Please enjoy October 12, 1942: Fireside Chat 23: On the Home Front a great episode of the legendary Franklin D. Roosevelt - A Classic Old Time radio Show.
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This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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(00:01):
My fellow Americans. As you know, I have recently come back from a
trip of inspection of camps and trainingstations and war factories. The main thing
that I observed on this trip isnot exactly news. It is the plain
fact that the American people are unitedas never before in their determination to do
(00:24):
a job and to do it well. This whole nation of one hundred and
thirty million three men and women andchildren is becoming one great fighting force.
Some of us are soldiers, aresailors, some of us are civilians.
Some of us are fighting the warand they are plains five miles above the
(00:46):
continent of Europe or the islands ofthe Pacific. And some of us are
fighting it in minds, deep downin the earth of Pennsylvania or Montana.
A few of us are decorated withmedals for heroic achievement, but all of
us can have that deep and permanentinner satisfaction that comes from doing the best
(01:10):
we know how, each of usplaying an honorable part in the great struggle
to save our democratic civilization. Whateverour individual circumstances or opportunities, we are
all in it, and our spiritis good, and we Americans and our
Allies are going to win, anddon't let anyone tell you anything different.
(01:37):
That is the main thing that Isaw on my trip around the country,
unbeatable spirit. If the leaders ofGermany and Japan could have come along with
me and had seen what I saw, they would agree with my conclusions.
(01:57):
Unfortunately, they were unable to makethe trip with me, and that is
one reason why we are carrying ourwar effort over seas to them. With
every passing week the war increases inscope and intensity. That is proue in
(02:17):
Europe, in Africa, in Asia, and on all the seas. The
strength of the United Nations is onthe upgrade in this war. The Axis
leaders, on the other hand,know by now that they have already reached
their full strength and that their steadilymounting losses in men and material cannot be
(02:43):
fully replaced. Germany and Japan arealready realizing what the inevitable result will be
when the total strength of the UnitedNations hits them at additional places on the
earth. One of the principal weaponsof our enemies in the past has been
(03:06):
their use of what is called thewar of nerves. They have spread falsehood
and terror. They have started fifthcolumns everywhere. They have duped the innocent.
They have fomented suspicion and hate betweenneighbors. They have aided and abetted
those people in other nations, includingour own, whose words and deeds are
(03:32):
advertised from Berlin and Tokyo as proofof our disunity. The greatest defense against
all such propaganda, of course,is the common sense of the common people,
and that defense is prevailing. Thewar of nerves against the United Nations
(03:57):
is now turning into a boom.For the first time, the Nazi propaganda
machine is on the defensive. Theybegin to apologize to their own people for
the repulse of their vast forces atStalingrad and for the enormous casualties they are
suffering. They are compelled to begtheir overworked people to rally their weakened production.
(04:26):
They even publicly admit for the firsttime that Germany can be fed only
at the cost of stealing food fromthe rest of Europe. They are proclaiming
that a second front is impossible,but at the same time they are desperately
(04:46):
rushing troops in all directions and springingbob wire all the way from the coasts
of Finland and Norway. To theislands of the Eastern Mediterranean, and meanwhile
they are driven to increase the furyof their atrocities. The United Nations have
(05:08):
decided to establish the identity are thoseNazi leaders who are responsible for the innumerable
acts of savagery. As each ofthese criminal deeds is committed, it is
being carefully investigated, and the evidenceis being relentlessly piled up for the future
(05:29):
purposes of justice. We have madeit entirely clear that the United Nations seek
no master reprisals against the populations ofGermany, or Italy or Japan. But
the ring leaders and their brutal henchmenmust be named and apprehended and tried in
(05:53):
accordance with the judicial processes of criminallaw. There are now millions of Americans
in army camps, in naval stations, in factories, and in ship yards.
