Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: I wish each and every one of you a very happy New Year. As the Congress reassembles, the impact of war abroad makes it natural to approach "the state of the union" through a discussion of foreign affairs. But it is important that those who hear and read this message should in no way confuse that approach with any thought that our Government is abandoning, or even overlooking, the great significance of its domestic policies. The social and economic forces which have been mismanaged abroad until they have resulted in revolution, dictatorship and war are the same as those which we here are struggling to adjust peacefully at home. You are well aware that dictatorships—and the philosophy of force that justifies and accompanies dictatorships—have originated in almost every case in the necessity for drastic action to improve internal conditions in places where democratic action for one reason or another has failed to respond to modern needs and modern demands. It was with far-sighted wisdom that the framers of our Constitution brought together in one magnificent phrase three great concepts—"common defense," "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility." More than a century and a half later we, who are here today, still believe with them that our best defense is the promotion of our general welfare and domestic tranquillity. In previous messages to the Congress I have repeatedly warned that, whether we like it or not, the daily lives of American citizens will, of necessity, feel the shock of events on other continents. This is no longer mere theory; because it has been definitely proved to us by the facts of yesterday and today. To say that the domestic well-being of one hundred and thirty million Americans is deeply affected by the well-being or the ill-being of the populations of other nations is only to recognize in world affairs the truth that we all accept in home affairs. If in any local unit-a city, county, State or region—low standards of living are permitted to continue, the level of the civilization of the entire nation will be pulled downward. The identical principle extends to the rest of the civilized world. But there are those who wishfully insist, in innocence or ignorance or both, that the United States of America as a self-contained unit can live happily and prosperously, its future secure, inside a high wall of isolation while, outside, the rest of Civilization and the commerce and culture of mankind are shattered. I can understand the feelings of those who warn the nation that they will never again consent to the sending of American youth to fight on the soil of Europe. But, as I remember, nobody has asked them to consent—for nobody expects such an undertaking. The overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens do not abandon in the slightest their hope and their expectation that the United States will not become involved in military participation in these wars. I can also understand the wishfulness of those who oversimplify the whole situation by repeating that all we have to do is to mind our own business and keep the nation out of war. But there is a vast difference between keeping out of war and pretending that this war is none of our business. We do not have to go to war with other nations, but at least we can strive with other nations to encourage the kind of peace that will lighten the troubles of the world, and by so doing help our own nation as well. I ask that all of us everywhere think things through with the single aim of how best to serve the future of our own nation. I do not mean merely its future relationship with the outside world. I mean its domestic future as well—the work, the security, the prosperity, the happiness, the life of all the boys and girls in the United States, as they are inevitably affected by such world relationships. For it becomes clearer and clearer that the future world will be a shabby and dangerous place to live in-yes, even for Americans to live in—if it is ruled by force in the hands of a few. Already the crash of swiftly moving events over the earth has made us all think with a longer view. Fortunately, that thinking cannot be controlled by partisanship. The time is long past when any political party or any particular group can curry or capture public favor by labeling itself the "peace party" or the "peace bloc." That label belongs to the whole United States and to every right thinking man, woman and child within it. For out of all the military and diplomatic turmoil, out of all the propaganda, and counter-propaganda of the present conflicts, there are two facts which stand out, and which the whole world acknowledges. The first is that never before has the Government of the United States of America done so much as in our recent past to establish and maintain the policy of the Good Neighbor with its sister nations. The second is that in almost every nation in the world today there is a true public belief that the United States has been, and will continue to be, a potent and active factor in seeking the reestablishment of world peace. In these recent years we have had a clean record of peace and good-will. It is an open book that cannot be twisted or defamed. It is a record that must be continued and enlarged. So I hope that Americans everywhere will work out for themselves the several alternatives which lie before world civilization, which necessarily includes our own. We must look ahead and see the possibilities for our children if the rest of the world comes to be dominated by concentrated force alone—even though today we are a very great and a very powerful nation. We must look ahead and see the effect on our own future if all the small nations of the world have their independence snatched from them or become mere appendages to relatively vast and powerful military systems. We must look ahead and see the kind of lives our children would have to lead if a large part of the rest of the world were compelled to worship a god imposed by a military ruler, or were forbidden to worship God at all; if the rest of the world were forbidden to read and hear the facts—the daily news of their own and other nations—if they were deprived of the truth that makes men free. We must look ahead and see the effect on our future generations if world trade is controlled by any nation or group of nations 'which sets up that control through military force. It is, of course, true that the record of past centuries includes destruction of many small nations, the enslavement of peoples, and the building of empires on the foundation of force. But wholly apart from the greater international morality which we seek today, we recognize the practical fact that with modern weapons and modern conditions, modern man can no longer lead a civilized life if we are to go back to the practice of wars and conquests of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Summing up this need of looking ahead, and in words of common sense and good American citizenship. I hope that we shall have fewer American ostriches in our midst. It is not good for the ultimate health of ostriches to bury their heads in the sand. Only an ostrich would look upon these wars through the eyes of cynicism or ridicule. Of course, the peoples of other nations have the right to choose their own form of Government. But we in this nation still believe that such choice should be predicated on certain freedoms which we think are essential everywhere. We know that we ourselves shall never be wholly safe at home unless other governments recognize such freedoms. Twenty-one American Republics, expressing the will of two hundred and fifty million people to preserve peace and freedom in this Hemisphere, are displaying a unanimity of ideals and practical relationships which gives hope that what is being done here can be done on other continents. We in all the Americas are coming to the realization that we can retain our respective nationalities without, at the same time, threatening the national existence of our neighbors. Such truly friendly relationships, for example, permit us to follow our own domestic policies with reference to our agricultural products, while at the same time we have the privilege of trying to work out mutual assistance arrangements for a world distribution of world agricultural surpluses. And we have been able to apply the same simple principle to many manufactured products—surpluses of which must be sold in the world export markets if we intend to continue a high level of production and employment. For many years after the World War blind economic selfishness in most countries, including our own, resulted in a destructive mine-field of trade restrictions which blocked the channels of commerce among nations. Indeed, this policy was one of the contributing causes of existing wars. It dammed up vast unsalable surpluses, helping to bring about unemployment and suffering in the United States and everywhere else. To point the way to break up that log-jam our Trade Agreements Act was passed-based upon a policy of equality of treatment among nations and of mutually profitable arrangements of trade. It is not correct to infer that legislative powers have been transferred from the Congress to the Executive Branch of the Government. Everyone recognizes that general tariff legislation is a Congressional function; but we know that, because of the stupendous task involved in the fashioning and the passing of a general tariff law, it is advisable to provide at times of emergency some flexibility to make the