第一篇：美國總統富蘭克林羅斯福的4次就職演講集

美國歷屆總統就職演說之---第32任總統Franklin D.Roosevelt的第一任期就職演講稿

First Inaugural Address of Franklin D.Roosevelt

President Hoover, Mr.Chief Justice, my friends:

This is a day of national consecration.And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.This is preeminently 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 of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.And 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.They concern, thank God, only material things.Values have shrunk to fantastic levels;taxes have risen;our ability to pay has fallen;government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income;the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade;the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side;farmers find no markets for their produce;and the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return.Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance.We are stricken by no plague of locusts.Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for.Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it.Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated.Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.True, they have tried.But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition.Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence.They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers.They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money;it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.The joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.These dark days, my friends, 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, to our fellow men.Recognition of that 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 valued 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, and on unselfish performance;without them it cannot live.Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.This Nation is asking for action, and action now.Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing great--greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.Hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.Yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities.It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms.It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, the State, and the local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced.It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal.It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities that have a definitely public character.There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.We must act.We must act quickly.And finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order.There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments.There must be an end to speculation with other people's money.And there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.These, my friends, are the lines of attack.I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the 48 States.Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo.Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy.I favor, as a practical policy, the putting of first things first.I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment;but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not nationally--narrowly nationalistic.It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States of America--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 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 can not 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 can be made, no leadership becomes effective.We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good.This, I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us, bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors.Our Constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen.It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us.But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.But, in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me.I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.For the trust reposed in me, I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time.I can do no less.We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity;with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values;with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike.We aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.We do not distrust the--the future of essential democracy.The people of the United States have not failed.In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action.They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership.They have made me the present instrument of their wishes.In the spirit of the gift I take it.In this dedication--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.第一個總統任期

1932年總統競選是在嚴重經濟危機的背景下進行的。民主黨總統候選人羅斯福主張實行“新政”。政敵們常用他的殘疾來攻擊他，這是羅斯福終生都不得不與之搏斗的事情，但是他總能以出色的政績、卓越的口才與充沛的精力將其變成優勢。首次參加競選他就通過發言人告訴人們：“一個州長不一定是一個雜技演員。我們選他并不是因為他能做前滾翻或后滾翻。他干的是腦力勞動，是想方設法為人民造福。”依靠這樣的堅忍和樂觀，羅斯福終于在1933年以絕對優勢擊敗胡佛，成為美國第32屆總統。

在羅斯福首次履任總統的1933年初，正值經濟大蕭條的風暴席卷美國的時候，到處是失業、破產、倒閉、暴跌，到處可見美國的痛苦、恐懼和絕望。羅斯福卻表現出一種壓倒一切的自信，他在宣誓就職時發表了一篇富有激情的演說，告訴人們：我們惟一害怕的就是害怕本身。在1933年3月4日那個陰冷的下午，新總統的決心和輕松愉快的樂觀態度，“點燃了舉國同心同德的新精神之火”。提出了旨在實現國家復興和對外睦鄰友好的施政方針。為了推行新政，羅斯福將一批具有自由主義色彩的律師、專家與學者組成智囊團，征詢方針政策問題；通過“爐邊談話”方式，密切與人民群眾的聯系，與反對新政的最高法院進行堅決的斗爭并成功地改組最高法院。

1933年3月9日至6月16日，美國國會應羅斯福總統之請召開特別會議。羅斯福先后提出各種咨文，督促和指導國會的立法工作。國會則以驚人的速度先后通過《緊急銀行法》、《聯邦緊急救濟法》、《農業調整法》、《工業復興法》、《田納西河流域管理法》等。1933-1934年的新政著重“復興”，主要措施有：維持銀行信用，實行美元貶值，刺激對外貿易，限制農業生產以維持農產品價格，避免農場主破產；規定協定價格以減少企業之間的競爭，制止企業倒閉1935-1939年的新政則著重“救濟”和“改革”，主要措施有：更為有力地運用行政干預，實行緩慢的通貨膨脹，廣泛開展公共工程建設和緊急救濟，實施社會保險，以擴大就業機會和提高社會購買力；進行稅制改革，根據納稅能力納稅，分級征收公司所得稅和過分利得稅等。羅斯福新政，恢復了公眾對美國政治制度的信心，強化了聯邦政府機構。并由此使美國的工業、農業逐漸全面恢復。第一個任期終了的1936年，面對國民收入50%的增幅，羅斯福娓娓動聽地描述道：“此時此刻，工廠機器齊奏樂曲，市場一片繁榮，銀行信用堅挺，車船滿載客貨往來奔馳。”因此，羅斯福在1936年再次當選總統，也就不足為怪了。