Who are these millions upon whom thelife of our country depends? What
(06:13):
are they thinking, what are theirdoubts, what are their hopes? And
how is the work progressing? TheCommander in Chief cannot learn all of the
answers to these questions in Washington,and that is why I made the trip
I did. It is very easyto say, as some have said that
(06:34):
when the president travels through through thecountry, he should go with a blare
of trumpets, with crowds on thesidewalks, with batteries, our reporters and
photographers, talking and posing with allof the politicians of the land. But
having had some experience in this warand in the last war, I can
(07:00):
tell you very simply that the kindof trip I took permitted me to concentrate
on the work I had to dowithout spending time meeting all the demands of
publicity. And I might add itwas a particular pleasure to make a tour
of the country without having to givea single thought to politics. I expect
(07:24):
to make other trips for similar purposes, and I shall make them in the
same way. In the last war, I had seen great factories, but
until I saw some of the newpresent day plants, I had not thoroughly
visualized our American war effort. Ofcourse, I saw only a small portion
(07:50):
of all our plants, but thatportion was a good cross section, and
it was deeply impressive. The UnitedStates has been at war for only ten
months and is engaged in the enormoustask of multiplying its armed forces. Many
times. We are by no meansat full production level yet, But I
(08:16):
could not help asking myself on thetrip, where would we be today if
the Government of the United States hadnot begun to build many of its factories
for this huge increase more than twoyears ago, more than a year before
war was forced upon us at PearlHarbor. We have also had to face
(08:41):
the problem of shipping. Ships inevery part of the world continue to be
sunk by enemy action, but thetotal tunnage of ships coming out of American,
Canadian and British shipyards day by dayhas increased so fast that we are
getting ahead of our our enemies inthe bitter battle of transportation. In expanding
(09:05):
our shipping, we've had to enlistmany thousands of men for our merchant marine.
These men are serving magnificently. Theyare risking their lives every hour so
that guns and tanks and planes andammunition and food may be carried to the
heroic defenders of Staliningrad and to allof the United Nations forces all over the
(09:31):
world. A few days ago Iawarded the first Maritime Distinguished Service Medal to
a young man, Edward F.Cheening of Jaden Pennsylvania, who had shown
great gallantry in rescuing his comrades fromthe oily waters of the sea after their
(09:52):
ship had been torpedoes. There willbe many more such acts of bravery.
In one sense, my recent tripwas a hurried one out through the Middle
West to the Northwest, down thelength of the Pacific coast, and back
through the Southwest and the South.In another sense, however, it was
(10:15):
a leisurely trip because I had theopportunity to talk to the people who are
actually doing the work, management andlabor alike, on their own home grounds,
and it gave me a fine chanceto do some thinking about the major
problems of our war effort on thebasis our first things first. As I
(10:41):
told the three Press Association representatives whoaccompanied me, I was impressed for the
large proportion of women employed doing skilledmanual labor running machines. As time goes
on and many more of our menenter the armed forces, this proportion of
(11:03):
women will increase. Within less thana year from now, I think there
will probably be as many women asmen working in our war production plants.
I had some enlightening experiences relating tothe old saying of us men that curiosity
(11:24):
inquisitiveness is stronger among women. Inoticed frequently that when we drove unannounced down
the middle aisle of a great plantfull of workers' machines, the first people
to look up from their work werethe men, and not the women.
(11:48):
It was chiefly the men who werearguing as to whether that fellow in the
straw hat was really the president ornot. So. Having seen the quality
of the work and of the workerson our production lines, and coupling these
first hand observations with the reports ofactual performance of our weapons on the fighting
(12:13):
fronts, I can say to youthat we are getting ahead of our enemies
in the battle of production. Agreat importance to our future production was the
effective and rapid manner in which theCongress met the serious problem of the rising
cost of living, which is asplendid example of the operation of democratic processes
(12:39):
in war time. The machinery tocarry out this act of the Congress was
put into effect within twelve hours afterthe bill was signed. The legislation will
help the cost of living problems ofevery worker in every factory and on every
farm in the land. In orderto keep stepping up our production, we
(13:03):
have had to add millions of workersto the total labor force of the nations,
and as new factories come into operation, we must find additional millions of
workers. This presents a formidable problemin the mobilization of manpower. It is
not that we do not have enoughpeople in this country to do the job.