general law adjustable to quickly changing conditions. We are in such a time today. Our present trade agreement method provides a temporary flexibility and is, therefore, practical in the best sense. It should be kept alive to serve our trade interests—agricultural and industrial—in many valuable ways during the existing wars. But what is more important, the Trade Agreements Act should be extended as an indispensable part of the foundation of any stable and enduring peace. The old conditions of world trade made for no enduring peace; and when the time comes, the United States must use its influence to open up the trade channels of the world, in all nations, in order that no one nation need feel compelled in later days to seek by force of arms what it can well gain by peaceful conference. For that purpose, too, we need the Trade Agreements Act even more today than when it was passed. I emphasize the leadership which this nation can take when the time comes for a renewal of world peace. Such an influence will be greatly weakened if this Government becomes a dog in the manger of trade selfishness. The first President of the United States warned us against entangling foreign alliances. The present President of the United States subscribes to and follows that precept. I hope that most of you will agree that trade cooperation with the rest of the world does not violate that precept in any way. Even as through these trade agreements we prepare to cooperate in a world that wants peace, we must likewise be prepared to take care of ourselves if the world cannot attain peace. For several years past we have been compelled to strengthen our own national defense. That has created a very large portion of our Treasury deficits. This year in the light of continuing world uncertainty, I am asking the Congress for Army and Navy increases which are based not on panic but on common sense. They are not as great as enthusiastic alarmists seek. They are not as small as unrealistic persons claiming superior private information would demand. As will appear in the annual budget tomorrow, the only important increase in any part of the budget is the estimate for national defense. Practically all other important items show a reduction. But you know, you can't eat your cake and have it too. Therefore, in the hope that we can continue in these days of increasing economic prosperity to reduce the Federal deficit, I am asking the Congress to levy sufficient additional taxes to meet the emergency spending for national defense. Behind the Army and Navy, of course, lies our ultimate line of defense—"the general welfare" of our people. We cannot report, despite all the progress that we have made in our domestic problems—despite the fact that production is back to 1929 levels—that all our problems are solved. The fact of unemployment of millions of men and women remains a symptom of a number of difficulties in our economic system not yet adjusted. While the number of the unemployed has decreased very greatly, while their immediate needs for food and clothing-as far as the Federal Government is concerned—have been largely met, while their morale has been kept alive by giving them useful public work, we have not yet found a way to employ the surplus of our labor which the efficiency of our industrial processes has created. We refuse the European solution of using the unemployed to build up excessive armaments which eventually result in dictatorships and war. We encourage an American way—through an increase of national income which is the only way we can be sure will take up the slack. Much progress has been made; much remains to be done. We recognize that we must find an answer in terms of work and opportunity. The unemployment problem today has become very definitely a problem of youth as well as of age. As each year has gone by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls have come of working age. They now form an army of unused youth. They must be an especial concern of democratic Government. We must continue, above all things, to look for a solution of their special problem. For they, looking ahead to life, are entitled to action on our part and not merely to admonitions of optimism or lectures on economic laws. Some in our midst have sought to instill a feeling of fear and defeatism in the minds of the American people about this problem. To face the task of finding jobs faster than invention can take them away—is not defeatism. To warble easy platitudes that if we would only go back to ways that have failed, everything would be all right—is not courage. In 1933 we met a problem of real fear and real defeatism. We faced the facts—with action and not with words alone. The American people will reject the doctrine of fear, confident that in the 'thirties we have been building soundly a new order of things, different from the order of the 'twenties. In this dawn of the decade of the 'forties, with our program of social improvement started, we will continue to carry on the processes of recovery, so as to preserve our gains and provide jobs at living wages. There are, of course, many other items of great public interest which could be enumerated in this message—the continued conservation of our natural resources, the improvement of health and of education, the extension of social security to larger groups, the freeing of large areas from restricted transportation discriminations, the extension of the merit system and many others. Our continued progress in the social and economic field is important not only for the significance of each part of it but for the total effect which our program of domestic betterment has upon that most valuable asset of a nation in dangerous times—its national unity. The permanent security of America in the present crisis does not lie in armed force alone. What we face is a set of world-wide forces of disintegration—vicious, ruthless, destructive of all the moral, religious and political standards which mankind, after centuries of struggle, has come to cherish most. In these moral values, in these forces which have made our nation great, we must actively and practically reassert our faith. These words-"national unity"-must not be allowed to be come merely a high-sounding phrase, a vague generality, a pious hope, to which everyone can give lip-service. They must be made to have real meaning in terms of the daily thoughts and acts of every man, woman and child in our land during the coming year and during the years that lie ahead. For national unity is, in a very real and a very deep sense, the fundamental safeguard of all democracy. Doctrines that set group against group, faith against faith, race against race, class against class, fanning the fires of hatred in men too despondent, too desperate to think for themselves, were used as rabble-rousing slogans on which dictators could ride to power. And once in power they could saddle their tyrannies on whole nations and on their weaker neighbors. This is the danger to which we in America must begin to be more alert. For the apologists for foreign aggressors, and equally those selfish and partisan groups at home who wrap themselves in a false mantle of Americanism to promote their own economic, financial or political advantage, are now trying European tricks upon us, seeking to muddy the stream of our national thinking, weakening us in the face of danger, by trying to set our own people to fighting among themselves. Such tactics are what have helped to plunge Europe into war. We must combat them, as we would the plague, if American integrity and American security are to be preserved. We cannot afford to face the future as a disunited people. We must as a united people keep ablaze on this continent the flames of human liberty, of reason, of democracy and of fair play as living things to be preserved for the better world that is to come. Overstatement, bitterness, vituperation, and the beating of drums have contributed mightily to ill-feeling and wars between nations. If these unnecessary and unpleasant actions are harmful in the international field, if they have hurt in other parts of the world, they are also harmful in the domestic scene. Peace among ourselves would seem to have some of the advantage of peace between us and other nations. In the long run history amply demonstrates that angry controversy surely wins less than calm discussion. In the spirit, therefore, of a greater unselfishness, recognizing that the world—including the United States of America—passes through perilous times, I am very hopeful that the closing session of the Seventy-sixth Congress will consider the needs of the nation and of humanity with calmness, with tolerance and with cooperative wisdom. May the year 1940 be pointed to by our children as another period when democracy justified its existence as the best instrument of government yet devised by mankind.