1933年，羅斯福政府承認蘇聯并與之建立外交關系。1934年，美國國會廢除干涉古巴主權的普拉特修正案，美軍撤出海地和尼加拉瓜，美國允許菲律賓獨立。當然，羅斯福在推行睦鄰政策的同時，對拉丁美洲國家也有過粗暴的干涉。

30年代中期，德意日法西斯在歐洲和亞洲成兩個戰爭策源地。然而，此時的美國盛行孤立主義。1935年，美國國會通過旨在使美國保持中立的皮特曼決議案。該決議案規定：戰爭時期禁止美國輸出武器裝備和信貸，而有效期為兩年的“現購自運”條款則授權總統要求在美國購買非軍事物資的交戰國付現金并用本國船只裝運。面對法西斯國家的侵略擴張，孤立主義和中立法無異于對侵略擴張的默許和縱容。為了引導美國及其公眾作好反法西斯戰爭的準備，加強美國防務力量，羅斯福與孤立主義展開了堅決而富有藝術性的斗爭。

美國歷屆總統就職演說之---第32任總統Franklin D.Roosevelt的第二任期就職演講稿 Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D.Roosevelt WHEN four years ago we met to inaugurate a President, the Republic, single-minded in anxiety, stood in spirit here.We dedicated ourselves to the fulfillment of a vision—to speed the time when there would be for all the people that security and peace essential to the pursuit of happiness.We of the Republic pledged ourselves to drive from the temple of our ancient faith those who had profaned it;to end by action, tireless and unafraid, the stagnation and despair of that day.We did those first things first.Our covenant with ourselves did not stop there.Instinctively we recognized a deeper need—the need to find through government the instrument of our united purpose to solve for the individual the ever-rising problems of a complex civilization.Repeated attempts at their solution without the aid of government had left us baffled and bewildered.For, without that aid, we had been unable to create those moral controls over the services of science which are necessary to make science a useful servant instead of a ruthless master of mankind.To do this we knew that we must find practical controls over blind economic forces and blindly selfish men.We of the Republic sensed the truth that democratic government has innate capacity to protect its people against disasters once considered inevitable, to solve problems once considered unsolvable.We would not admit that we could not find a way to master economic epidemics just as, after centuries of fatalistic suffering, we had found a way to master epidemics of disease.We refused to leave the problems of our common welfare to be solved by the winds of chance and the hurricanes of disaster.In this we Americans were discovering no wholly new truth;we were writing a new chapter in our book of self-government.This year marks the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Constitutional Convention which made us a nation.At that Convention our forefathers found the way out of the chaos which followed the Revolutionary War;they created a strong government with powers of united action sufficient then and now to solve problems utterly beyond individual or local solution.A century and a half ago they established the Federal Government in order to promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to the American people.Today we invoke those same powers of government to achieve the same objectives.Four years of new experience have not belied our historic instinct.They hold out the clear hope that government within communities, government within the separate States, and government of the United States can do the things the times require, without yielding its democracy.Our tasks in the last four years did not force democracy to take a holiday.Nearly all of us recognize that as intricacies of human relationships increase, so power to govern them also must increase—power to stop evil;power to do good.The essential democracy of our Nation and the safety of our people depend not upon the absence of power, but upon lodging it with those whom the people can change or continue at stated intervals through an honest and free system of elections.The Constitution of 1787 did not make our democracy impotent.In fact, in these last four years, we have made the exercise of all power more democratic;for we have begun to bring private autocratic powers into their proper subordination to the public's government.The legend that they were invincible—above and beyond the processes of a democracy—has been shattered.They have been challenged and beaten.Our progress out of the depression is obvious.But that is not all that you and I mean by the new order of things.Our pledge was not merely to do a patchwork job with secondhand materials.By using the new materials of social justice we have undertaken to erect on the old foundations a more enduring structure for the better use of future generations.In that purpose we have been helped by achievements of mind and spirit.Old truths have been relearned;untruths have been unlearned.We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals;we know now that it is bad economics.Out of the collapse of a prosperity whose builders boasted their practicality has come the conviction that in the long run economic morality pays.We are beginning to wipe out the line that divides the practical from the ideal;and in so doing we are fashioning an instrument of unimagined power for the establishment of a morally better world.This new understanding undermines the old admiration of worldly success as such.We are beginning to abandon our tolerance of the abuse of power by those who betray for profit the elementary decencies of life.In this process evil things formerly accepted will not be so easily condoned.Hard-headedness will not so easily excuse hardheartedness.We are moving toward an era of good feeling.But we realize that there can be no era of good feeling save among men of good will.For these reasons I am justified in believing that the greatest change we have witnessed has been the change in the moral climate of America.Among men of good will, science and democracy together offer an ever-richer life and ever-larger satisfaction to the individual.With this change in our moral climate and our rediscovered ability to improve our economic order, we have set our feet upon the road of enduring progress.Shall we pause now and turn our back upon the road that lies ahead? Shall we call this the promised land? Or, shall we continue on our way? For “each age is a dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth.” 16 Many voices are heard as we face a great decision.Comfort says, “Tarry a while.” Opportunism says, “This is a good spot.” Timidity asks, “How difficult is the road ahead?”