(13:24):
The problem is to have the rightnumbers of the right people in the
right places at the right time.We are learning to ration materials, and
we must now learn to ration manpower. The major objectives of a sound manpower
(13:46):
policy our first to select and trainmen of the highest fighting efficiency needed for
our armed forces in the achievement ofvictory over our enemies in combat. Second,
the man o war industries and farms, where the workers needed to produce
(14:09):
the arms and munitions and food requiredby ourselves and by our fighting allis to
win this war. In order todo this, we shall be compelled to
stop workers from moving from one warjob to another as a matter of personal
(14:30):
preference, to stop employers from stealinglabor from each other. Feels older men
and handicapped people, and more womenand even grown boys and girls wherever possible
and reasonable, to replace men ofmilitary age and fitness, to train new
(14:52):
personnel for a central war work,and to stop the wastage of labor in
all non essential activities. Pain newpersonnel for a central war work, and
to stop the wastage of labor inall non essential activities, from many other
(15:13):
things that we can do and doimmediately. To help meet this manpower properm
the school authorities in all the Statesshould work out plans to enable our high
school students to take some time fromtheir school a year to use their summer
vacations to help farmers raise and harvesttheir crops, or to work somewhere in
(15:41):
the war industry. This does notmean closing schools and stopping education. It
does mean giving older students a betteropportunity to contribute their bit to the war
end. But such work will dono harm to the students. People should
(16:06):
do their work as near their homesas possible. We cannot afford to transport
a single worker into an area wherethere's already a work are available to do
the job. In some communities,employers dislike to employ women. In others
they are reluctant to hire negroes.In still others, older men are not
(16:30):
wanted. We can no longer affordto indulge such prejudices or practices. Every
citizen wants to know what a centralwar work he can do the best he
can get the answer by applying tothe nearest United States Employment Service office,
and there are four thousand, fivehundred of these offices throughout the nation.
(16:55):
They form the corner grocery stores ofour manpower system. This network of employment
offices is prepared to advise every citizenwhere his skills and labors are needed most,
and to refer him to an employerwho can utilize them to the best
advantage in the war effort. Perhapsthe most difficult phase of the man power
(17:21):
problem is the scarcity of farm labor. In many places, I have seen
evidences of the fact, however,that the people are trying to meet it
as well as possible. In onecommunity that I have visited, a perishable
crop was harvested by turning out thewhole of the high school for three or
(17:41):
four days. And in another communityof fruit growers, the usual Japanese labor
was not available, but when thefruit ripened, the banker, the butcher,
the lawyer, the garage man,the druggist, the local editor,
and in fact every able bodied manand woman in town left their occupations,
(18:06):
went out, gathered the fruit,and sent it to market. Every farmer
in the land must realize fully thathis production is part of war production,
and that he is regarded by thenation as essential to victory. The American
people expect him to keep his productionup, and even to increase it.
(18:27):
We will use every effort to helphim to get labor. But at the
same time, he and the peopleof his community must use ingenuity and cooperative
effort to produce crops and livestock anddairy products. It may be that all
of our volunteer effort, however wellintentioned and well administered, will not suffice
(18:52):
wholly to solve this problem. Inthat case, we shall have to adopt
new legislation. And if this isnecessary, I do not believe that the
American people will shrink from it.In a sense, every American, because
(19:12):
of the privilege of his citizenship,is a part of the Selective Service.
The nation owes a debt of gratitudeto the Selective Service boards. The successful
operation of the selective service system andthe way it has been accepted by the
great mass of our citizens give usconfidence that, if necessary, the same
(19:34):
principle could be used to solve anymanpower problem. And I want to say
also a word of praise and thanksto the more than ten million people all
over the country who are volunteered forthe work of civilian defense and who are
working hard at it. They aredisplaying unselfish devotion in the patient performance of
(19:59):
their offer and tiresome and always anonymoustasks. In doing this important neighborly work.
