Arsenal of Democracy was a slogan used President Franklin Roosevelt in a radio broadcast December 29, during the time of World War II. During this speech Roosevelt promised Lend-Lease to the British, bringing up the idea for the first time. The Lend-Lease bill was passed in Congress on March 11, 1941. The Arsenal of Democracy that Roosevelt referred to as the United States didn’t represent just one city but the country’s industries as a whole and their support of the Allies.
The origin of the phrase and that America was an arsenal came from the playwright by Robert Sherwood, the quote saying “this country [The United States] is already, in effect, an arsenal for the democratic Allies”. Roosevelt first used this phrase to stress that the American people not the American government had the power to turn the tide of the war. Roosevelt said “We must be the great arsenal of democracy. For us this is an emergency as serious as war itself” The meaning of the speech and the phrase “the arsenal of democracy” marked the decline of the isolationist and non-interventionist doctrine that had dominated the interwar US foreign policy, it marked the approach to entry into WWII. Though many Americans didn’t know it at the time the German’s knew it, after President Roosevelt announced that the United States was meant to be “the arsenal of democracy” German production increased, knowing that the United States were soon to enter into the war.
Soon after the Arsenal of Democracy Speech was given President Roosevelt gave the Four Freedoms as the United States goals in his Four Freedoms Speech on January 6, 1941. The Four Freedoms according to President Roosevelt were, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
Freedom of speech was meant to be everywhere in the world, following back to Roosevelt’s idea of the United States being “the arsenal of democracy”. The United States acted as the police of the world and the keepers of peace. The next freedom, the freedom of worship was that every person, throughout the world could worship the God they believed in, in their own way. The third freedom, the freedom of want, meant in world terms that economic understandings will secure every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants. And the final freedom, the freedom from fear, meant that a world-wide reduction of armaments to a point and in a thorough way will put no nation in any position to commit an act o physical aggression on another.
This speech was “largely about the national security of the United States and the threat to other democracies from world war that was being waged across the continents in the eastern hemisphere” Another purpose of the Four Freedoms Speech was to provide national rational for why the United States could no longer be pro-isolationism, and that they must soon get involved in World War II, not necessarily through fighting but definitely through the soon to be passed Lend-Lease Bill.
The Four Freedoms inspired many Americans and helped them to realize that they indeed needed to be involved in the war in order for Germany not to become the major superpower of the world. Up until this point the United States citizens didn’t understand how dangerous the Nazi German empire was, but this speech and the soon bombing of United States ships by German U-Boats helped the Americans realize that they must be involved. “The declaration of the Four Freedoms as a justification fro war would resonate through the remainder of the war, and for decades longer as a frame of remembrance. The Freedoms became the staple of America’s war aims, and the center of all attempts to rally public support for war.”
It is amazing how rallying a speech can become when upon the brink of a complete world collapse. FDR made other speeches that were almost more famous ("A Date Which Will Live in Infamy") and some could have spoken well but met heavy resistance ("quarantine of the aggressor nations").
ReplyDeleteBut these words would go on to become far more famous than just this speech. In the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the preamble reads, "Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed the highest aspiration of the common people...."
His words have become the definition of a generation that had fought for its freedom and one that millions have continued to defend despite consistent attacks from all parties and peoples. I wonder if, though I hope not, should the world be on the verge, words just as these will unite not only the United States, but the world.
I think WWII is probably one of the first times that American people were more relied upon for the war effort than soldiers were. It is no surprise that Roosevelt appealed to the people to help the war effort because what would the military be without people at home actively supporting it? This is not to say the military was unimportant, both the American people and military can only thrive with the existence of the other. However, there is a certain ratio that exists between the two. For every soldier that sacrifices his life, there are thousands of people behind him. Could words now have as great of an impact as it did in WWII?
ReplyDelete