12/11/2022 0 Comments Day of InfamyThat terrible day began innocently enough. Through incentives and a little arm twisting he had transformed America’s industrial might into the arsenal of democracy. The American public did not fully understand the threat against our democracy. He was brilliant in his careful calibration of action, first providing moral support for England and the Allies, then providing military equipment, trading British Naval bases for old destroyers, and shipping tanks and planes under the Lend Lease program. Faced with an American citizenry, and a congress, strongly opposed to getting involved with the European war – President Roosevelt knew he had to wait for public opinion to turn in his favor before he could act. In some ways he had been preparing for this moment for years – since Germany invaded Poland in September 1939. It expressed his outrage, his sense of betrayal, and his complete confidence that in the end the United States would avenge this treachery. The speech was short, just under seven minutes long. “With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounding determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.” He was honest, direct, and absolutely clear: Within hours of the attack he dictated the first draft of one of the greatest speeches of the 20 th century, arguably one of the greatest speeches in American history. Franklin Roosevelt took the weight of the free world on his paralyzed legs and carried America into the future – away from our isolationist past and into the age of the global superpower.Īt the worst moment of his life he rose to the occasion, providing desperately needed vision and confidence to a staggered nation. Britain and Russia were on the verge of collapse.īut as the smoke cleared from the mangled wreckage, it revealed a truly great leader. The Nazis controlled Europe and North Africa. President Franklin Roosevelt’s beloved Navy lay in smoking ruins in Pearl Harbor, as the Japanese Empire launched well-coordinated attacks across a 4,000 mile front. It was the worst day of his presidency, the worst day of his life – and the worst military defeat in American history.
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