They are helping to fortify our nationalunity and our real understanding of the
fact that we are all involved inthis war. Naturally, on my trip
I was much interested in watching thetraining of our fighting forces. All of
(20:25):
our combat units that go overseas mustconsist of young strong men who have had
thorough training. An army division thathas an average age of twenty three or
twenty four is a better fighting unitthan one which has an average age of
thirty three or thirty four. Themore of such troops we have in the
(20:52):
field, the sooner this war willbe won, and the smaller will be
the cost in casualties. Therefore,I believe that it will be necessary to
lower the present minimum age limit forselective service from twenty years down to eighteen
we have learned how inevitable that is, and how important to the speeding up
(21:15):
our victory. I can very thoroughlyunderstand the feelings of all parents whose sons
have entered our armed forces. Ihave an appreciation of that feeling, and
so has my wife. I wantevery father and every mother who led a
(21:38):
son in the service to know again, from what I have seen with my
own eyes, that the men inthe Army, Navy and Marine Corps are
receiving today the best possible training,equipment, and medical care, and we
will never fail to provide for thespiritual needs of our officers and men under
(22:02):
the chaplains of our armed services.Good training will save many many lives in
battle. The highest rate of casualtiesis always suffered by units comprised of inadequately
trained men. We can be surethat the combat units of our Army and
Navy are well manned, well equipped, well trained. Their effectiveness in action
(22:29):
will depend upon the quality of theirleadership and upon the wisdom of the strategic
plans on which all military operations arebased. I can say one thing about
these plans of ours. They arenot being decided by the typewriter strategists who
expound their views in the press oron the radio. One of the greatest
(22:56):
of American soldiers, Robert E.Lee, once from marked on the tragic
fact that in the war of hisday, all of the best generals are
apparently working on newspapers instead of inthe art, and that seems to be
(23:18):
true in all wars. The troublewith the typewriter strategists is that, while
they may be full of bright ideas, they are not in possession of much
information about the facts or the problemsof military operations. We therefore will continue
to leave the plans for this warto the military leaders. The military and
(23:45):
naval plans of the United States aremade by the Joint Staff of the Army
and Navy, which is constantly insession in Washington. The chiefs of this
staff are Admiral Lay, General Marshall, Admiral King, and General Arnold.
(24:06):
They meet and confer regularly with representativesof the British Joint Staff, and with
the representatives of Russia, China,the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, the
British Dominions, and other nations workingin the common cause. Since this unity
of operations was put into effect lastJanuary, there has been a very substantial
(24:30):
agreement between these planners, all ofwhom are trained in the profession of arms,
air, sea and land. Fromtheir early years. As Commander in
chief, I have at all timesalso been in substantial agreement. As I
(24:51):
have said before, many major decisionsof strategy have been made. One of
them on which we have all allagreed relates to the necessity of diverting enemy
forces from Russia and China to othertheaters of war by new offensives against Germany
(25:14):
and Japan. An announcement of howthese offensives are to be launched and when
and where cannot be broadcast over theradio. At this time, we are
celebrating today the exploit of a boldand adventurous Italian, Christopher Columbus, who
(25:41):
were the aid of Spain, openedup a new world where freedom and tolerance
and respect for human rights and dignityprovided an asylum for the oppressed of the
old world. Today, the sonsof the New World are fighting in lands
far distant from their own America.They are fighting to save for all mankind,
(26:03):
including ourselves, the principles which areflourished in this new world of freedom.
We are mindful of the countless millionsof people whose future liberty and whose
very lives depend upon permanent victory forthe United Nations. There are few people
(26:23):
in this country who, when thecollapse of the axis begins, will tell
our people that we are safe oncemore, that we can tell the rest
of the world to stew in itsown juice, that never again will we
help to pull the other fellow's chestnutsfrom the fire, that the future of
(26:47):
civilization can jolly well take care ofitself in so far as we are concerned.
But it is useless to win battlesif the cause for which we fight
these battles is lost. It isuseless to win a war unless it stays
(27:14):
one. We therefore fight for therestoration and perpetuation our faith and hope and
peace throughout the world. The objectiveof today is clear and realistic. It
is to destroy completely the military powerof Germany, Italy and Japan to such
(27:44):
good purpose that there threat against usand all the other United Nations cannot be
revived a generation. Hence, weare united in seeking the the victory that
will guarantee that our grandchildren can growand under God, may live their lives
(28:12):
free from the constant threat of invasion, destruction, slavery and violent death,
My fellow Americans. As you know, I have recently come back from a
trip of inspection of camps and trainingstations and war factories. The main thing
that I observed on this trip isnot exactly news. It is the plain
fact that the American people are unitedas never before in their determination to do
(00:24):
a job and to do it well. This whole nation of one hundred and
thirty million three men and women andchildren is becoming one great fighting force.