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives: I wish each and every one of you a very happy New Year. As the Congress reassembles, the impact of war abroad makes it natural to approach "the state of the union" through a discussion of foreign affairs. But it is important that those who hear and read this message should in no way confuse that approach with any thought that our Government is abandoning, or even overlooking, the great significance of its domestic policies. The social and economic forces which have been mismanaged abroad until they have resulted in revolution, dictatorship and war are the same as those which we here are struggling to adjust peacefully at home. You are well aware that dictatorships—and the philosophy of force that justifies and accompanies dictatorships—have originated in almost every case in the necessity for drastic action to improve internal conditions in places where democratic action for one reason or another has failed to respond to modern needs and modern demands. It was with far-sighted wisdom that the framers of our Constitution brought together in one magnificent phrase three great concepts—"common defense," "general welfare" and "domestic tranquility." More than a century and a half later we, who are here today, still believe with them that our best defense is the promotion of our general welfare and domestic tranquillity. In previous messages to the Congress I have repeatedly warned that, whether we like it or not, the daily lives of American citizens will, of necessity, feel the shock of events on other continents. This is no longer mere theory; because it has been definitely proved to us by the facts of yesterday and today. To say that the domestic well-being of one hundred and thirty million Americans is deeply affected by the well-being or the ill-being of the populations of other nations is only to recognize in world affairs the truth that we all accept in home affairs. If in any local unit-a city, county, State or region—low standards of living are permitted to continue, the level of the civilization of the entire nation will be pulled downward. The identical principle extends to the rest of the civilized world. But there are those who wishfully insist, in innocence or ignorance or both, that the United States of America as a self-contained unit can live happily and prosperously, its future secure, inside a high wall of isolation while, outside, the rest of Civilization and the commerce and culture of mankind are shattered. I can understand the feelings of those who warn the nation that they will never again consent to the sending of American youth to fight on the soil of Europe. But, as I remember, nobody has asked them to consent—for nobody expects such an undertaking. The overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens do not abandon in the slightest their hope and their expectation that the United States will not become involved in military participation in these wars. I can also understand the wishfulness of those who oversimplify the whole situation by repeating that all we have to do is to mind our own business and keep the nation out of war. But there is a vast difference between keeping out of war and pretending that this war is none of our business. We do not have to go to war with other nations, but at least we can strive with other nations to encourage the kind of peace that will lighten the troubles of the world, and by so doing help our own nation as well. I ask that all of us everywhere think things through with the single aim of how best to serve the future of our own nation. I do not mean merely its future relationship with the outside world. I mean its domestic future as well—the work, the security, the prosperity, the happiness, the life of all the boys and girls in the United States, as they are inevitably affected by such world relationships. For it becomes clearer and clearer that the future world will be a shabby and dangerous place to live in-yes, even for Americans to live in—if it is ruled by force in the hands of a few. Already the crash of swiftly moving events over the earth has made us all think with a longer view. Fortunately, that thinking cannot be controlled by partisanship. The time is long past when any political party or any particular group can curry or capture public favor by labeling itself the "peace party" or the "peace bloc." That label belongs to the whole United States and to every right thinking man, woman and child within it. For out of all the military and diplomatic turmoil, out of all the propaganda, and counter-propaganda of the present conflicts, there are two facts which stand out, and which the whole world acknowledges. The first is that never before has the Government of the United States of America done so much as in our recent past to establish and maintain the policy of the Good Neighbor with its sister nations. The second is that in almost every nation in the world today there is a true public belief that the United States has been, and will continue to be, a potent and active factor in seeking the reestablishment of world peace. In these recent years we have had a clean record of peace and good-will. It is an open book that cannot be twisted or defamed. It is a record that must be continued and enlarged. So I hope that Americans everywhere will work out for themselves the several alternatives which lie before world civilization, which necessarily includes our own. We must look ahead and see the possibilities for our children if the rest of the world comes to be dominated by concentrated force alone—even though today we are a very great and a very powerful nation. We must look ahead and see the effect on our own future if all the small nations of the world have their independence snatched from them or become mere appendages to relatively vast and powerful military systems. We must look ahead and see the kind of lives our children would have to lead if a large part of the rest of the world were compelled to worship a god imposed by a military ruler, or were forbidden to worship God at all; if the rest of the world were forbidden to read and hear the facts—the daily news of their own and other nations—if they were deprived of the truth that makes men free. We must look ahead and see the effect on our future generations if world trade is controlled by any nation or group of nations 'which sets up that control through military force. It is, of course, true that the record of past centuries includes destruction of many small nations, the enslavement of peoples, and the building of empires on the foundation of force. But wholly apart from the greater international morality which we seek today, we recognize the practical fact that with modern weapons and modern conditions, modern man can no longer lead a civilized life if we are to go back to the practice of wars and conquests of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Summing up this need of looking ahead, and in words of common sense and good American citizenship. I hope that we shall have fewer American ostriches in our midst. It is not good for the ultimate health of ostriches to bury their heads in the sand. Only an ostrich would look upon these wars through the eyes of cynicism or ridicule. Of course, the peoples of other nations have the right to choose their own form of Government. But we in this nation still believe that such choice should be predicated on certain freedoms which we think are essential everywhere. We know that we ourselves shall never be wholly safe at home unless other governments recognize such freedoms. Twenty-one American Republics, expressing the will of two hundred and fifty million people to preserve peace and freedom in this Hemisphere, are displaying a unanimity of ideals and practical relationships which gives hope that what is being done here can be done on other continents. We in all the Americas are coming to the realization that we can retain our respective nationalities without, at the same time, threatening the national existence of our neighbors. Such truly friendly relationships, for example, permit us to follow our own domestic policies with reference to our agricultural products, while at the same time we have the privilege of trying to work out mutual assistance arrangements for a world distribution of world agricultural surpluses. And we have been able to apply the same simple principle to many manufactured products—surpluses of which must be sold in the world export markets if we intend to continue a high level of production and employment. For many years after the World War blind economic selfishness in most countries, including our own, resulted in a destructive mine-field of trade restrictions which blocked the channels of commerce among nations. Indeed, this policy was one of the contributing causes of existing wars. It dammed up vast unsalable surpluses, helping to bring about unemployment and suffering in the United States and everywhere else. To point the way to break up that log-jam our Trade Agreements Act was passed-based upon a policy of equality of treatment among nations and of mutually profitable arrangements of trade. It is not correct to infer that legislative powers have been transferred from the Congress to the Executive Branch of the Government. Everyone recognizes that general tariff legislation is a Congressional function; but we know that, because of the stupendous task involved in the fashioning and the passing of a general tariff law, it is advisable to provide at times of emergency some flexibility to make the general law adjustable to quickly changing conditions. We are in such a time today. Our present trade agreement method provides a temporary flexibility and is, therefore, practical in the best sense. It should be kept alive to serve our trade interests—agricultural and industrial—in many valuable ways during the existing wars. But what is more important, the Trade Agreements Act should be extended as an indispensable part of the foundation of any stable and enduring peace. The old conditions of world trade made for no enduring peace; and when the time comes, the United States must use its influence to open up the trade channels of the world, in all nations, in order that no one nation need feel compelled in later days to seek by