Please enjoy September 8, 1943: Fireside Chat 26: On the Armistice in Italy a great episode of the legendary Franklin D. Roosevelt - A Classic Old Time radio Show.
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
My fellow Americans. Once upon a time, a few years ago,
there was a city in our Middle West which was
threatened by a destructive flood in the Great River. The
waters had risen to the top of the banks. Every man,
woman and child in that city was called a bond
(00:22):
of filled sandbags in order to defend their homes against
the rising waters. For many days and nights, destruction and
death scared them in the face. As a result of
the grim, determined community effort, that city still stands. Those
(00:44):
people kept the levees above the peak of the flood,
all of them joined together in the desperate job that
had to be done, businessmen, workers, farmers, and doctors and preaks,
people of all races. To me, that town is a
(01:05):
living symbol of what community cooperation can accomplish today in
the same kind of community effort, only very much larger.
The United Nations and bad peoples have kept the levees
of civilization high enough to prevent the floods of aggression
(01:26):
and barbarism and wholesale murder from engulfing us all The
flood has been raging for four years. At last we
are beginning to gain on it. But the waters have
not yet receded enough for us to relax our sweating
work with the sandbags. In this war bond campaign. We
(01:51):
are filling bags and placing them against the flood bags,
which are essential if we are to stand off the
ugly current which is still trying to sweep us all away.
Today it is announced that an armistice with Italy has
been concluded. This was a great victory for the United Nations,
(02:16):
but it is also a great victory for the Italian people.
After years of war and suffering and degradation, the Italian
people of last coming to the day of liberation from
their real enemies, the Nazis. But let us not delude
ourselves that this armistice means the end of the war
(02:39):
and the Mediterranean. We still have to drive the Germans
out of Italy. As we have driven them out of
Tunisia and Sicily. We must drive them out of France
and all other captive countries, and we must strike them
on their own soil from all directions. Our ultimate objectives
(03:02):
in this war continue to be boilin and tokyo. I
ask you to bear these objectives constantly in mind, and
do not forget that we still have a long way
to go before we attain them. The great news that
you have heard today from Generalizenhower does not give you
(03:24):
license to settle back in your rocking chairs and say, well,
that does it. We've got them on the run. Now
we can start the celebrations. The time for celebration is
not yet. And I have a suspicion that when this
war does end, we shall not be in a very
(03:47):
celebrating mood, a very celebrating frame of mind. I think
that our main emotions will be one of grim determinations
that this shall not happen again. During the past weeks,
mister Churchill and I have been in constant conference with
(04:10):
the leaders of our combined fighting forces. We have been
in constant communication with our fighting allies, Russian and Chinese,
who are prosecuting the war with relentless determination and with
conspicuous consents to success on far distant fronts. And mister
(04:31):
Churchill and I are here to gather in Washington at
this crucial moment. We have seen the satisfactory, fulfillative plans
that were made in Casablanca last January and here in
Washington last May, and lately we have made new, well
(04:51):
considered plans for the future. But throughout these conferences we
have never lost sight of the fact that this war
will become bigger and tougher rather than easier, during the
long months that have come. This war does not and
must not stop for one single instant. You are fighting
(05:17):
men know that those of them who are moving forward
through jungles against lurking Japs, those who are landing at
this moment in barges, moving through the dawn up the
strange enemy coasts, those who are diving their bombers down
(05:37):
on the target at root top level at this moment,
every one of these men knows that this war is
a full time job, and that it will continue to
be that until total victory is won. And by the
same token, every responsible leader in all the United Nations
(06:00):
knows that the fighting goes on twenty four hours of day,
seven days a week, and that any day lost they
have to be paid for in terms of months added
to the duration of the war. Every campaign, every single operation,
(06:21):
in all the campaigns that we plan and carry through,
must be figured in terms of staggering material costs. We
cannot afford to be niggardly with any of our resources,
or we shall need all of them to do the
job that we have put our shoulder to. Your fellow
(06:41):
Americans have given the magnificent account of themselves on the battlefields,
and on the oceans and in the skies all over
the world. Now it is up to you to prove
to them that you are contributing your share and more
than your share. Is not sufficient simply to put into
(07:02):
war bonds money which we would normally save. We must
put into war bonds money which we would not normally save.
Only then have we done everything that good conscience demands.
So it is up to you, up to you, the Americans,
(07:22):
and the American homes, the very homes which our sons
and daughters are working and fighting and dying to preserve.
