The President's Prayer: Asking 80 Million Americans to Pray During WWII

The forgotten six-minute presidential prayer that united America during our darkest hour deserves to be rediscovered.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced an unimaginable burden on June 6, 1944. Allied forces had just launched the largest amphibious invasion in history at Normandy, and the fate of the free world hung in the balance. His response? The President asked over 80 million Americans – more than 60% of the nation's population – to join him in prayer.

Ken Mercer resurrects this deleted moment of American history, painting a vivid picture of a nation gathered around radios in homes, churches, synagogues, ice houses, and dance halls – all pausing to hear their Commander-in-Chief speak directly to God on their behalf. 

This extraordinary broadcast transcended denominational lines, providing spiritual comfort during a time when 16 million Americans served in uniform and over 400,000 would never return home.

The prayer itself reveals a striking moral clarity about the nature of evil and America's purpose in the world. Roosevelt didn't mince words, calling the Nazis "apostles of greed and racial arrogances" while emphasizing that American forces were "not fighting for conquest" but rather "fighting to end conquest." His candid acknowledgment of the difficulties ahead, paired with unwavering faith in ultimate victory, exemplifies a leadership approach focused on building national resilience rather than false optimism.

Why has this powerful moment largely disappeared from our history textbooks? What does its erasure tell us about how we teach American history today? 

Listen as Mercer recovers this profound intersection of faith and leadership that reminds us how differently America once faced its greatest challenges. 

Share this episode with someone who appreciates the power of prayer and the forgotten chapters of our nation's story.

• Asking the question: which president led 80 million Americans in prayer during a critical moment in history
• Clarifying the historical context of the National Socialist Party (Nazis) as America's enemy in WWII
• Explaining America's entry into WWII and how 16 million Americans served in the armed forces
• Describing how radio was the primary means for a president to reach citizens during this era
• Presenting FDR's complete six-minute prayer from June 6, 1944, when Allied forces invaded Normandy
• Highlighting FDR's language about fighting evil, not for conquest but to end conquest
• Reflecting on the relevance of this prayer for America today

Please also visit "Mercer Moments in American History" at our YouTube Channel! We are dedicated to both current events, and major moments in American History that for some reason are now erased, deleted from our textbooks and classrooms.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Mercer.
Moments in American History, aprogram dedicated to both
current events that impact us,but also great moments in
American history that weresomehow deleted or erased from
our textbooks and our classes.
Well, I'm bringing those backto us.
I'd like to begin with amultiple choice question, and

(00:22):
today's question is this Are youready?
Begin with the multiple choicequestion, and today's question
is this are you ready?
Who was the president speakinglive to more than 80 million
people asked to pray, asked hecould lead us in a six-minute
prayer and repeat that?
Who was the president speakinglive to more than 80 McNamara

(00:43):
Americans asked to pray and lethim lead us in his six-minute
prayer?
My name is Ken Mercer.
I'm known as the Minister ofEducation.
Why?
Because I spent 16 years as anelected state official fighting
for the rights of moms and dadsto see what's being taught to

(01:04):
our precious sons and daughters.
In our classroom.
I often like to wear certainstate clothing or a uniform.
Today I'm wearing the state ofTexas.
Next time it could be yourstate, and I begin every program
by asking that we have sincereprayers for our students, both
in high school andpost-secondary, those students

(01:25):
of American values, what I callJudeo-Christian values.
They need our encouragement.
They need our prayer.
Today's episode is called thePresident's Prayer.
Was that Ronald Reagan in 1984?
Was that Barack Obama in 2014?
Was it Barack Obama in 2014?

(01:45):
Was it Franklin DelanoRoosevelt we call him FDR in the
year 1944, more than 80 yearsago?
Or is the answer D?
None of the above.
For the president to leadpeople in prayer would be a
violation of our Constitution'sseparation of church and state.

(02:05):
I begin by saying the answer isnot D.
It would not be a violation ofour Constitution.
I'll do a podcast in the futuretalking about the original
intent of the founding fathersand why the very first freedom
of our Bill of Rights is freedomof religion.

