Arsenal of Democracy

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FDR—President Franklin Delano Roosevelt giving an address.

The Arsenal of Democracy is one of the most famous of 30 fireside chats broadcast on the radio by United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was read on December 29, 1940.

The speech was a disguised call to arms of the U.S. population as well as the obvious topic, "a call to arm and support" both Europe and to a lesser extent Asia's powers in their respective struggles against the fascist regimes. At the time it was broadcast the Axis powers were busily waging successful war on less capable nations as the last days of the Great Depression era came to a close, and that scaring experience still preoccupied the United States despite Foreign News.

In terms of leadership, the speech is frequently seen as the "next step" in a several stage process in awakening a somnolent, inward-looking country that had been isolationist and self-absorbed culturally for the preceding two decades. While the United States Navy seemed strong and was widely perceived to guarantee the Western Hemisphere safe from Axis aggressions– the United States Army numbered barely two hundred and fifty thousand officers and enlisted men as the 1930s came to a close – the foreign wars off in Europe, Africa, and Manchuria (China) seemed of little importance to the average American still reeling from the trials of the depression.

Synopsis

Much of the opening of the speech attempted to debunk the feeling of complacency from amongst the American people. Many Americans did not fear the Axis nations because of the America's British allies, and the long distance between Germany and the United States. Roosevelt laid out the situation clearly, and then pointed out the flaws in that argument. He mentioned that "Some of us like to believe that even if Great Britain falls, we are still safe, because of the broad expanse of the Atlantic and of the Pacific." He refuted that argument, claiming that technology had effectively reduced the distances across those oceans. Technology of the era had indeed allowed for "planes that could fly from the British Isles to New England and back again without refueling."

After establishing the danger, the president then proceeded to request action from the people. He acknowledged a telegram he had received. He refuted its message, which he summarized as "Please, Mr. President, don't frighten us by telling us the facts."

He then continued to describe the situation in Europe, all the while punctuating his remarks with how the Nazis would use the same tactics in the Western Hemisphere, and giving vivid imagery such as "The fate of these nations [occupied by force by the Nazis] tells us what it means to live at the point of a Nazi gun."

Turning his attention back to America, Roosevelt focused on the policy of appeasement, and how it was ineffective. Listing prior examples given by European countries, he made the futility of the policy clear.

Switching back to Europe once more, he briefly addressed the concentration camps and the Holocaust. After that, he claimed that war is inevitable and that the US should assist its allies—Great Britain, "the spearhead of resistance to world conquest", in particular—while those allies were still around. But, as he pointed out, "our national policy is not directed toward war".

He urged this to change, all the while stressing that open war would not hurt the country: "the strength of this nation shall not be diluted by the failure of the Government to protect the economic well-being of its citizens." He focused on that theme of "splendid cooperation between the Government and industry and labor" for several paragraphs, citing how American labor will make an impact in the combat zones, and how important the manufacture of weapons and vehicles is to being strong as a nation.

Roosevelt stressed that it was not the American government but the American people who had the power to turn the tide of the war. It is here that he uses the phrase "arsenal of democracy": "We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us [aiding Great Britain against Nazi occupation] is an emergency as serious as war itself." Above all, he reassures the American people: "I believe that the Axis powers are not going to win this war."

Arsenal of Democracy

Synopsis

See also