Some of us are soldiers, aresailors, some of us are civilians.
Some of us are fighting the warand they are plains five miles above the
(00:46):
continent of Europe or the islands ofthe Pacific. And some of us are
fighting it in minds, deep downin the earth of Pennsylvania or Montana.
A few of us are decorated withmedals for heroic achievement, but all of
us can have that deep and permanentinner satisfaction that comes from doing the best
(01:10):
we know how, each of usplaying an honorable part in the great struggle
to save our democratic civilization. Whateverour individual circumstances or opportunities, we are
all in it, and our spiritis good, and we Americans and our
Allies are going to win, anddon't let anyone tell you anything different.
(01:37):
That is the main thing that Isaw on my trip around the country,
unbeatable spirit. If the leaders ofGermany and Japan could have come along with
me and had seen what I saw, they would agree with my conclusions.
(01:57):
Unfortunately, they were unable to makethe trip with me, and that is
one reason why we are carrying ourwar effort over seas to them. With
every passing week the war increases inscope and intensity. That is proue in
(02:17):
Europe, in Africa, in Asia, and on all the seas. The
strength of the United Nations is onthe upgrade in this war. The Axis
leaders, on the other hand,know by now that they have already reached
their full strength and that their steadilymounting losses in men and material cannot be
(02:43):
fully replaced. Germany and Japan arealready realizing what the inevitable result will be
when the total strength of the UnitedNations hits them at additional places on the
earth. One of the principal weaponsof our enemies in the past has been
(03:06):
their use of what is called thewar of nerves. They have spread falsehood
and terror. They have started fifthcolumns everywhere. They have duped the innocent.
They have fomented suspicion and hate betweenneighbors. They have aided and abetted
those people in other nations, includingour own, whose words and deeds are
(03:32):
advertised from Berlin and Tokyo as proofof our disunity. The greatest defense against
all such propaganda, of course,is the common sense of the common people,
and that defense is prevailing. Thewar of nerves against the United Nations
(03:57):
is now turning into a boom.For the first time, the Nazi propaganda
machine is on the defensive. Theybegin to apologize to their own people for
the repulse of their vast forces atStalingrad and for the enormous casualties they are
suffering. They are compelled to begtheir overworked people to rally their weakened production.
(04:26):
They even publicly admit for the firsttime that Germany can be fed only
at the cost of stealing food fromthe rest of Europe. They are proclaiming
that a second front is impossible,but at the same time they are desperately
(04:46):
rushing troops in all directions and springingbob wire all the way from the coasts
of Finland and Norway. To theislands of the Eastern Mediterranean, and meanwhile
they are driven to increase the furyof their atrocities. The United Nations have
(05:08):
decided to establish the identity are thoseNazi leaders who are responsible for the innumerable
acts of savagery. As each ofthese criminal deeds is committed, it is
being carefully investigated, and the evidenceis being relentlessly piled up for the future
(05:29):
purposes of justice. We have madeit entirely clear that the United Nations seek
no master reprisals against the populations ofGermany, or Italy or Japan. But
the ring leaders and their brutal henchmenmust be named and apprehended and tried in
(05:53):
accordance with the judicial processes of criminallaw. There are now millions of Americans
in army camps, in naval stations, in factories, and in ship yards.