force of arms what it can well gain by peaceful conference. For that purpose, too, we need the Trade Agreements Act even more today than when it was passed. I emphasize the leadership which this nation can take when the time comes for a renewal of world peace. Such an influence will be greatly weakened if this Government becomes a dog in the manger of trade selfishness. The first President of the United States warned us against entangling foreign alliances. The present President of the United States subscribes to and follows that precept. I hope that most of you will agree that trade cooperation with the rest of the world does not violate that precept in any way. Even as through these trade agreements we prepare to cooperate in a world that wants peace, we must likewise be prepared to take care of ourselves if the world cannot attain peace. For several years past we have been compelled to strengthen our own national defense. That has created a very large portion of our Treasury deficits. This year in the light of continuing world uncertainty, I am asking the Congress for Army and Navy increases which are based not on panic but on common sense. They are not as great as enthusiastic alarmists seek. They are not as small as unrealistic persons claiming superior private information would demand. As will appear in the annual budget tomorrow, the only important increase in any part of the budget is the estimate for national defense. Practically all other important items show a reduction. But you know, you cannot eat your cake and have it too. Therefore, in the hope that we can continue in these days of increasing economic prosperity to reduce the Federal deficit, I am asking the Congress to levy sufficient additional taxes to meet the emergency spending for national defense. Behind the Army and Navy, of course, lies our ultimate line of defense—"the general welfare" of our people. We cannot report, despite all the progress that we have made in our domestic problems—despite the fact that production is back to 1929 levels—that all our problems are solved. The fact of unemployment of millions of men and women remains a symptom of a number of difficulties in our economic system not yet adjusted. While the number of the unemployed has decreased very greatly, while their immediate needs for food and clothing-as far as the Federal Government is concerned—have been largely met, while their morale has been kept alive by giving them useful public work, we have not yet found a way to employ the surplus of our labor which the efficiency of our industrial processes has created. We refuse the European solution of using the unemployed to build up excessive armaments which eventually result in dictatorships and war. We encourage an American way—through an increase of national income which is the only way we can be sure will take up the slack. Much progress has been made; much remains to be done. We recognize that we must find an answer in terms of work and opportunity. The unemployment problem today has become very definitely a problem of youth as well as of age. As each year has gone by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls have come of working age. They now form an army of unused youth. They must be an especial concern of democratic Government. We must continue, above all things, to look for a solution of their special problem. For they, looking ahead to life, are entitled to action on our part and not merely to admonitions of optimism or lectures on economic laws. Some in our midst have sought to instill a feeling of fear and defeatism in the minds of the American people about this problem. To face the task of finding jobs faster than invention can take them away—is not defeatism. To warble easy platitudes that if we would only go back to ways that have failed, everything would be all right—is not courage. In 1933 we met a problem of real fear and real defeatism. We faced the facts—with action and not with words alone. The American people will reject the doctrine of fear, confident that in the 'thirties we have been building soundly a new order of things, different from the order of the 'twenties. In this dawn of the decade of the 'forties, with our program of social improvement started, we will continue to carry on the processes of recovery, so as to preserve our gains and provide jobs at living wages. There are, of course, many other items of great public interest which could be enumerated in this message—the continued conservation of our natural resources, the improvement of health and of education, the extension of social security to larger groups, the freeing of large areas from restricted transportation discriminations, the extension of the merit system and many others. Our continued progress in the social and economic field is important not only for the significance of each part of it but for the total effect which our program of domestic betterment has upon that most valuable asset of a nation in dangerous times—its national unity. The permanent security of America in the present crisis does not lie in armed force alone. What we face is a set of world-wide forces of disintegration—vicious, ruthless, destructive of all the moral, religious and political standards which mankind, after centuries of struggle, has come to cherish most. In these moral values, in these forces which have made our nation great, we must actively and practically reassert our faith. These words-"national unity"-must not be allowed to be come merely a high-sounding phrase, a vague generality, a pious hope, to which everyone can give lip-service. They must be made to have real meaning in terms of the daily thoughts and acts of every man, woman and child in our land during the coming year and during the years that lie ahead. For national unity is, in a very real and a very deep sense, the fundamental safeguard of all democracy. Doctrines that set group against group, faith against faith, race against race, class against class, fanning the fires of hatred in men too despondent, too desperate to think for themselves, were used as rabble-rousing slogans on which dictators could ride to power. And once in power they could saddle their tyrannies on whole nations and on their weaker neighbors. This is the danger to which we in America must begin to be more alert. For the apologists for foreign aggressors, and equally those selfish and partisan groups at home who wrap themselves in a false mantle of Americanism to promote their own economic, financial or political advantage, are now trying European tricks upon us, seeking to muddy the stream of our national thinking, weakening us in the face of danger, by trying to set our own people to fighting among themselves. Such tactics are what have helped to plunge Europe into war. We must combat them, as we would the plague, if American integrity and American security are to be preserved. We cannot afford to face the future as a disunited people. We must as a united people keep ablaze on this continent the flames of human liberty, of reason, of democracy and of fair play as living things to be preserved for the better world that is to come. Overstatement, bitterness, vituperation, and the beating of drums have contributed mightily to ill-feeling and wars between nations. If these unnecessary and unpleasant actions are harmful in the international field, if they have hurt in other parts of the world, they are also harmful in the domestic scene. Peace among ourselves would seem to have some of the advantage of peace between us and other nations. In the long run history amply demonstrates that angry controversy surely wins less than calm discussion. In the spirit, therefore, of a greater unselfishness, recognizing that the world—including the United States of America—passes through perilous times, I am very hopeful that the closing session of the Seventy-sixth Congress will consider the needs of the nation and of humanity with calmness, with tolerance and with cooperative wisdom. May the year 1940 be pointed to by our children as another period when democracy justified its existence as the best instrument of government yet devised by mankind.
vice president speaker members of the senate and the house of representatives i wish each and every one of you a very happy new year as the congress reassembles the impact of war abroad makes it natural to approach the state of the union through a discussion of foreign affairs but it is important that those who hear and read this message should in no way confuse that approach with any thought that our government is abandoning or even overlooking the great significance of its domestic policies the social and economic forces which have been mismanaged abroad until they have resulted in revolution dictatorship and war are the same as those which we here are struggling to adjust peacefully at home you are well aware that the philosophy of force that justifies and accompanies originated in almost every case in the necessity for drastic action to improve internal conditions in places where democratic action for one reason or another has failed to respond to modern needs and modern demands it was with wisdom that the framers of our constitution brought together in one magnificent phrase three great common defense general welfare and domestic tranquility more than a century and a half later we who are here today still believe with them that our best defense is the promotion of our general welfare and domestic tranquillity in previous messages to the congress i have repeatedly warned that whether we like it or not the daily lives of american