True, we have come far from the days of stagnation and despair.Vitality has been preserved.Courage and confidence have been restored.Mental and moral horizons have been extended.But our present gains were won under the pressure of more than ordinary circumstances.Advance became imperative under the goad of fear and suffering.The times were on the side of progress.To hold to progress today, however, is more difficult.Dulled conscience, irresponsibility, and ruthless self-interest already reappear.Such symptoms of prosperity may become portents of disaster!Prosperity already tests the persistence of our progressive purpose.Let us ask again: Have we reached the goal of our vision of that fourth day of March 1933? Have we found our happy valley?

I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources.Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves;they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations.I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence.But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens—a substantial part of its whole population—who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life.I see millions of families trying to live on incomes so meager that the pall of family disaster hangs over them day by day.I see millions whose daily lives in city and on farm continue under conditions labeled indecent by a so-called polite society half a century ago.I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children.I see millions lacking the means to buy the products of farm and factory and by their poverty denying work and productiveness to many other millions.I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished.It is not in despair that I paint you that picture.I paint it for you in hope—because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out.We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country's interest and concern;and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous.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.If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity.We will carry on.Overwhelmingly, we of the Republic are men and women of good will;men and women who have more than warm hearts of dedication;men and women who have cool heads and willing hands of practical purpose as well.They will insist that every agency of popular government use effective instruments to carry out their will.31 Government is competent when all who compose it work as trustees for the whole people.It can make constant progress when it keeps abreast of all the facts.It can obtain justified support and legitimate criticism when the people receive true information of all that government does.If I know aught of the will of our people, they will demand that these conditions of effective government shall be created and maintained.They will demand a nation uncorrupted by cancers of injustice and, therefore, strong among the nations in its example of the will to peace.Today we reconsecrate our country to long-cherished ideals in a suddenly changed civilization.In every land there are always at work forces that drive men apart and forces that draw men together.In our personal ambitions we are individualists.But in our seeking for economic and political progress as a nation, we all go up, or else we all go down, as one people.To maintain a democracy of effort requires a vast amount of patience in dealing with differing methods, a vast amount of humility.But out of the confusion of many voices rises an understanding of dominant public need.Then political leadership can voice common ideals, and aid in their realization.In taking again the oath of office as President of the United States, I assume the solemn obligation of leading the American people forward along the road over which they have chosen to advance.While this duty rests upon me I shall do my utmost to speak their purpose and to do their will, seeking Divine guidance to help us each and every one to give light to them that sit in darkness and to guide our feet into the way of peace.第二個總統任期