Who are these millions upon whom thelife of our country depends? What
(06:13):
are they thinking, what are theirdoubts, what are their hopes? And
how is the work progressing? TheCommander in Chief cannot learn all of the
answers to these questions in Washington,and that is why I made the trip
I did. It is very easyto say, as some have said that
(06:34):
when the president travels through through thecountry, he should go with a blare
of trumpets, with crowds on thesidewalks, with batteries, our reporters and
photographers, talking and posing with allof the politicians of the land. But
having had some experience in this warand in the last war, I can
(07:00):
tell you very simply that the kindof trip I took permitted me to concentrate
on the work I had to dowithout spending time meeting all the demands of
publicity. And I might add itwas a particular pleasure to make a tour
of the country without having to givea single thought to politics. I expect
(07:24):
to make other trips for similar purposes, and I shall make them in the
same way. In the last war, I had seen great factories, but
until I saw some of the newpresent day plants, I had not thoroughly
visualized our American war effort. Ofcourse, I saw only a small portion
(07:50):
of all our plants, but thatportion was a good cross section, and
it was deeply impressive. The UnitedStates has been at war for only ten
months and is engaged in the enormoustask of multiplying its armed forces. Many
times. We are by no meansat full production level yet, But I
(08:16):
could not help asking myself on thetrip, where would we be today if
the Government of the United States hadnot begun to build many of its factories
for this huge increase more than twoyears ago, more than a year before
war was forced upon us at PearlHarbor. We have also had to face
(08:41):
the problem of shipping. Ships inevery part of the world continue to be
sunk by enemy action, but thetotal tunnage of ships coming out of American,
Canadian and British shipyards day by dayhas increased so fast that we are
getting ahead of our our enemies inthe bitter battle of transportation. In expanding
(09:05):
our shipping, we've had to enlistmany thousands of men for our merchant marine.
These men are serving magnificently. Theyare risking their lives every hour so
that guns and tanks and planes andammunition and food may be carried to the
heroic defenders of Staliningrad and to allof the United Nations forces all over the
(09:31):
world. A few days ago Iawarded the first Maritime Distinguished Service Medal to
a young man, Edward F.Cheening of Jaden Pennsylvania, who had shown
great gallantry in rescuing his comrades fromthe oily waters of the sea after their
(09:52):
ship had been torpedoes. There willbe many more such acts of bravery.
In one sense, my recent tripwas a hurried one out through the Middle
West to the Northwest, down thelength of the Pacific coast, and back
through the Southwest and the South.In another sense, however, it was
(10:15):
a leisurely trip because I had theopportunity to talk to the people who are
actually doing the work, management andlabor alike, on their own home grounds,
and it gave me a fine chanceto do some thinking about the major
problems of our war effort on thebasis our first things first. As I
(10:41):
told the three Press Association representatives whoaccompanied me, I was impressed for the
large proportion of women employed doing skilledmanual labor running machines. As time goes
on and many more of our menenter the armed forces, this proportion of
(11:03):
women will increase. Within less thana year from now, I think there
will probably be as many women asmen working in our war production plants.
I had some enlightening experiences relating tothe old saying of us men that curiosity
(11:24):
inquisitiveness is stronger among women. Inoticed frequently that when we drove unannounced down
the middle aisle of a great plantfull of workers' machines, the first people
to look up from their work werethe men, and not the women.
(11:48):
It was chiefly the men who werearguing as to whether that fellow in the
straw hat was really the president ornot. So. Having seen the quality
of the work and of the workerson our production lines, and coupling these
first hand observations with the reports ofactual performance of our weapons on the fighting
(12:13):
fronts, I can say to youthat we are getting ahead of our enemies
in the battle of production. Agreat importance to our future production was the
effective and rapid manner in which theCongress met the serious problem of the rising
cost of living, which is asplendid example of the operation of democratic processes
(12:39):
in war time. The machinery tocarry out this act of the Congress was
put into effect within twelve hours afterthe bill was signed. The legislation will
help the cost of living problems ofevery worker in every factory and on every
farm in the land. In orderto keep stepping up our production, we
(13:03):
have had to add millions of workersto the total labor force of the nations,
and as new factories come into operation, we must find additional millions of
workers. This presents a formidable problemin the mobilization of manpower. It is
not that we do not have enoughpeople in this country to do the job.
