Backing It Up
- FDR qualifies his previous statements about impending threats by looking back to past moments of crisis in America's history.
- Wanting to be thorough—because he's the prez and all—he starts from the very beginning by referencing the year the Constitution came into force and cites the Civil War as the only domestic crisis that ever threatened to split up the country.
- He expresses his relief that people have (allegedly) gotten over that whole North/South Civil War rivalry issue.
- Good job, everyone.
- Then, the audience is reminded about U.S. involvement in past international military conflicts prior to World War I.
- FDR provides examples of conflicts in vague terms, but he's very specific about justifying these conflicts as upkeep for American rights and easy international trade...for the benefit of America, of course.
- Then, he implies that none of these crises come close to the whopper that is coming down the line (the military aggression of the Axis powers) since the safety and independence of the United States are directly under threat.
- Yikes again.