These Disagreements Sometimes The Congress Has Won And Sometimes The President Has Won. But During The Administration Of The Present President We Have Had Neither Agreement Nor A Clear-cut Battle.

-Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Let Me Make It

Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Let Me Make It Clear That I Do Not Assert That A President And The Congress Must On All Points Agree With Each Other At All Times. Many Times In History There Has Been Complete Disagreement Between The Two Branches Of The Government, And In These Disagreements Sometimes The Congress Has Won And Sometimes The President Has Won. But During The Administration Of The Present President We Have Had Neither Agreement Nor A Clear-cut Battle.

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We Have Our Difficulties, True; But We Are A Wiser And A Tougher Nation Than We Were In 1932. Never Have There Been Six Years Of Such Far Flung Internal Preparedness In All Of History. And This Has Been Done Without Any Dictator's Power To Command, Without Conscription Of Labor Or Confiscation Of Capital, Without Concentration Camps And Without A Scratch On Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of The Press Or The Rest Of The Bill Of Rights.

Freedom Of Speech

As A Nation, We May Take Pride In The Fact That We Are Softhearted; But We Cannot Afford To Be Soft-headed.

Freedom Of The Press Is Essential To The Preservation Of A Democracy; But There Is A Difference Between Freedom And License. Editorialists Who Tell Downright Lies In Order To Advance Their Own Agendas Do More To Discredit The Press Than All The Censors In The World.

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.

I Have No Expectation Of Making A Hit Every Time I Come To Bat.

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

In The Truest Sense, Freedom Cannot Be Bestowed; It Must Be Achieved.

I Believe That In Every Country The People Themselves Are More Peaceably And Liberally Inclined Than Their Governments.

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."

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

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.

[m]y Conception Of Liberty Does Not Permit An Individual Citizen Or A Group Of Citizens To Commit Acts Of Depredation Against Nature In Such A Way As To Harm Their Neighbors And Especially To Harm The Future Generations Of Americans. If Many Years Ago We Had Had The Necessary Knowledge, And Especially The Necessary Willingness On The Part Of The Federal Government, We Would Have Saved A Sum, A Sum Of Money Which Has Cost The Taxpayers Of America Two Billion Dollars.

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.

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.

Men Are Not Prisoners Of Fate, But Only Prisoners Of Their Own Minds.

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.

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.

Be Sincere; Be Brief; Be Seated.

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.

History Proves That Dictatorships Do Not Grow Out Of Strong And Successful Governments, But Out Of Weak And Helpless Ones. If By Democratic Methods People Get A Government Strong Enough To Protect Them From Fear And Starvation, Their Democracy Succeeds; But If They Do Not, They Grow Impatient. Therefore, 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 Its Government.

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.

To Reach A Port, We Must Sail - Sail, Not Tie At Anchor - Sail, Not Drift.

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.

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

There Are As Many Opinions As There Are Experts.

You'll Have To Learn That Public Life Takes A Lot Of Sweat; But It Doesn't Need To Worry You. You Won't Always Be Right, But You Mustn't Suffer From Being Wrong. That's What Kills People Like Us.

We Are Not Isolationists Except In So Far As We Seek To Isolate Ourselves Completely From War. Yet We Must Remember That So Long As War Exists On Earth There Will Be Some Danger That Even The Nation Which Most Ardently Desires Peace May Be Drawn Into War.

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.

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

We Must Be The Great Arsenal Of Democracy.

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.

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

Freedom Means The Supremacy Of Human Rights Everywhere. Our Support Goes To Those Who Struggle To Gain Those Rights Or Keep Them.

The Only Thing We Have To Fear Is A Giant Wheelchair-crushing Squid. Well... Uh... Actually, I Guess That's The Only Thing I Have To Fear.

I Have A Terrific Pain In The Back Of My Head.

I Love It--i Just Love It.

If You Hold Your Fire Until You See The Whites Of His Eyes, You Will Never Know What Hit You.

True Wealth Is Not A Static Thing. It Is A Living Thing Made Out Of The Disposition Of Men To Create And Distribute The Good Things Of Life With Rising Standards Of Living.