(13:24):
The problem is to have the rightnumbers of the right people in the
right places at the right time.We are learning to ration materials, and
we must now learn to ration manpower. The major objectives of a sound manpower
(13:46):
policy our first to select and trainmen of the highest fighting efficiency needed for
our armed forces in the achievement ofvictory over our enemies in combat. Second,
the man o war industries and farms, where the workers needed to produce
(14:09):
the arms and munitions and food requiredby ourselves and by our fighting allis to
win this war. In order todo this, we shall be compelled to
stop workers from moving from one warjob to another as a matter of personal
(14:30):
preference, to stop employers from stealinglabor from each other. Feels older men
and handicapped people, and more womenand even grown boys and girls wherever possible
and reasonable, to replace men ofmilitary age and fitness, to train new
(14:52):
personnel for a central war work,and to stop the wastage of labor in
all non essential activities. Pain newpersonnel for a central war work, and
to stop the wastage of labor inall non essential activities, from many other
(15:13):
things that we can do and doimmediately. To help meet this manpower properm
the school authorities in all the Statesshould work out plans to enable our high
school students to take some time fromtheir school a year to use their summer
vacations to help farmers raise and harvesttheir crops, or to work somewhere in
(15:41):
the war industry. This does notmean closing schools and stopping education. It
does mean giving older students a betteropportunity to contribute their bit to the war
end. But such work will dono harm to the students. People should
(16:06):
do their work as near their homesas possible. We cannot afford to transport
a single worker into an area wherethere's already a work are available to do
the job. In some communities,employers dislike to employ women. In others
they are reluctant to hire negroes.In still others, older men are not
(16:30):
wanted. We can no longer affordto indulge such prejudices or practices. Every
citizen wants to know what a centralwar work he can do the best he
can get the answer by applying tothe nearest United States Employment Service office,
and there are four thousand, fivehundred of these offices throughout the nation.
(16:55):
They form the corner grocery stores ofour manpower system. This network of employment
offices is prepared to advise every citizenwhere his skills and labors are needed most,
and to refer him to an employerwho can utilize them to the best
advantage in the war effort. Perhapsthe most difficult phase of the man power
(17:21):
problem is the scarcity of farm labor. In many places, I have seen
evidences of the fact, however,that the people are trying to meet it
as well as possible. In onecommunity that I have visited, a perishable
crop was harvested by turning out thewhole of the high school for three or
(17:41):
four days. And in another communityof fruit growers, the usual Japanese labor
was not available, but when thefruit ripened, the banker, the butcher,
the lawyer, the garage man,the druggist, the local editor,
and in fact every able bodied manand woman in town left their occupations,
(18:06):
went out, gathered the fruit,and sent it to market. Every farmer
in the land must realize fully thathis production is part of war production,
and that he is regarded by thenation as essential to victory. The American
people expect him to keep his productionup, and even to increase it.
(18:27):
We will use every effort to helphim to get labor. But at the
same time, he and the peopleof his community must use ingenuity and cooperative
effort to produce crops and livestock anddairy products. It may be that all
of our volunteer effort, however wellintentioned and well administered, will not suffice
(18:52):
wholly to solve this problem. Inthat case, we shall have to adopt
new legislation. And if this isnecessary, I do not believe that the
American people will shrink from it.In a sense, every American, because
(19:12):
of the privilege of his citizenship,is a part of the Selective Service.
The nation owes a debt of gratitudeto the Selective Service boards. The successful
operation of the selective service system andthe way it has been accepted by the
great mass of our citizens give usconfidence that, if necessary, the same
(19:34):
principle could be used to solve anymanpower problem. And I want to say
also a word of praise and thanksto the more than ten million people all
over the country who are volunteered forthe work of civilian defense and who are
working hard at it. They aredisplaying unselfish devotion in the patient performance of
(19:59):
their offer and tiresome and always anonymoustasks. In doing this important neighborly work.