(02:25):
But the answer is not D.
Why?
Because the prayer I'm going todiscuss with you it was not a
Baptist or a Catholic prayer.
It was not a Jewish orMethodist or Lutheran or Mormon
or Church of Christ orPentecostal Assembly of God, usa
, those things.
It was a prayer for allAmerican people to come together

(02:45):
in a serious time of need, tolift up our country, to pray for
our troops.
Now I'm going to change scenesreal quick.
I'll be back in a moment.
You ready?
This is Ken Mercer, and thequestion is which president was
it?
I'll give you a hint.
Today I'm wearing an outfitsimilar to what you might have

(03:07):
seen in World War II.
I'm the president, fdr,franklin Delano Roosevelt.
I'm wearing a coat and a tie,much like David had worn.
I'm actually wearing a Stetsonhat, which is a Western hat, but
this is a businessman's Westernhat.
It's a smaller brim than acowboy hat.
It's an open-robed,silver-bellied 6X full-fur hat.

(03:31):
In fact, this hat caught on.
It was still worn by PresidentHarry Truman and Dwight
Eisenhower.
But we should know about twothings who were the enemies of
World War II and what did WorldWar II mean to America?
The enemies were called theNazis.
I call them the NationalSocialists.
This is Ken Mercer.

(03:52):
I'm going to break in with aspecial segment of who the Nazis
were.
A level set the program today,as again is called the
President's Prayer.
It's about Franklin DelanoRoosevelt and the speech he gave
during World War II.
But there seems to be somechanges revising of history as

(04:13):
to just who the Nazis were.
Again, we're talking aboutWorld War II, and the enemy of
the United States and the worldwere the Nazis.
I'm doing this in the year 2025.
States and the world were theNazis.
I'm doing this in the year 2025, and I'm watching so many of
the national mainstream mediaand some of the current writings
of our colleges anduniversities, their lessons and,

(04:34):
to be honest, there are someoutright I'll be kind lies being
told to us and taught to ourchildren and grandchildren as to
what happened in World War II.
The Nazis were, as I stated,the National Socialist Party.
Some of the media, universities, don't like that, but you know

(04:55):
what.
That's what they calledthemselves, and if you want to
try to change that name 80 yearslater for what they called
themselves, they were theNational Socialist Party.
They wanted government andeverything.
So I just interjected at thistime, just a quick level set
1944, you should know exactlywho the Nazis were.

(05:16):
Let's go back to our mainprogram, the President's Prayer,
thank you.
Many college professors disagreewith me.
They have that right for thatbelief, but I believe they're
wrong.
They were the NationalSocialist Party of Germany.
We should know we were the lastcountry to enter World War II.
I was speaking to a group ofhigh school students and I asked

(05:39):
them so what do you know aboutWorld War II?
And they said Mr Mercer, that'swhen we dropped the atomic bomb
upon Japan.
True, but how did World War IIstart?
And their response was well, weguess when we dropped the
atomic bomb.
That's just a lie.
But what's happened now in ourclassroom is not only are they
rewriting and revising history,they're just plain deleting

(06:02):
things like, well, like PearlHarbor, baton Death, march D-Day
, and this talk, this prayer, isabout D-Day the invasion of
Normandy.
So I'll begin with that, tellingyou what was happening.
We were the last country toenter World War II.
The Europeans kept saying whereare the Yanks?
The Yanks being us, where arethe Yanks going to get here?

(06:24):
There's a series of stampsissued by the Post Office of the
United States in 1942.
It lists all these overrun,occupied countries which were
taken over by the Nazis.
And again, I'll discuss theNazis in another program.
But there are countries likeYugoslavia, czechoslovakia,

(06:45):
denmark, norway, greece andFrance and many others who were
not just overrun but occupied bythe National Socialist Party,
by the Nazi Party.
It was a serious time.
If you were president you wouldknow in World War II more than
400,000 Americans would bekilled, more than 600,000 would

(07:10):
be wounded.
Our population of our nation in1944 was about 133 to 135
million people.
For comparison, today, as Ispeak, we're about 330 million
people.
So today, in this third decadeof the 21st century, we're
almost 200 million Americansmore than there were in 1944.