The Very Nature And Purposes Of Government Make It Impossible For Administrative Officials To Represent Fully Or To Bind The Employer In Mutual Discussions With Government Employee Organizations.

We Have Nothing To Fear But Missing Our Massage Appointment Time

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.

We, Too, Born To Freedom, And Believing In Freedom, Are Willing To Fight To Maintain Freedom. We, And All Others Who Believe As Deeply As We Do, Would Rather Die On Our Feet Than Live On Our Knees.

I Read In A Newspaper That I Was To Be Received With All The Honors Customarily Rendered To A Foreign Ruler. I Am Grateful For The Honors; But Something Within Me Rebelled At That Word 'foreign'. I Say This Because When I Have Been In Canada, I Have Never Heard A Canadian Refer To An American As A 'foreigner'. He Is Just An 'american'. And, In The Same Way, In The United States, Canadians Are Not 'foreigners', They Are 'canadians'. That Simple Little Distinction Illustrates To Me Better Than Anything Else The Relationship Between Our Two Countries.

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

When A Country Is At War We Want Congressmen, Regardless Of Party, To Back Up The Government Of The United States.

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

Working Conditions

Rules Are Not Necessarily Sacred, Principles Are.

Dealing With The State Department Is Like Watching An Elephant Become Pregnant.

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.

Those Of You Who Have Been There [haiti] Know It Is One Of The Most Beautiful Countries In The World. It Has Everything. It Has Everything Above The Ground, And Everything Under The Ground.... It Is An Amazing Place. I Strongly Recommend That Whenever You Get A Chance, If You Haven't Been There, That You Go To Haiti. I Think It Was A Certain Queen Of England Who Said That After Her Death "calais" Would Be Found Written On Her Heart. When I Die, I Think That "haiti" Is Going To Be Written On My Heart.

A Reactionary Is A Somnambulist Walking Backwards.

Walking Backwards

I Propose To Create A Civilian Conservation Corps To Be Used In Simple Work...more Important, However, Than The Material Gains Will Be The Moral And Spiritual Value Of Such Work.

The Royalists Of The Economic Order Have Conceded That Political Freedom Was The Business Of The Government, But They Have Maintained That Economic Slavery Was Nobody's Business. They Granted That The Government Could Protect The Citizen In His Right To Vote, But They Denied That The Government Could Do Anything To Protect The Citizen In His Right To Work And His Right To Live. Today We Stand Committed To The Proposition That Freedom Is No Half-and-half Affair. If The Average Citizen Is Guaranteed Equal Opportunity In The Polling Place, He Must Have Equal Opportunity In The Market Place.

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.

'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.

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.

Our Handicaps Exist Only In Our Minds.

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.

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

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.

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.

A Great Man Left A Watchword That We Can Well Repeat: "there Is No Indispensable Man"

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.

[the United States Is] Founded On The Principles Of Christianity

Research Is One Of The Nation's Very Greatest Resources And The Role Of The Federal Government In Supporting And Stimulating It Needs To Reexamined.

The Liberal Party Is A Party Which Believes That, As New Conditions An Problems Arise Beyond The Power Of Men And Women To Meet As Individuals, It Becomes The Duty Of The Government Itself To Find New Remedies With Which To Meet Them.

It [concentration Of Wealth And Power] Has Been A Menace To . . . American Democracy.

Concentration Of Wealth

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.

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. . .

We Continue To Recognize The Greater Ability Of Some To Earn More Than Others. But We Do Assert That The Ambition Of The Individual To Obtain For Him A Proper Security Is An Ambition To Be Preferred To The Appetite For Great Wealth And Great Power.

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.

Almighty God, Who Hast Given Us This Good Land For Our Heritage; We Humbly Beseech Thee That We May Always Prove Ourselves A People Mindful Of Thy Favor And Glad To Do Thy Will.

I Believe That We Are Going To Get Along Very Well With Him [josef Stalin] And The Russian People - Very Well Indeed.

We Know That There Are Chiselers. At The Bottom Of Every Case Of Criticism And Obstruction We Have Found Some Selfish Interest, Some Private Axe To Grind.

