This is pre-eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly
and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country
today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will
prosper.
So first of all let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to
fear. . .is fear itself. . . nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor
has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is
essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to
leadership in these critical days. In such a spirit on my part and on yours we
face our common difficulties.
Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.They know
only the rules of a generation of self-seekers.They have no vision, and when
there is no vision the people perish.Happiness lies not in the mere possession
of money, it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative
effort.These dark days will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that
our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and
to our fellow-men.Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the
standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief
that public office and high political position are to be values only by the
standards of pride of place and personal profit, and there must be an end to a
conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust
the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.Small wonder that confidence
languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of
obligations, on faithful protection, on unselfish performance. Without them it
cannot live.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This nation asks
for action, and action now.There are many ways in which it can be helped, but
it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act, and act
quickly.
The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not
narrowly nationalistic.It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon
the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States.
. . a recognition of the old and permanently important manifestation of the
American spirit of the pioneer.It is the way to recovery. It is the immediate
way. It is the strongest assurance that the recovery will endure.
In the field of world policy I would dedicate this nation to the policy of the
good neighbor. . .the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he
does so, respects the rights of others. . .the neighbor who respects his
obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreements in and with a world of
neighbors.
If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize, as we have never
realized before, our interdependence on each other: that we cannot merely
take, but we must give as well, that if we are to go forward we must move as a
trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common
discipline, because without such discipline, no progress is made, no
leadership becomes effective.
In this dedication of a nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He
protect each and every one of us! May He guide me in the days to come!