I know I speak for every man and woman throughout
the Americans when I say that we Americans will not
(07:42):
be satisfied to send our fruits into the fire of
the enemy with equipment inferior in any way, Nor will
we be satisfied to send our troops with equipment only
equal to that of the enemy. We are determined to
(08:02):
provide our troups with overpowering superiority, superiority of wantaby and
quality in any and every category of arms and armaments
that they may conceivably need. And where does this odd
(08:24):
dominating power come from? Why can come only from you.
The money you lend, the money you give in Texas
buys that death dealing and at the same time life
saving power that we need for victory. This is an
expensive war, expensive in money. You can help it. You
(08:50):
can help to keep it at a minimum cost in lives.
The American people will never stop to reckon the cost
of a civilization. They know there never can be any
economic justification for failing to save freedom. And we can
(09:13):
be sure that our enemies will watch this drive for
the keenest interest. They know that success in this undertaking
will shortened the war. They know that the more money
the American people lend to their government, the more powerful
and relentless will be the American forces in the field.
(09:34):
They know that only are united and determined America could
possibly produce on a voluntary basis so huge a sum
of money at fifteen billion dollars. The overwhelming success of
the Second War on Drive last April showed that the
people of this democracy stood firm behind that troops. This
(09:58):
third war, which we are starting tonight, will also succeed
because the American people will not permit it to fail.
I cannot tell you how much to invest in war
bonds during this third war long drive. No one can
tell you. It is for you to decide under the
(10:22):
guidance of your own conscience. I will say this, however,
because the nation's needs are greater than ever before, our sacrifices, too,
must speak greater than they have ever been before. Nobody
knows when total victory will come, but we do know
(10:44):
that the harder we fight now, the more might and
power we direct at the enemy now, the shorter the
war will be in the smaller the sum total of sacrifice.
Success of the Third Wall will be the symbol. But
America does not propose to rest on its arms that
(11:08):
we know the tough bit our job ahead, and will
not stop until we have finished it. Now it is
your turn. Every dollar that you invest in the Third
Wall on is your personal message of defiance to our
common enemies, to the ruthless savages of Germany and Japan.
(11:34):
And it is your personal message of faith and good
cheer to our our lives and to all the men
at the front. God bless them.
My fellow Americans. Once upon a time, a few years ago,
there was a city in our Middle West which was
threatened by a destructive flood in the Great River. The
waters had risen to the top of the banks. Every man,
woman and child in that city was called a bond
(00:22):
of filled sandbags in order to defend their homes against
the rising waters. For many days and nights, destruction and
death scared them in the face. As a result of
the grim, determined community effort, that city still stands. Those
(00:44):
people kept the levees above the peak of the flood,
all of them joined together in the desperate job that
had to be done, businessmen, workers, farmers, and doctors and preaks,
people of all races. To me, that town is a
(01:05):
living symbol of what community cooperation can accomplish today in
the same kind of community effort, only very much larger.
The United Nations and bad peoples have kept the levees
of civilization high enough to prevent the floods of aggression
(01:26):
and barbarism and wholesale murder from engulfing us all The
flood has been raging for four years. At last we
are beginning to gain on it. But the waters have
not yet receded enough for us to relax our sweating
work with the sandbags. In this war bond campaign. We
(01:51):
are filling bags and placing them against the flood bags,
which are essential if we are to stand off the
ugly current which is still trying to sweep us all away.
Today it is announced that an armistice with Italy has
been concluded. This was a great victory for the United Nations,
(02:16):
but it is also a great victory for the Italian people.