I Pledge You, Pledge Myself, To A New Deal For The American People. Let Us All Here Assembled Constitute Ourselves Prophets Of A New Order Of Competence And Of Courage. This Is More Than A Political Campaign; It Is A Call To Arms. Give Me Your Help, Not To Win Votes Alone, But To Win In This Crusade To Restore America To Its Own People.

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.

A World Turned Into A Stereotype, A Society Converted Into A Regiment, A Life Translated Into A Routine, Make It Difficult For Either Art Or Artists To Survive. Crush Individuality In Society And You Crush Art As Well. Nourish The Conditions Of A Free Life And You Nourish The Arts, Too.

We Know Now That Government By Organized Money Is Just As Dangerous As Government By Organized Mob.

If I Were Starting Life Over Again, I Am Inclined To Think That I Would Go Into The Advertising Business In Preference To Almost Any Other. The General Raising Of The Standards Of Modern Civilization Among All Groups Of People During The Past Half Ce

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.

Your Boys Are Not Going To Be Sent Into Any Foreign Wars.

The Creed Of Our Democracy Is That Liberty Is Acquired And Kept By Men And Women Who Are Strong And Self-reliant, And Possessed Of Such Wisdom As God Gives Mankind - Men And Women Who Are Just, And Understanding, And Generous To Others - Men And Women Who Are Capable Of Disciplining Themselves. For They Are The Rulers And They Must Rule Themselves.

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

The Real Truth Of The Matter Is, As You And I Know, That A Financial Element In The Larger Centers Has Owned The Government Ever Since The Days Of Andrew Jackson - And I Am Not Wholly Excepting The Administration Of W. W. The Country Is Going Through A Repetition Of Jackson's Fight With The Bank Of The United States - Only On A Far Bigger And Broader Basis.

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

Organized Labor

Happiness Lies Not In The Mere Possession Of Money; It Lies In The Joy Of Achievement, In The Thrill Of Creative Effort.

New Ideas Can Be Good And Bad, Just The Same As Old Ones.

We Can See Now That We Americans Were Caught Unprepared, Because We Were Ordinary Human Beings, Following The Best Advice We Had At The Time. No One Would Have Guessed In 1941 That We Would Be Attacked In Such An Unsportsmanlike Manner As We Were. No One Could Have Visualized Pearl Harbor, Either Out There Or In Washington. But If We Had Known Then What We Know Now, We Would Have Expected An Attack In 1941.

It Took Six Weeks Of Debate In The Senate To Get The Arms Embargo Law Repealed--and We Face Other Delays During The Present Session Because Most Of The Members Of The Congress Are Thinking In Terms Of Next Autumn's Election. However, That Is One Of The Prices That We Who Live In Democracies Have To Pay. It Is, However, Worth Paying, If All Of Us Can Avoid The Type Of Government Under Which The Unfortunate Population Of Germany And Russia Must Exist.

Our Policy Is To Give All Possible Material Aid To The Nations That Still Resist Aggression Across The Atlantic And Pacific Oceans. And We Make It Abundantly Clear That We Intend To Commit None Of The Fatal Errors Of Appeasement. We Have The Thought That In This Nation Of Many States We Have Found The Way In Which Men Of Many Racial Origins May Live Together In Peace. If The Human Race As A Whole Is To Survive, The World Must Find A Way By Which Men And Nations May Live Together In Peace. We Cannot Accept The Doctrine That War Must Be Forever A Part Of Man's Destiny.

Employers And Employees Alike Have Learned That In Union There Is Strength.

It Has Its Distinct And Insurmountable Limitations When Applied To Public Personnel Management.

Collective Bargaining

Forests Are The Lungs Of Our Land.

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

The Forgotten Man At The Bottom Of The Economic Pyramid.

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.

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.

The Gains In Education Are Never Really Lost. Books May Be Burned And Cities Sacked, But Truth, Like The Yearning For Freedom, Lives In The Hearts Of Humble Men.

And 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.

The Principle On Which This Country Was Founded And By Which It Has Always Been Governed Is That Americanism Is A Matter Of The Mind And Heart; Americanism Is Not, And Never Was, A Matter Of Race Or Ancestry.

If I Went To Work In A Factory The First Thing I'd Do Is Join A Union.

Organized Labor

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 People Of America Are In Agreement In Defending Their Liberties At Any Cost, And The First Line Of That Defense Lies In The Protection Of Economic Security.