1937年10月，羅斯福在芝加哥參加新建大橋的落成典禮時發表演說，指出：“當某種傳染性疾病開始蔓延的時候，為了保護居民的健康，防止病疫流行，社會許可并且共同對患者實行隔離”，“戰爭都會蔓延。戰爭可以席卷遠離原來戰場的國家和人民。我們決心置身于戰爭之外，然而我們并不能保證我們不受戰爭災難的影響和避免卷入戰爭的危機。”隔離演說“遭到猛烈抨擊。乃至羅斯福事后不無后怕地說：”你想領個頭，但回頭一看，身后一個人也沒有，這種情況多么可怕啊！“但是，”隔離演說“畢竟向美國公眾指出了戰爭恐怖的存在。1938年1月，羅斯福在特別咨文中敦促立即增加20%的海軍建設費。國會經過激烈辯論而于5月通過文森擴充海軍法，準許以10億美元發展海軍。這一事實表明，大多數認真思考問題的美國人，已經看到戰爭的威脅并因而同意加強防務。1938年12月，在羅斯福的倡議下，泛美會議通過《利馬宣言》，反映出美洲國家反法西斯的決心。1938年3月，德軍進入布拉格之后，美國副國務卿代表總統譴責德國”肆無忌憚的不法行為“和”橫行霸道“。

1939年9月，德波戰爭爆發之后，羅斯福不得不發表正式中立聲明并實施中立法。在9月21日國會召開的特別會議上，羅斯福企圖用禁運政策曾給美國帶來的災難--1814年國會大廈部分被焚來說服國會廢除禁運條款，同時聲稱”當然，向諸位回顧這上點只不過是復述歷史罷了“。經過國會內外的激烈辯論，國會通過中立法修正案，取消禁運條款，實行現購自運原則（現金購買，運輸自理）。羅斯福隨即予以簽署。

1940年5 月，英法聯軍經德軍打擊而潰敗。羅斯福要求國會追加國防撥款，加強戰備。為了獲得共和黨人的支持，羅斯福任命亨利·史汀生為陸軍部長，弗蘭克·諾克斯為海軍部長。大戰期間，美國歷任陸軍部長為哈里·伍德林（1937年至1940年6月）、亨利·史汀生（1940年6月到1945年9月）。歷任海軍部長為克勞德·斯旺森（任至1939年）、查爾斯·愛迪生（1940年）、弗蘭克·諾克斯（1940年6月至1944年）、詹姆斯·福雷斯特爾（1944年繼任）。在英國面臨危亡的時刻，羅斯福開始向英國提供武器裝備。