citizens will of necessity feel the shock of events on other continents this is no longer mere theory because it has been definitely proved to us by the facts of yesterday and today to say that the domestic of one hundred and thirty million americans is deeply affected by the or the of the populations of other nations is only to recognize in world affairs the truth that we all accept in home affairs if in any local city county state or standards of living are permitted to continue the level of the civilization of the entire nation will be pulled downward the identical principle extends to the rest of the civilized world but there are those who wishfully insist in innocence or ignorance or both that the united states of america as a unit can live happily and prosperously its future secure inside a high wall of isolation while outside the rest of civilization and the commerce and culture of mankind are shattered i can understand the feelings of those who warn the nation that they will never again consent to the sending of american youth to fight on the soil of europe but as i remember nobody has asked them to nobody expects such an undertaking the overwhelming majority of our fellow citizens do not abandon in the slightest their hope and their expectation that the united states will not become involved in military participation in these wars i can also understand the wishfulness of those who oversimplify the whole situation by repeating that all we have to do is to mind our own business and keep the nation out of war but there is a vast difference between keeping out of war and pretending that this war is none of our business we do not have to go to war with other nations but at least we can strive with other nations to encourage the kind of peace that will lighten the troubles of the world and by so doing help our own nation as well i ask that all of us everywhere think things through with the single aim of how best to serve the future of our own nation i do not mean merely its future relationship with the outside world i mean its domestic future as work the security the prosperity the happiness the life of all the boys and girls in the united states as they are inevitably affected by such world relationships for it becomes clearer and clearer that the future world will be a shabby and dangerous place to live even for americans to live it is ruled by force in the hands of a few already the crash of swiftly moving events over the earth has made us all think with a longer view fortunately that thinking can not be controlled by partisanship the time is long past when any political party or any particular group can curry or capture public favor by labeling itself the peace party or the peace bloc that label belongs to the whole united states and to every right thinking man woman and child within it for out of all the military and diplomatic turmoil out of all the propaganda and of the present conflicts there are two facts which stand out and which the whole world acknowledges the first is that never before has the government of the united states of america done so much as in our recent past to establish and maintain the policy of the good neighbor with its sister nations the second is that in almost every nation in the world today there is a true public belief that the united states has been and will continue to be a potent and active factor in seeking the reestablishment of world peace in these recent years we have had a clean record of peace and it is an open book that can not be twisted or defamed it is a record that must be continued and enlarged so i hope that americans everywhere will work out for themselves the several alternatives which lie before world civilization which necessarily includes our own we must look ahead and see the possibilities for our children if the rest of the world comes to be dominated by concentrated force though today we are a very great and a very powerful nation we must look ahead and see the effect on our own future if all the small nations of the world have their independence snatched from them or become mere appendages to relatively vast and powerful military systems we must look ahead and see the kind of lives our children would have to lead if a large part of the rest of the world were compelled to worship a god imposed by a military ruler or were forbidden to worship god at all if the rest of the world were forbidden to read and hear the daily news of their own and other they were deprived of the truth that makes men free we must look ahead and see the effect on our future generations if world trade is controlled by any nation or group of nations sets up that control through military force it is of course true that the record of past centuries includes destruction of many small nations the enslavement of peoples and the building of empires on the foundation of force but wholly apart from the greater international morality which we seek today we recognize the practical fact that with modern weapons and modern conditions modern man can no longer lead a civilized life if we are to go back to the practice of wars and conquests of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries summing up this need of looking ahead and in words of common sense and good american citizenship i hope that we shall have fewer american ostriches in our midst it is not good for the ultimate health of ostriches to bury their heads in the sand only an ostrich would look upon these wars through the eyes of cynicism or ridicule of course the peoples of other nations have the right to choose their own form of government but we in this nation still believe that such choice should be predicated on certain freedoms which we think are essential everywhere we know that we ourselves shall never be wholly safe at home unless other governments recognize such freedoms american republics expressing the will of two hundred and fifty million people to preserve peace and freedom in this hemisphere are displaying a unanimity of ideals and practical relationships which gives hope that what is being done here can be done on other continents we in all the americas are coming to the realization that we can retain our respective nationalities without at the same time threatening the national existence of our neighbors such truly friendly relationships for example permit us to follow our own domestic policies with reference to our agricultural products while at the same time we have the privilege of trying to work out mutual assistance arrangements for a world distribution of world agricultural surpluses and we have been able to apply the same simple principle to many manufactured of which must be sold in the world export markets if we intend to continue a high level of production and employment for many years after the world war blind economic selfishness in most countries including our own resulted in a destructive of trade restrictions which blocked the channels of commerce among nations indeed this policy was one of the contributing causes of existing wars it dammed up vast unsalable surpluses helping to bring about unemployment and suffering in the united states and everywhere else to point the way to break up that our trade agreements act was upon a policy of equality of treatment among nations and of mutually profitable arrangements of trade it is not correct to infer that legislative powers have been transferred from the congress to the executive branch of the government everyone recognizes that general tariff legislation is a congressional function but we know that because of the stupendous task involved in the fashioning and the passing of a general tariff law it is advisable to provide at times of emergency some flexibility to make the general law adjustable to quickly changing conditions we are in such a time today our present trade agreement method provides a temporary flexibility and is therefore practical in the best sense it should be kept alive to serve our trade and many valuable ways during the existing wars but what is more important the trade agreements act should be extended as an indispensable part of the foundation of any stable and enduring peace the old conditions of world trade made for no enduring peace and when the time comes the united states must use its influence to open up the trade channels of the world in all nations in order that no one nation need feel compelled in later days to seek by force of arms what it can well gain by peaceful conference for that purpose too we need the trade agreements act even more today than when it was passed i emphasize the leadership which this nation can take when the time comes for a renewal of world peace such an influence will be greatly weakened if this government becomes a dog in the manger of trade selfishness the first president of the united states warned us against entangling foreign alliances the present president of the united states subscribes to and follows that precept i hope that most of you will agree that trade cooperation with the rest of the world does not violate that precept in any way even as through these trade agreements we prepare to cooperate in a world that wants peace we must likewise be prepared to take care of ourselves if the world can not attain peace for several years past we have been compelled to strengthen our own national defense that has created a very large portion of our treasury deficits this year in the light of continuing world uncertainty i am asking the congress for army and navy increases which are based not on panic but on common sense they are not as great as enthusiastic alarmists