When Peace Has Been Broken Anywhere, The Peace Of All Countries Is In Danger.

You Cannot Organize Civilization Around The Core Of Militarism And At The Same Time Expect Reason To Control Human Destinies.

Friendship Among Nations, As Among Individuals, Calls For Constructive Efforts To Muster The Forces Of Humanity In Order That An Atmosphere Of Close Understanding And Cooperation May Be Cultivated.

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

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.

This Law Represents A Cornerstone In A Structure Which Is Being Built But Is By No Means Completed--a Structure Intended To Lessen The Force Of Possible Future Depressions, To Act As A Protection To Future Administrations Of The Government Against The Necessity Of Going Deeply Into Debt To Furnish Relief To The Needy--a Law To Flatten Out The Peaks And Valleys Of Deflation And Of Inflation--in Other Words, A Law That Will Take Care Of Human Needs And At The Same Time Provide For The United States An Economic Structure Of Vastly Greater Soundness.

Old Women Are The Secret To The Fluffiest Cakes.

There Can Be Little Doubt That In Many Ways The Story Of Bridge Building Is The Story Of Civilisation. By It We Can Readily Measure An Important Part Of A People's Progress.

Peace, Like War, Can Succeed Only Where There Is A Will To Enforce It, And Where There Is Available Power To Enforce It.

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

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

This Generation Of Americans Has A Rendezvous With Destiny.

This Generation

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.

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.

No Political Party Has Exclusive Patent Rights On Prosperity.

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.

Do The Best You Can Do And Wait The Results In Peace.

Private Enterprise Is Ceasing To Be Free Enterprise.

Free Enterprise

Private Enterprise

The Frontier Of America Is On The Rhine.

It Is To The Real Advantage Of Every Producer, Every Manufacturer And Every Merchant To Cooperate In The Improvement Of Working Conditions, Because The Best Customer Of American Industry Is The Well-paid Worker.

All Private Plans, All Private Lives, Have Been In A Sense Repealed By An Overriding Public Danger.

I Have A Terrific Headache.

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.

Peace Can Endure Only So Long As Humanity Really Insists Upon It, And Is Willing To Work For It And Sacrifice For It.

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.

The United States Constitution Has Proved Itself The Most Marvelously Elastic Compilation Of Rules Of Government Ever Written.

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.

There's Nothing To Fear But A Wide Receiver Who Can Run A 100-yard Dash In Under 10 Seconds.

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

The First Twelve Years Are The Hardest.

But While They Prate Of Economic Laws, Men And Women Are Starving. We Must Lay Hold Of The Fact That Economic Laws Are Not Made By Nature. They Are Made By Human Beings.

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

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

Thanksgiving Day

Of Course We Believe These Things. We Believe In Social Security. We Believe In Work For The Unemployed. We Believe In Saving Homes. Cross Our Hearts And Hope To Die! We Believe In All These Things. But We Do Not Like The Way That The Present Administration Is Doing Them. Just Turn Them Over To Us. We Will Do All Of Them, We Will Do More Of Them, We Will Do Them Better And, Most Important Of All, The Doing Of Them Will Not Cost Anybody Anything!

Confidence... Thrives On Honesty, On Honor, On The Sacredness Of Obligations, On Faithful Protection And On Unselfish Performance. Without Them It Cannot Live.

Sports Is The Very Fiber Of All We Stand For. It Keeps Our Spirits Alive.

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.

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.

We Cannot Always Build A Future For Our Youth, But We Can Always Build Our Youth For The Future.

Freedom To Learn Is The First Necessity Of Guaranteeing That Man Himself Shall Be Self Reliant Enough To Be Free.

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

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

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

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.

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.

It Seems To Me That The Dedication Of A Library Is An Act Of Faith. To Bring Together The Resources Of The Past And To House Them In Buildings Where They Will Be Preserved For The Use Of Men And Women In The Future, A Nation Must Believe In Three Things. It Must Believe In The Past. It Must Believe In The Future. It Must, Above All, Believe In The Capacity Of Its Own People So To Learn From The Past That They Can Gain In Judgment In Creating Their Own Future.

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.

