FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL
INSCRIPTIONS
Room One
1. "This Generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny…" Acceptance
Speech to the Democratic National Convention for Renomination as Presidential
Candidate for a Second Term, Philadelphia, PA, June 27, 1936.
2. "No Country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources.
Demoralization caused by vast unemployment is our greatest
extravagance. Morally, it is the greatest menace to our social order. Second
Fireside Chat on Government and Modern Capitalism, Washington, D.C., September
30, 1934.
3. "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a New Deal for the American People."
Speech before the 1932 Democratic National Convention; FDR's nomination as Presidential
Candidate, Chicago, IL, July,2, 1932.
4. "Among American citizens there should be no forgotten men and no forgotten
races." Address at the Dedication of the New Chemistry Building, Howard
University, Washington, D.C., October 26, 1936.
5. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." First Inaugural Address,
Washington, D.C., March 4,1933.
6. "Men and nature must work hand in hand. The throwing out of balance of
the resources of nature throws out of balance also the lives of men." Message
to Congress on the Use of Our Natural Resources, Washington, D.C., January 24,
1935.
7. "In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose
the path of social justice,the path of faith, the path of hope and the path
of love toward our fellow men." Campaign Address, Detroit, Michigan, October
2, 1932.
Room Two
8. "I never forget that I live in a house owned by all the American people
and that I have been given their trust." Fireside Chat on Economic Conditions,
Washington, D.C., April 14, 1938.
9. "I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished.
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those
who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."
Second Inaugural Address, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1937.
10. "It is time to extend planning to a wider field, in this instance comprehending
in one great project many states directly concerned with the basin of one of
our greatest rivers."Message to Congress suggesting the Tennessee Valley
Authority, April 10, 1933.
11. "I propose to create a Civilian Conservation Corps to be used in simple
work, more important, however, than the material gains will be the moral and
spiritual value of such work." Message to Congress on Unemployment Relief,
Washington, D.C., March 21, 1933.
Room Three
12. "We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of
all our citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression,
any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."
Greeting to the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign Born, Washington,
D.C., January 9, 1940.
13. "We must be the great arsenal of Democracy." Fireside Chat on National
Security, Washington, D.C., December 29, 1940.
14. "We have faith that future generations will know that here, in the middle
of the twentieth century, there came a time when men of good will found a way
to unite, and produce, and fight to destroy the forces of ignorance, and intolerance,
and slavery, and war." Address to White House Correspondents' Association,
Washington, D.C., February 12, 1943.
15. "They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation
of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers call this a new order.
It is not new and it is not order." Address to the Annual Dinner for White
House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C., March 15, 1941.
16. "I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood
running from the wounded.I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities
destroyed.I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and
wives. I hate war." Address at Chautauqua, NY, August 14, 1936.
Room Four
17. "More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars."
Undelivered Address prepared for Jefferson Day to be delivered April 13, 1945.
18. "Unless the peace that follows recognizes that the whole world is one
neighborhood and does justice to the whole human race, the germs of another
world war will remain as a constant threat to mankind." Address to White
House Correspondents' Association, Washington, D.C., February 12, 1943.
19. "Freedom of speech. Freedom of worship. Freedom from want. Freedom from
fear." Address to the Annual Dinner for White House Correspondents' Association,
Washington, D.C., March 15, 1941.
20. "The structure of world peace cannot be the work of one man, or one party,
or one nation. It must be a peace which rests on the cooperative effort of the
whole world." Address before Congress on the Yalta Conference, Washington,
D.C., March 1, 1945.
21. "The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of
today. Let us move forward with strong and active faith." Undelivered Address
prepared for Jefferson Day to be delivered April 13, 1945.