seek they are not as small as unrealistic persons claiming superior private information would demand as will appear in the annual budget tomorrow the only important increase in any part of the budget is the estimate for national defense practically all other important items show a reduction but you know you can not eat your cake and have it too therefore in the hope that we can continue in these days of increasing economic prosperity to reduce the federal deficit i am asking the congress to levy sufficient additional taxes to meet the emergency spending for national defense behind the army and navy of course lies our ultimate line of the general welfare of our people we can not report despite all the progress that we have made in our domestic the fact that production is back to 1929 all our problems are solved the fact of unemployment of millions of men and women remains a symptom of a number of difficulties in our economic system not yet adjusted while the number of the unemployed has decreased very greatly while their immediate needs for food and far as the federal government is been largely met while their morale has been kept alive by giving them useful public work we have not yet found a way to employ the surplus of our labor which the efficiency of our industrial processes has created we refuse the european solution of using the unemployed to build up excessive armaments which eventually result in dictatorships and war we encourage an american an increase of national income which is the only way we can be sure will take up the slack much progress has been made much remains to be done we recognize that we must find an answer in terms of work and opportunity the unemployment problem today has become very definitely a problem of youth as well as of age as each year has gone by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls have come of working age they now form an army of unused youth they must be an especial concern of democratic government we must continue above all things to look for a solution of their special problem for they looking ahead to life are entitled to action on our part and not merely to admonitions of optimism or lectures on economic laws some in our midst have sought to instill a feeling of fear and defeatism in the minds of the american people about this problem to face the task of finding jobs faster than invention can take them not defeatism to warble easy platitudes that if we would only go back to ways that have failed everything would be all not courage in 1933 we met a problem of real fear and real defeatism we faced the action and not with words alone the american people will reject the doctrine of fear confident that in the we have been building soundly a new order of things different from the order of the in this dawn of the decade of the with our program of social improvement started we will continue to carry on the processes of recovery so as to preserve our gains and provide jobs at living wages there are of course many other items of great public interest which could be enumerated in this continued conservation of our natural resources the improvement of health and of education the extension of social security to larger groups the freeing of large areas from restricted transportation discriminations the extension of the merit system and many others our continued progress in the social and economic field is important not only for the significance of each part of it but for the total effect which our program of domestic betterment has upon that most valuable asset of a nation in dangerous national unity the permanent security of america in the present crisis does not lie in armed force alone what we face is a set of forces of ruthless destructive of all the moral religious and political standards which mankind after centuries of struggle has come to cherish most in these moral values in these forces which have made our nation great we must actively and practically reassert our faith these national unity not be allowed to be come merely a phrase a vague generality a pious hope to which everyone can give they must be made to have real meaning in terms of the daily thoughts and acts of every man woman and child in our land during the coming year and during the years that lie ahead for national unity is in a very real and a very deep sense the fundamental safeguard of all democracy doctrines that set group against group faith against faith race against race class against class fanning the fires of hatred in men too despondent too desperate to think for themselves were used as slogans on which dictators could ride to power and once in power they could saddle their tyrannies on whole nations and on their weaker neighbors this is the danger to which we in america must begin to be more alert for the apologists for foreign aggressors and equally those selfish and partisan groups at home who wrap themselves in a false mantle of americanism to promote their own economic financial or political advantage are now trying european tricks upon us seeking to muddy the stream of our national thinking weakening us in the face of danger by trying to set our own people to fighting among themselves such tactics are what have helped to plunge europe into war we must combat them as we would the plague if american integrity and american security are to be preserved we can not afford to face the future as a disunited people we must as a united people keep ablaze on this continent the flames of human liberty of reason of democracy and of fair play as living things to be preserved for the better world that is to come overstatement bitterness vituperation and the beating of drums have contributed mightily to and wars between nations if these unnecessary and unpleasant actions are harmful in the international field if they have hurt in other parts of the world they are also harmful in the domestic scene peace among ourselves would seem to have some of the advantage of peace between us and other nations in the long run history amply demonstrates that angry controversy surely wins less than calm discussion in the spirit therefore of a greater unselfishness recognizing that the the united states of through perilous times i am very hopeful that the closing session of the congress will consider the needs of the nation and of humanity with calmness with tolerance and with cooperative wisdom may the year 1940 be pointed to by our children as another period when democracy justified its existence as the best instrument of government yet devised by mankind
vice president speaker members senate house representatives wish every one happy new year congress reassembles impact war abroad makes natural approach state union discussion foreign affairs important hear read message way confuse approach thought government abandoning even overlooking great significance domestic policies social economic forces mismanaged abroad resulted revolution dictatorship war struggling adjust peacefully home well aware philosophy force justifies accompanies originated almost every case necessity drastic action improve internal conditions places democratic action one reason another failed respond modern needs modern demands wisdom framers constitution brought together one magnificent phrase three great common defense general welfare domestic tranquility century half later today still believe best defense promotion general welfare domestic tranquillity previous messages congress repeatedly warned whether like daily lives american citizens necessity feel shock events continents longer mere theory definitely proved us facts yesterday today say domestic one hundred thirty million americans deeply affected populations nations recognize world affairs truth accept home affairs local city county state standards living permitted continue level civilization entire nation pulled downward identical principle extends rest civilized world wishfully insist innocence ignorance united states america unit live happily prosperously future secure inside high wall isolation outside rest civilization commerce culture mankind shattered understand feelings warn nation never consent sending american youth fight soil europe remember nobody asked nobody expects undertaking overwhelming majority fellow citizens abandon slightest hope expectation united states become involved military participation wars also understand wishfulness oversimplify whole situation repeating mind business keep nation war vast difference keeping war pretending war none business go war nations least strive nations encourage kind peace lighten troubles world help nation well ask us everywhere think things single aim best serve future nation mean merely future relationship outside world mean domestic future work security prosperity happiness life boys girls united states inevitably affected world relationships becomes clearer clearer future world shabby dangerous place live even americans live ruled force hands already crash swiftly moving events earth made us think longer view fortunately thinking controlled partisanship time long past political party particular group curry capture public favor labeling peace party peace bloc label belongs whole united states every right thinking man woman child within military diplomatic turmoil propaganda present conflicts two facts stand whole world acknowledges first never government united states america done much recent past establish maintain policy good neighbor sister nations second almost every nation world today true public belief united states continue potent active factor seeking reestablishment world peace