They are helping to fortify our nationalunity and our real understanding of the
fact that we are all involved inthis war. Naturally, on my trip
I was much interested in watching thetraining of our fighting forces. All of
(20:25):
our combat units that go overseas mustconsist of young strong men who have had
thorough training. An army division thathas an average age of twenty three or
twenty four is a better fighting unitthan one which has an average age of
thirty three or thirty four. Themore of such troops we have in the
(20:52):
field, the sooner this war willbe won, and the smaller will be
the cost in casualties. Therefore,I believe that it will be necessary to
lower the present minimum age limit forselective service from twenty years down to eighteen
we have learned how inevitable that is, and how important to the speeding up
(21:15):
our victory. I can very thoroughlyunderstand the feelings of all parents whose sons
have entered our armed forces. Ihave an appreciation of that feeling, and
so has my wife. I wantevery father and every mother who led a
(21:38):
son in the service to know again, from what I have seen with my
own eyes, that the men inthe Army, Navy and Marine Corps are
receiving today the best possible training,equipment, and medical care, and we
will never fail to provide for thespiritual needs of our officers and men under
(22:02):
the chaplains of our armed services.Good training will save many many lives in
battle. The highest rate of casualtiesis always suffered by units comprised of inadequately
trained men. We can be surethat the combat units of our Army and
Navy are well manned, well equipped, well trained. Their effectiveness in action
(22:29):
will depend upon the quality of theirleadership and upon the wisdom of the strategic
plans on which all military operations arebased. I can say one thing about
these plans of ours. They arenot being decided by the typewriter strategists who
expound their views in the press oron the radio. One of the greatest
(22:56):
of American soldiers, Robert E.Lee, once from marked on the tragic
fact that in the war of hisday, all of the best generals are
apparently working on newspapers instead of inthe art, and that seems to be
(23:18):
true in all wars. The troublewith the typewriter strategists is that, while
they may be full of bright ideas, they are not in possession of much
information about the facts or the problemsof military operations. We therefore will continue
to leave the plans for this warto the military leaders. The military and
(23:45):
naval plans of the United States aremade by the Joint Staff of the Army
and Navy, which is constantly insession in Washington. The chiefs of this
staff are Admiral Lay, General Marshall, Admiral King, and General Arnold.
(24:06):
They meet and confer regularly with representativesof the British Joint Staff, and with
the representatives of Russia, China,the Netherlands, Poland, Norway, the
British Dominions, and other nations workingin the common cause. Since this unity
of operations was put into effect lastJanuary, there has been a very substantial
(24:30):
agreement between these planners, all ofwhom are trained in the profession of arms,
air, sea and land. Fromtheir early years. As Commander in
chief, I have at all timesalso been in substantial agreement. As I
(24:51):
have said before, many major decisionsof strategy have been made. One of
them on which we have all allagreed relates to the necessity of diverting enemy
forces from Russia and China to othertheaters of war by new offensives against Germany
(25:14):
and Japan. An announcement of howthese offensives are to be launched and when
and where cannot be broadcast over theradio. At this time, we are
celebrating today the exploit of a boldand adventurous Italian, Christopher Columbus, who
(25:41):
were the aid of Spain, openedup a new world where freedom and tolerance
and respect for human rights and dignityprovided an asylum for the oppressed of the
old world. Today, the sonsof the New World are fighting in lands
far distant from their own America.They are fighting to save for all mankind,
(26:03):
including ourselves, the principles which areflourished in this new world of freedom.
We are mindful of the countless millionsof people whose future liberty and whose
very lives depend upon permanent victory forthe United Nations. There are few people
(26:23):
in this country who, when thecollapse of the axis begins, will tell
our people that we are safe oncemore, that we can tell the rest
of the world to stew in itsown juice, that never again will we
help to pull the other fellow's chestnutsfrom the fire, that the future of
(26:47):
civilization can jolly well take care ofitself in so far as we are concerned.
But it is useless to win battlesif the cause for which we fight
these battles is lost. It isuseless to win a war unless it stays
(27:14):
one. We therefore fight for therestoration and perpetuation our faith and hope and
peace throughout the world. The objectiveof today is clear and realistic. It
is to destroy completely the military powerof Germany, Italy and Japan to such
(27:44):
good purpose that there threat against usand all the other United Nations cannot be
revived a generation. Hence, weare united in seeking the the victory that
will guarantee that our grandchildren can growand under God, may live their lives
(28:12):
free from the constant threat of invasion, destruction, slavery and violent death,
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