(07:32):
Now you want to guess how manyAmericans in World War II were
in the armed forces.
Is it 1 million, 3 million, 5million?
Are you ready?
16 million Americans were inthe armed forces during World
War II.
It was a very important time andwhen the president came to

(07:54):
speak to the people, you need tolisten.
In 1944, it is not like it istoday.
These term channels and devices.
You have a television set, aflat screen.
How many do you have in yourhome for live communications?
How many laptops or desktops doyou have?
How many iPhone, androidtablets?

(08:16):
You understand, we have a lotof devices, a lot of channels of
communication, but in 1944, theonly live communication was the
radio.
We had print media andtelevision was in its infancy.
But the main thing was theradio for live communication and

(08:40):
the president, fdr, would comeon the radio before 10 o'clock
Eastern time so he could speakto the entire nation 10 o'clock
Eastern, 9 Central, 8 Mountainand 7 Pacific Time, california.
So the whole nation could hearhim live and it was an important
topic whenever the President ofthe United States came to speak
.
Now let me say this.
I mentioned devices.
Your home would have no morethan one radio.

(09:03):
If it even had a radio, a lotof homes in the neighborhood did
not.
It would not be unusual foryour neighbors to knock on the
door and say can we come and siton the floor and listen to the
president speak?
It would not be unusual to goto your local ice house by the
way, ice house is called thatbecause they sold ice and

(09:24):
groceries too.
But some would go and stand inthe ice house and they'd put a
radio on top of the counter andyou would stand and listen to
the president speak.
Even your local pool halls anddance halls when the president
spoke, the band would stopplaying, they'd stop serving
drinks.
You would sit at your table,they'd put a radio on top of the

(09:45):
bar and you would listen to thepresident speak.
And also in your churches andsynagogues, someone would bring
a radio and put it on top of thealtar, on top of the podium,
and you would sit and listen tothe president.
By the way, during World War II, our churches, our synagogues
were full and he waited forthese words.

(10:09):
Ladies and gentlemen, thePresident of the United States,
my fellow Americans, last night,when I spoke with you about the
fall of Rome, I knew at thatmoment that troops of the United
States and our allies werecrossing the channel in another

(10:30):
and greater operation.
It has come to pass withsuccess thus far, and so, in
this poignant hour, I ask you tojoin with me in prayer.
Imagine, my friends, you'relistening to the President of
the United States and whetheryou're sitting on the floor of

(10:51):
your neighbor's home, you'restanding in the local ice house,
you're at your table at thepool hall, or you're sitting
down at your pew, your church oryour synagogue, which again is
packed full of people, andsuddenly the President of the
United States asks you to pray.
He shares with you that when hespoke last, he knew the

(11:15):
invasion had started, but hecould not tell you that the
greatest operation in thehistory of the world, an
operation to protect England, toliberate France, liberate
Europe and defeat the hated Naziarmy.
You can listen to this prayeronline Because of copyright laws
and other cost considerations.

(11:36):
I'm going to present to you intotal the entire prayer.
I will not change a word, but Iwant you to listen when the
President talks about fightingfor our republic, our religion,
our way of life, when he asksfor strength for our soldiers
and says they will return againand again, they will not give up
until we've won.

(11:57):
He mentions that we are notfighting for conquest.
This is so special.
We're not fighting for conquest, we're fighting to end all
conquest, to liberate.
He knew that day, the veryfirst day, 2,501 Americans were
killed and he shares with you.

(12:17):
He knows that some of our youngmen will never return.
He asked to receive thesesoldiers and for us to
rededicate ourselves.
And look at how many times hetalks about the word faith.
In the original transcript theword faith is capitalized
several times and he calls anenemy evil.