recent years clean record peace open book twisted defamed record must continued enlarged hope americans everywhere work several alternatives lie world civilization necessarily includes must look ahead see possibilities children rest world comes dominated concentrated force though today great powerful nation must look ahead see effect future small nations world independence snatched become mere appendages relatively vast powerful military systems must look ahead see kind lives children would lead large part rest world compelled worship god imposed military ruler forbidden worship god rest world forbidden read hear daily news deprived truth makes men free must look ahead see effect future generations world trade controlled nation group nations sets control military force course true record past centuries includes destruction many small nations enslavement peoples building empires foundation force wholly apart greater international morality seek today recognize practical fact modern weapons modern conditions modern man longer lead civilized life go back practice wars conquests seventeenth eighteenth centuries summing need looking ahead words common sense good american citizenship hope shall fewer american ostriches midst good ultimate health ostriches bury heads sand ostrich would look upon wars eyes cynicism ridicule course peoples nations right choose form government nation still believe choice predicated certain freedoms think essential everywhere know shall never wholly safe home unless governments recognize freedoms american republics expressing two hundred fifty million people preserve peace freedom hemisphere displaying unanimity ideals practical relationships gives hope done done continents americas coming realization retain respective nationalities without time threatening national existence neighbors truly friendly relationships example permit us follow domestic policies reference agricultural products time privilege trying work mutual assistance arrangements world distribution world agricultural surpluses able apply simple principle many manufactured must sold world export markets intend continue high level production employment many years world war blind economic selfishness countries including resulted destructive trade restrictions blocked channels commerce among nations indeed policy one contributing causes existing wars dammed vast unsalable surpluses helping bring unemployment suffering united states everywhere else point way break trade agreements act upon policy equality treatment among nations mutually profitable arrangements trade correct infer legislative powers transferred congress executive branch government everyone recognizes general tariff legislation congressional function know stupendous task involved fashioning passing general tariff law advisable provide times emergency flexibility make general law adjustable quickly changing conditions time today present trade agreement method provides temporary flexibility therefore practical best sense kept alive serve trade many valuable ways existing wars important trade agreements act extended indispensable part foundation stable enduring peace old conditions world trade made enduring peace time comes united states must use influence open trade channels world nations order one nation need feel compelled later days seek force arms well gain peaceful conference purpose need trade agreements act even today passed emphasize leadership nation take time comes renewal world peace influence greatly weakened government becomes dog manger trade selfishness first president united states warned us entangling foreign alliances present president united states subscribes follows precept hope agree trade cooperation rest world violate precept way even trade agreements prepare cooperate world wants peace must likewise prepared take care world attain peace several years past compelled strengthen national defense created large portion treasury deficits year light continuing world uncertainty asking congress army navy increases based panic common sense great enthusiastic alarmists seek small unrealistic persons claiming superior private information would demand appear annual budget tomorrow important increase part budget estimate national defense practically important items show reduction know eat cake therefore hope continue days increasing economic prosperity reduce federal deficit asking congress levy sufficient additional taxes meet emergency spending national defense behind army navy course lies ultimate line general welfare people report despite progress made domestic fact production back 1929 problems solved fact unemployment millions men women remains symptom number difficulties economic system yet adjusted number unemployed decreased greatly immediate needs food far federal government largely met morale kept alive giving useful public work yet found way employ surplus labor efficiency industrial processes created refuse european solution using unemployed build excessive armaments eventually result dictatorships war encourage american increase national income way sure take slack much progress made much remains done recognize must find answer terms work opportunity unemployment problem today become definitely problem youth well age year gone hundreds thousands boys girls come working age form army unused youth must especial concern democratic government must continue things look solution special problem looking ahead life entitled action part merely admonitions optimism lectures economic laws midst sought instill feeling fear defeatism minds american people problem face task finding jobs faster invention take defeatism warble easy platitudes would go back ways failed everything would courage 1933 met problem real fear real defeatism faced action words alone american people reject doctrine fear confident building soundly new order things different order dawn decade program social improvement started continue carry processes recovery preserve gains provide jobs living wages course many items great public interest could enumerated continued conservation natural resources improvement health education extension social security larger groups freeing large areas restricted transportation discriminations extension merit system many others continued progress social economic field important significance part total effect program domestic betterment upon valuable asset nation dangerous national unity permanent security america present crisis lie armed force alone face set forces ruthless destructive moral religious political standards mankind centuries struggle come cherish moral values forces made nation great must actively practically reassert faith national unity allowed come merely phrase vague generality pious hope everyone give must made real meaning terms daily thoughts acts every man woman child land coming year years lie ahead national unity real deep sense fundamental safeguard democracy doctrines set group group faith faith race race class class fanning fires hatred men despondent desperate think used slogans dictators could ride power power could saddle tyrannies whole nations weaker neighbors danger america must begin alert apologists foreign aggressors equally selfish partisan groups home wrap false mantle americanism promote economic financial political advantage trying european tricks upon us seeking muddy stream national thinking weakening us face danger trying set people fighting among tactics helped plunge europe war must combat would plague american integrity american security preserved afford face future disunited people must united people keep ablaze continent flames human liberty reason democracy fair play living things preserved better world come overstatement bitterness vituperation beating drums contributed mightily wars nations unnecessary unpleasant actions harmful international field hurt parts world also harmful domestic scene peace among would seem advantage peace us nations long run history amply demonstrates angry controversy surely wins less calm discussion spirit therefore greater unselfishness recognizing united states perilous times hopeful closing session congress consider needs nation humanity calmness tolerance cooperative wisdom may year 1940 pointed children another period democracy justified existence best instrument government yet devised mankind
