"DECEMBER
7, 1941- a date which will live in infamy- the United States of America
was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the
Empire of Japan."
Thus spoke President Franklin D. Roosevelt following the attack on Pearl Harbor by over 350 Japanese aircraft.
Five American battleships and three destroyers were sunk, 400 planes were destroyed and over 4000 were killed or wounded.
Get the book, The Faith of FDR
President Roosevelt concluded:
"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...
We will not only defend ourselves to the
uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery
shall never again endanger us."
FDR continued:
"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With
confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of
our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."
The World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, was dedicated in 2004.
Of
the over 500 words inscribed on the World War II Memorial, the
designers chose not to include FDR's phrase "So help us God," nor any
other mention of God.
The D-Day Landing Prayer Act, S 3078, which has 22 co-sponsors in the Senate, would add FDR's D-Day Prayer to the Memorial.
(http://ohioca.org/)
For more interesting quotes from FDR, read below, taken from:
The Faith of FDR-From President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Public Papers 1933-1945
"THE
WHOLE WORLD is divided between...pagan brutality and the Christian
ideal. We choose human freedom which is the Christian ideal." -FDR, May
27, 1941, Address Announcing Unlimited National Emergency
"PRESERVATION
OF THESE rights is vitally important now, not only to us who enjoy them
- but to the whole future of Christian civilization." -FDR, Sept.1,
1941, Labor Day
"THE WORLD IS too small...for both Hitler and
God...Nazis have now announced their plan for enforcing their...pagan
religion all over the world...by which the Holy Bible and the Cross of
Mercy would be displaced by Mein Kampf and the swastika." -FDR, Jan. 6,
1942, State of Union
"THOSE FORCES HATE democracy and
Christianity...They oppose democracy because it is Christian. They
oppose Christianity because it preaches democracy." -FDR, Nov. 1, 1940,
Brooklyn, NY
"I SAW SEVASTOPOL and Yalta! And I know that there
is not room enough on earth for both German militarism and Christian
decency." -FDR, March 1, 1945, on Yalta Conference
"THIS GREAT
WAR effort...shall not be imperiled by the handful of noisy traitors -
betrayers of America, betrayers of Christianity itself." -FDR, April 28,
1942, Fireside Chat
"WE GUARD AGAINST the forces of
anti-Christian aggression, which may attack us from without, and the
forces of ignorance and fear which may corrupt us from within." -FDR,
Oct. 28, 1940, Madison Square Garden, NY
"I KNEW THAT someday
Russia would return to religion for the simple reason that four or five
thousand years of recorded history have proven that mankind has always
believed in God in spite of the many abortive attempts to exile God."
-FDR, Feb. 10, 1940, American Youth Congress
"THE AMERICAN
PEOPLE...have watched with sympathetic interest the effort of the Jews
to renew in Palestine the ties of their ancient homeland and to
reestablish Jewish culture in the place where for centuries it
flourished and whence it was carried to the far corners of the
world...It gives me great pleasure to send my warmest personal
greetings." -FDR, Feb. 6, 1937, United Palestine Appeal, Stephen Wise
"AN
ORDERING OF society which relegates religion...to the background can
find no place within it for the ideals of the Prince of Peace. The
United States rejects such an ordering, and retains its ancient faith."
-FDR, Jan. 4, 1939
"I
DOUBT IF there is any problem in the world...that would not find happy
solution if approached in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount...in
conformity with the teaching of Him Who is the Way, the Light and the
Truth." -FDR, Oct. 1, 1938, New Orleans Eucharistic Congress
"WE
WILL CELEBRATE this Christmas Day in our traditional American
way...because the teachings of Christ are fundamental in our lives; and
because we want our youngest generation... knowing...the story of the
coming of the immortal Prince of Peace." -FDR, Dec. 24, 1944
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