State of the Union AddressesRoosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)
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State of the Union Addresses
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
That is the spirit in which discussions have been conducted during the
visit of the British Prime Minister to Washington. Mr. Churchill and I
understand each other, our motives and our purposes. Together, during the
past two weeks, we have faced squarely the major military and economic
problems of this greatest world war.
All in our Nation have been cheered by Mr. Churchill's visit. We have been
deeply stirred by his great message to us. He is welcome in our midst, and
we unite in wishing him a safe return to his home.
For we are fighting on the same side with the British people, who fought
alone for long, terrible months, and withstood the enemy with fortitude and
tenacity and skill.
We are fighting on the same side with the Russian people who have seen the
Nazi hordes swarm up to the very gates of Moscow, and who with almost
superhuman will and courage have forced the invaders back into retreat.
We are fighting on the same side as the brave people of China--those
millions who for four and a half long years have withstood bombs and
starvation and have whipped the invaders time and again in spite of the
superior Japanese equipment and arms. Yes, we are fighting on the same side
as the indomitable Dutch. We are fighting on the same side as all the other
Governments in exile, whom Hitler and all his armies and all his Gestapo
have not been able to conquer.
But we of the United Nations are not making all this sacrifice of human
effort and human lives to return to the kind of world we had after the last
world war.
We are fighting today for security, for progress, and for peace, not only
for ourselves but for all men, not only for one generation but for all
generations. We are fighting to cleanse the world of ancient evils, ancient
ills.
Our enemies are guided by brutal cynicism, by unholy contempt for the human
race. We are inspired by a faith that goes back through all the years to
the first chapter of the Book of Genesis: "God created man in His own
image."
We on our side are striving to be true to that divine heritage. We are
fighting, as our fathers have fought, to uphold the doctrine that all men
are equal in the sight of God. Those on the other side are striving to
destroy this deep belief and to create a world in their own image--a world
of tyranny and cruelty and serfdom.
That is the conflict that day and night now pervades our lives.
No compromise can end that conflict. There never has been--there never can
be--successful compromise between good and evil. Only total victory can
reward the champions of tolerance, and decency, and freedom, and faith.
***
State of the Union Address
Franklin D. Roosevelt
January 7, 1943
Mr. Vice President, Mr. Speaker, Members of the Seventy-eighth Congress:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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