vice president speaker member senate house representative wish every one happy new year congress reassemble impact war abroad make natural approach state union discussion foreign affair important hear read message way confuse approach thought government abandon even overlook great significance domestic policy social economic force mismanage abroad result revolution dictatorship war struggle adjust peacefully home well aware philosophy force justifies accompany originate almost every case necessity drastic action improve internal condition place democratic action one reason another fail respond modern need modern demand wisdom framer constitution bring together one magnificent phrase three great common defense general welfare domestic tranquility century half later today still believe best defense promotion general welfare domestic tranquillity previous message congress repeatedly warn whether like daily life american citizen necessity feel shock event continent longer mere theory definitely prove u fact yesterday today say domestic one hundred thirty million american deeply affected population nation recognize world affair truth accept home affair local city county state standard live permitted continue level civilization entire nation pull downward identical principle extend rest civilized world wishfully insist innocence ignorance united state america unit live happily prosperously future secure inside high wall isolation outside rest civilization commerce culture mankind shatter understand feeling warn nation never consent send american youth fight soil europe remember nobody ask nobody expect undertake overwhelm majority fellow citizen abandon slight hope expectation united state become involved military participation war also understand wishfulness oversimplify whole situation repeat mind business keep nation war vast difference keep war pretend war none business go war nation least strive nation encourage kind peace lighten trouble world help nation well ask u everywhere think thing single aim best serve future nation mean merely future relationship outside world mean domestic future work security prosperity happiness life boys girl united state inevitably affect world relationship become clear clear future world shabby dangerous place live even american live rule force hand already crash swiftly move event earth make u think long view fortunately think control partisanship time long past political party particular group curry capture public favor label peace party peace bloc label belongs whole united state every right think man woman child within military diplomatic turmoil propaganda present conflict two fact stand whole world acknowledge first never government united state america do much recent past establish maintain policy good neighbor sister nation second almost every nation world today true public belief united state continue potent active factor seek reestablishment world peace recent year clean record peace open book twist defamed record must continue enlarged hope american everywhere work several alternative lie world civilization necessarily include must look ahead see possibility child rest world come dominate concentrated force though today great powerful nation must look ahead see effect future small nation world independence snatch become mere appendage relatively vast powerful military system must look ahead see kind life child would lead large part rest world compel worship god impose military ruler forbidden worship god rest world forbidden read hear daily news deprive truth make men free must look ahead see effect future generation world trade control nation group nation set control military force course true record past century include destruction many small nation enslavement people build empire foundation force wholly apart great international morality seek today recognize practical fact modern weapon modern condition modern man longer lead civilized life go back practice war conquests seventeenth eighteenth century sum need look ahead word common sense good american citizenship hope shall fewer american ostrich midst good ultimate health ostrich bury head sand ostrich would look upon war eye cynicism ridicule course people nation right choose form government nation still believe choice predicate certain freedom think essential everywhere know shall never wholly safe home unless government recognize freedom american republic express two hundred fifty million people preserve peace freedom hemisphere display unanimity ideal practical relationship give hope do do continent america come realization retain respective nationality without time threaten national existence neighbor truly friendly relationship example permit u follow domestic policy reference agricultural product time privilege try work mutual assistance arrangement world distribution world agricultural surplus able apply simple principle many manufacture must sell world export market intend continue high level production employment many year world war blind economic selfishness country include result destructive trade restriction block channel commerce among nation indeed policy one contributing cause exist war dam vast unsalable surplus help bring unemployment suffer united state everywhere else point way break trade agreement act upon policy equality treatment among nation mutually profitable arrangement trade correct infer legislative power transfer congress executive branch government everyone recognize general tariff legislation congressional function know stupendous task involve fashion pass general tariff law advisable provide time emergency flexibility make general law adjustable quickly change condition time today present trade agreement method provide temporary flexibility therefore practical best sense keep alive serve trade many valuable way exist war important trade agreement act extend indispensable part foundation stable endure peace old condition world trade make endure peace time come united state must use influence open trade channel world nation order one nation need feel compel later day seek force arm well gain peaceful conference purpose need trade agreement act even today pass emphasize leadership nation take time come renewal world peace influence greatly weaken government becomes dog manger trade selfishness first president united state warn u entangle foreign alliance present president united state subscribe follow precept hope agree trade cooperation rest world violate precept way even trade agreement prepare cooperate world want peace must likewise prepared take care world attain peace several year past compel strengthen national defense create large portion treasury deficit year light continue world uncertainty ask congress army navy increase base panic common sense great enthusiastic alarmist seek small unrealistic person claim superior private information would demand appear annual budget tomorrow important increase part budget estimate national defense practically important item show reduction know eat cake therefore hope continue day increase economic prosperity reduce federal deficit ask congress levy sufficient additional tax meet emergency spend national defense behind army navy course lie ultimate line general welfare people report despite progress make domestic fact production back 1929 problem solve fact unemployment million men woman remain symptom number difficulty economic system yet adjust number unemployed decrease greatly immediate need food far federal government largely meet morale kept alive give useful public work yet find way employ surplus labor efficiency industrial process create refuse european solution use unemployed build excessive armament eventually result dictatorship war encourage american increase national income way sure take slack much progress make much remain do recognize must find answer term work opportunity unemployment problem today become definitely problem youth well age year go hundred thousand boy girl come work age form army unused youth must especial concern democratic government must continue thing look solution special problem look ahead life entitle action part merely admonitions optimism lecture economic law midst seek instill feel fear defeatism mind american people problem face task find job faster invention take defeatism warble easy platitude would go back way fail everything would courage 1933 met problem real fear real defeatism face action word alone american people reject doctrine fear confident build soundly new order thing different order dawn decade program social improvement start continue carry process recovery preserve gain provide job live wage course many item great public interest could enumerate continued conservation natural resource improvement health education extension social security large group free large area restrict transportation discrimination extension merit system many others continue progress social economic field important significance part total effect program domestic betterment upon valuable asset nation dangerous national unity permanent security america present crisis lie arm force alone face set force ruthless destructive moral religious political standard mankind century struggle come cherish moral value force make nation great must actively practically reassert faith national unity allow come merely phrase vague generality pious hope everyone give must make real meaning term daily thought act every man woman child land come year year lie ahead national unity real deep sense fundamental safeguard democracy doctrine set group group faith faith race race class class fan fire hatred men despondent desperate think use slogan dictator could ride power power could saddle tyranny whole nation weaker neighbor danger america must begin alert apologist foreign aggressor equally selfish partisan group home wrap false mantle americanism promote economic financial political advantage try european trick upon u seek muddy stream national thinking weaken u face danger try set people fight among tactic help plunge europe war must combat would plague american integrity american security preserve afford face future disunite people must unite people keep ablaze continent flame human liberty reason democracy fair play live thing preserve well world come overstatement bitterness vituperation beat drum contribute mightily war nation unnecessary unpleasant action harmful international field hurt part world also harmful domestic scene peace among would seem advantage peace u nation long run history amply demonstrate angry controversy surely win less calm discussion spirit therefore great unselfishness recognizing united state perilous time hopeful closing session congress consider need nation humanity calmness tolerance cooperative wisdom may year 1940 point child another period democracy justify existence best instrument government yet devise mankind