Home > American Home Front WWII > Roosevelt, Franklin D.: Excerpt From "There Can be no Appeasement"

Excerpt from "There Can Be No Appeasement with Ruthlessness … We Must Be the Great Arsenal of Democracy," a radio address delivered on December 29, 1940

Reprinted from The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1940 Volume.

Published in 1941.

"We must be the great arsenal of democracy …. We must apply ourselves to our task with the same resolution, the same sense of urgency, the same spirit of patriotism and sacrifice as we would show were we at war."

President Roosevelt's calls for mobilization in 1940 were well-founded. By late spring of 1940 German dictator Adolf Hitler had successfully directed his Nazi army in conquests over Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium. In May the relentless Nazis entered northern France, and by June 14 they were in the streets of Paris. The French government was forced to sign an armistice (truce) on June...