Of Course We Will Continue To Work For Cheaper Electricity In The Homes And On The Farms Of America; For Better And Cheaper Transportation; For Low Interest Rates; For Sounder Home Financing; For Better Banking; For The Regulation Of Security Issues; For Reciprocal Trade Among Nations And For The Wiping Out Of Slums. And My Friends, For All Of These We Have Only Begun To Fight.

Our Security Is Not A Matter Of Weapons Alone. The Arm That Wields Them Must Be Strong, The Eye That Guides Them Clear, The Will That Directs Them Indomitable.

The Real Safeguard Of Democracy Is Education.

Whoever Seeks To Set One Religion Against Another Seeks To Destroy All Religion.

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

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.

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.

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

Meaning Of Life

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.

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.

Happiness Is Not Merely Money, Which Is Fun For Effort And Achievement

We Have The Men--the Skill--the Wealth--and Above All, The Will.... We Must Be The Great Arsenal Of Democracy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The School Is The Last Expenditure Upon Which America Should Be Willing To Economize.

...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.

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

To Return To Higher Standards Of Living We Must Abandon The False Prophets And Seek New Leaders Of Our Own Choosing.

Since I Am Used To Speaking In Public, I Know That It Is Useless.

Nationwide Thinking, Nationwide Planning And Nationwide Action Are The Three Great Essentials To Prevent Nationwide Crises For Future Generations To Struggle Through.

Are We Going To Take The Hands Of The Federal Government Completely Off Any Effort To Adjust The Growing Of National Crops, And Go Right Straight Back To The Old Principle That Every Farmer Is A Lord Of His Own Farm And Can Do Anything He Wants, Raise Anything, Any Old Time, In Any Quantity, And Sell Any Time He Wants?

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.

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.

People Die, But Books Never Die.

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.

Older Men Declare War. But It Is Youth That Must Fight And Die. And It Is Youth Who Must Inherit The Tribulation, The Sorrow And The Triumphs That Are The Aftermath Of War.

Inspirational Life

There Comes A Time In The Affairs Of Men When They Must Prepare To Defend Not Their Homes Alone But The Tenets Of Faith And Humanity On Which Their Churches, Their Governments And Their Very Foundations Are Set. The Defense Of Religion, Of Democracy And Of Good Faith Among Nations Is All The Same Fight. To Save One, We Must Now Make Up Our Minds To Save All.

Democracy Alone, Of All Forms Of Government, Enlists The Full Force Of Men's Enlightened Will.

New Orleans Makes It Possible To Go To Europe Without Ever Leaving The United States.

It Has Always Seemed To Me That The Best Symbol Of Common Sense Was A Bridge.

The Nation That Destroys Its Soil Destroys Itself.

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.

Failure Is Not An American Habit.

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

In My Inaugural I Laid Down The Simple Proposition That Nobody Is Going To Starve In This Country. It Seems To Me To Be Equally Plain That No Business Which Depends For Existence On Paying Less Than Living Wages To Its Workers Has Any Right To Continue In This Country. By "business" I Mean The Whole Of Commerce As Well As The Whole Of Industry; By Workers I Mean All Workers, The White Collar Class As Well As The Men In Overalls; And By Living Wages I Mean More Than A Bare Subsistence Level - I Mean The Wages Of Decent Living.

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

Courage Is Not The Absence Of Fear, But Rather The Assessment That Something Else Is More Important Than Fear.

Let Me Make It Clear That I Do Not Assert That A President And The Congress Must On All Points Agree With Each Other At All Times. Many Times In History There Has Been Complete Disagreement Between The Two Branches Of The Government, And In These Disagreements Sometimes The Congress Has Won And Sometimes The President Has Won. But During The Administration Of The Present President We Have Had Neither Agreement Nor A Clear-cut Battle.

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

We Have Faith That Future Generations Will Know 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.

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.

The Nazi Danger To Our Western World Has Long Ceased To Be A Mere Possibility. The Danger Is Here Now--not Only From A Military Enemy But From An Enemy Of All Law, All Liberty, All Morality, All Religion.

I Sometimes Think We Consider Too Much The Good Luck Of The Early Bird And Not Enough The Bad Luck Of The Early Worm.

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