(12:39):
He calls them specificallyunholy forces, he calls them
racist.
He asked God to help us saveour country and save the world.
This is an incredible time,incredible prayer.
Let me ask you a couple things.
Firstly, if you're driving acar or truck, you might want to

(13:01):
pull to the side of the road.
If you're working in the houseor outside, you may want to stop
for the next five, six minutes,because I guarantee I guarantee
you'll become more than just alittle misty-eyed and I ask you
to think, if you feel the way Ido.
This same prayer from June 6,1944, this same prayer could be

(13:23):
given in your place of worshipthis coming weekend, this coming
Saturday or Sunday in yoursynagogue or church.
This same prayer from 18 yearsago about our way of life, our
values, but fighting again andnever giving up fighting to
defeat evil.
And the prayer is not aone-time thing.

(13:47):
Every morning and night, ladiesand gentlemen, the President of
the United States, almighty God,our sons, pride of our nation.
This day is set upon a mightyendeavor, a struggle to preserve
our republic, our religion andour civilization and to set free

(14:11):
a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true.
Give strength to their arms,stoutness to their hearts,
steadfastness in their faith.
They will need thy blessings.
They will need thy blessings.
Their road will be long and hard, for the enemy is strong.
He may hurl back our forces.

(14:33):
Success may not come withrushing speed, but we shall
return again and again and weknow that by thy grace and by
the righteousness of our cause,our sons will triumph.
They will be sore, tried by dayand night, without rest, until

(14:55):
the victory is won.
The darkness will be rent bynoise and flame.
Men's souls will be shaken withthe violence of war, for these
men are lately drawn from theways of peace.
They fight not for the lust ofconquest.
They fight to end conquest.

(15:18):
They fight to liberate.
They fight to let justice ariseand tolerance and goodwill
among all thy people arise.
In tolerance and goodwill amongall thy people, they yearn for
the end of battle, for thereturn to the haven of home.
Some will never return.
Embrace these, father, andreceive them, thy heroic

(15:42):
servants, into thy kingdom andfor us at home, fathers, mothers
, children, wives, sisters andbrothers of brave men overseas,
whose thoughts and prayers areever with them.
Help us, almighty God, torededicate ourselves in renewed

(16:04):
faith in thee in this hour ofgreat sacrifice.
Many people have heard that Icall the nation to a single day
of special prayer, but becausethe road is long and the desire
is great, I ask that our peopledevote themselves in a

(16:25):
continuance of prayer as we riseto each new day and again when
each day is spent.
Let words of prayer be on ourlips, invoking Thy help in our
efforts.
Give us strength, too, strengthin our daily task to redouble

(16:45):
the contributions we make in thephysical and the material
support of our armed forces.
Let our hearts be stout to waitout the long prevail, to bear
sorrows that may come to impactour courage unto our sons,
wheresoever they may be.

(17:06):
And, lord, give us faith.
Give us faith in thee, faith inour sons, faith in each other,
faith in our united crusade.
Let not the keenness of ourspirit ever be dulled.
Let not the impacts oftemporary events or temporal

(17:27):
matters of but fleeting moment,let not these deter us in our
unconquerable purpose.
With thy blessing, we shallprevail over the unfaithful
forces of our enemy.
Help us to conquer the apostlesof greed and racial arrogances.

(17:51):
Lead us to the saving of ourcountry and, with our sister
nations, into a world unity thatwill spell a sure peace, a
peace invulnerable to theschemings of unworthy men, and a
peace that will let all of menlive in freedom, reaping the

(18:18):
just rewards of their honesttoil.
Thy will be done.
Almighty God, amen.

(18:39):
That prayer make you a littlemisty-eyed, as it did me.
Almighty God, amen this weekendand have the same impact, the
same meaning about the need forprayer, the need to fight and
stand strong, the need to definethe which is evil.
Back wearing the originaloutfit I had today I'm asking
for prayer for high school andcollege students in the state of

(19:01):
Texas.
They need our prayer and, asalways, I remind you that if you
enjoyed today's program, pleasehit the like button or
subscribe button.
It doesn't cost you a cent, butit lets our sponsors know that
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Finally, let me close by sayingthat a place called the United

(19:24):
States of America in God westill trust.
Here, right here in America, inGod we still trust.
Thank you and blessings.