After years of war and suffering and degradation, the Italian
people of last coming to the day of liberation from
their real enemies, the Nazis. But let us not delude
ourselves that this armistice means the end of the war
(02:39):
and the Mediterranean. We still have to drive the Germans
out of Italy. As we have driven them out of
Tunisia and Sicily. We must drive them out of France
and all other captive countries, and we must strike them
on their own soil from all directions. Our ultimate objectives
(03:02):
in this war continue to be boilin and tokyo. I
ask you to bear these objectives constantly in mind, and
do not forget that we still have a long way
to go before we attain them. The great news that
you have heard today from Generalizenhower does not give you
(03:24):
license to settle back in your rocking chairs and say, well,
that does it. We've got them on the run. Now
we can start the celebrations. The time for celebration is
not yet. And I have a suspicion that when this
war does end, we shall not be in a very
(03:47):
celebrating mood, a very celebrating frame of mind. I think
that our main emotions will be one of grim determinations
that this shall not happen again. During the past weeks,
mister Churchill and I have been in constant conference with
(04:10):
the leaders of our combined fighting forces. We have been
in constant communication with our fighting allies, Russian and Chinese,
who are prosecuting the war with relentless determination and with
conspicuous consents to success on far distant fronts. And mister
(04:31):
Churchill and I are here to gather in Washington at
this crucial moment. We have seen the satisfactory, fulfillative plans
that were made in Casablanca last January and here in
Washington last May, and lately we have made new, well
(04:51):
considered plans for the future. But throughout these conferences we
have never lost sight of the fact that this war
will become bigger and tougher rather than easier, during the
long months that have come. This war does not and
must not stop for one single instant. You are fighting
(05:17):
men know that those of them who are moving forward
through jungles against lurking Japs, those who are landing at
this moment in barges, moving through the dawn up the
strange enemy coasts, those who are diving their bombers down
(05:37):
on the target at root top level at this moment,
every one of these men knows that this war is
a full time job, and that it will continue to
be that until total victory is won. And by the
same token, every responsible leader in all the United Nations
(06:00):
knows that the fighting goes on twenty four hours of day,
seven days a week, and that any day lost they
have to be paid for in terms of months added
to the duration of the war. Every campaign, every single operation,
(06:21):
in all the campaigns that we plan and carry through,
must be figured in terms of staggering material costs. We
cannot afford to be niggardly with any of our resources,
or we shall need all of them to do the
job that we have put our shoulder to. Your fellow
(06:41):
Americans have given the magnificent account of themselves on the battlefields,
and on the oceans and in the skies all over
the world. Now it is up to you to prove
to them that you are contributing your share and more
than your share. Is not sufficient simply to put into
(07:02):
war bonds money which we would normally save. We must
put into war bonds money which we would not normally save.
Only then have we done everything that good conscience demands.
So it is up to you, up to you, the Americans,
(07:22):
and the American homes, the very homes which our sons
and daughters are working and fighting and dying to preserve.
I know I speak for every man and woman throughout
the Americans when I say that we Americans will not
(07:42):
be satisfied to send our fruits into the fire of
the enemy with equipment inferior in any way, Nor will
we be satisfied to send our troops with equipment only
equal to that of the enemy. We are determined to
(08:02):
provide our troups with overpowering superiority, superiority of wantaby and
quality in any and every category of arms and armaments
that they may conceivably need. And where does this odd
(08:24):
dominating power come from? Why can come only from you.
The money you lend, the money you give in Texas
buys that death dealing and at the same time life
saving power that we need for victory. This is an
expensive war, expensive in money. You can help it. You
(08:50):
can help to keep it at a minimum cost in lives.
The American people will never stop to reckon the cost
of a civilization. They know there never can be any
economic justification for failing to save freedom. And we can
(09:13):
be sure that our enemies will watch this drive for
the keenest interest. They know that success in this undertaking
will shortened the war. They know that the more money
the American people lend to their government, the more powerful
and relentless will be the American forces in the field.
(09:34):
They know that only are united and determined America could
possibly produce on a voluntary basis so huge a sum
of money at fifteen billion dollars. The overwhelming success of
the Second War on Drive last April showed that the
people of this democracy stood firm behind that troops. This
(09:58):
third war, which we are starting tonight, will also succeed
because the American people will not permit it to fail.
I cannot tell you how much to invest in war
bonds during this third war long drive. No one can
tell you. It is for you to decide under the
(10:22):
guidance of your own conscience. I will say this, however,
because the nation's needs are greater than ever before, our sacrifices, too,
must speak greater than they have ever been before. Nobody
knows when total victory will come, but we do know
(10:44):
that the harder we fight now, the more might and
power we direct at the enemy now, the shorter the
war will be in the smaller the sum total of sacrifice.
Success of the Third Wall will be the symbol. But
America does not propose to rest on its arms that
(11:08):
we know the tough bit our job ahead, and will
not stop until we have finished it. Now it is
your turn. Every dollar that you invest in the Third
Wall on is your personal message of defiance to our
common enemies, to the ruthless savages of Germany and Japan.
(11:34):
And it is your personal message of faith and good
cheer to our our lives and to all the men
at the front. God bless them.
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