美國歷屆總統就職演說之---第32任總統Franklin D.Roosevelt的第三任期就職演講稿

Third Inaugural Address of Franklin D.Roosevelt

ON each national day of inauguration since 1789, the people have renewed their sense of dedication to the United States.In Washington's day the task of the people was to create and weld together a nation.In Lincoln's day the task of the people was to preserve that Nation from disruption from within.In this day the task of the people is to save that Nation and its institutions from disruption from without.To us there has come a time, in the midst of swift happenings, to pause for a moment and take stock—to recall what our place in history has been, and to rediscover what we are and what we may be.If we do not, we risk the real peril of inaction.Lives of nations are determined not by the count of years, but by the lifetime of the human spirit.The life of a man is three-score years and ten: a little more, a little less.The life of a nation is the fullness of the measure of its will to live.There are men who doubt this.There are men who believe that democracy, as a form of Government and a frame of life, is limited or measured by a kind of mystical and artificial fate that, for some unexplained reason, tyranny and slavery have become the surging wave of the future—and that freedom is an ebbing tide.But we Americans know that this is not true.Eight years ago, when the life of this Republic seemed frozen by a fatalistic terror, we proved that this is not true.We were in the midst of shock—but we acted.We acted quickly, boldly, decisively.These later years have been living years—fruitful years for the people of this democracy.For they have brought to us greater security and, I hope, a better understanding that life's ideals are to be measured in other than material things.Most vital to our present and our future is this experience of a democracy which successfully survived crisis at home;put away many evil things;built new structures on enduring lines;and, through it all, maintained the fact of its democracy.For action has been taken within the three-way framework of the Constitution of the United States.The coordinate branches of the Government continue freely to function.The Bill of Rights remains inviolate.The freedom of elections is wholly maintained.Prophets of the downfall of American democracy have seen their dire predictions come to naught.Democracy is not dying.We know it because we have seen it revive—and grow.We know it cannot die—because it is built on the unhampered initiative of individual men and women joined together in a common enterprise—an enterprise undertaken and carried through by the free expression of a free majority.We know it because democracy alone, of all forms of government, enlists the full force of men's enlightened will.We know it because democracy alone has constructed an unlimited civilization capable of infinite progress in the improvement of human life.We know it because, if we look below the surface, we sense it still spreading on every continent—for it is the most humane, the most advanced, and in the end the most unconquerable of all forms of human society.A nation, like a person, has a body—a body that must be fed and clothed and housed, invigorated and rested, in a manner that measures up to the objectives of our time.A nation, like a person, has a mind—a mind that must be kept informed and alert, that must know itself, that understands the hopes and the needs of its neighbors—all the other nations that live within the narrowing circle of the world.And a nation, like a person, has something deeper, something more permanent, something larger than the sum of all its parts.It is that something which matters most to its future—which calls forth the most sacred guarding of its present.It is a thing for which we find it difficult—even impossible—to hit upon a single, simple word.And yet we all understand what it is—the spirit—the faith of America.It is the product of centuries.It was born in the multitudes of those who came from many lands—some of high degree, but mostly plain people, who sought here, early and late, to find freedom more freely.The democratic aspiration is no mere recent phase in human history.It is human history.It permeated the ancient life of early peoples.It blazed anew in the middle ages.It was written in Magna Charta.In the Americas its impact has been irresistible.America has been the New World in all tongues, to all peoples, not because this continent was a new-found land, but because all those who came here believed they could create upon this continent a new life—a life that should be new in freedom.Its vitality was written into our own Mayflower Compact, into the Declaration of Independence, into the Constitution of the United States, into the Gettysburg Address.Those who first came here to carry out the longings of their spirit, and the millions who followed, and the stock that sprang from them—all have moved forward constantly and consistently toward an ideal which in itself has gained stature and clarity with each generation.The hopes of the Republic cannot forever tolerate either undeserved poverty or self-serving wealth.We know that we still have far to go;that we must more greatly build the security and the opportunity and the knowledge of every citizen, in the measure justified by the resources and the capacity of the land.But it is not enough to achieve these purposes alone.It is not enough to clothe and feed the body of this Nation, and instruct and inform its mind.For there is also the spirit.And of the three, the greatest is the spirit.Without the body and the mind, as all men know, the Nation could not live.But if the spirit of America were killed, even though the Nation's body and mind, constricted in an alien world, lived on, the America we know would have perished.That spirit—that faith—speaks to us in our daily lives in ways often unnoticed, because they seem so obvious.It speaks to us here in the Capital of the Nation.It speaks to us through the processes of governing in the sovereignties of 48 States.It speaks to us in our counties, in our cities, in our towns, and in our villages.It speaks to us from the other nations of the hemisphere, and from those across the seas—the enslaved, as well as the free.Sometimes we fail to hear or heed these voices of freedom because to us the privilege of our freedom is such an old, old story.The destiny of America was proclaimed in words of prophecy spoken by our first President in his first inaugural in 1789—words almost directed, it would seem, to this year of 1941: ”The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered...deeply,...finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people.“

If we lose that sacred fire—if we let it be smothered with doubt and fear—then we shall reject the destiny which Washington strove so valiantly and so triumphantly to establish.The preservation of the spirit and faith of the Nation does, and will, furnish the highest justification for every sacrifice that we may make in the cause of national defense.In the face of great perils never before encountered, our strong purpose is to protect and to perpetuate the integrity of democracy.For this we muster the spirit of America, and the faith of America.We do not retreat.We are not content to stand still.As Americans, we go forward, in the service of our country, by the will of God.第三個總統任期

1940年總統競選初期，羅斯福的全部精力集中在擴軍備戰方面，在羅斯福的影響下，國會批準陸海軍的擴充，伯克一沃茲沃思選征兵役法得到通過。9月2日，羅斯福與英國簽署協定，將50艘驅逐艦轉讓給英國，英國則將部分海軍基地租借給美國。此項協定意味著正式中立的結束，標志著美國有限參戰的開始。1940年7月，當民主黨人在芝加哥舉行總統提名會議時，代表們仍不清楚羅斯福是否會尋求從華盛頓總統以來就沒有先例的第三個任期。對此，羅斯福玩了一個小小的把戲。他通過參議員艾爾本·巴克利向提名會議發表聲明，宣布他沒有再任下一屆總統的愿望和目的，并敦促代表們選舉他們中意的無論什么人，然而又通過參議員利斯特·希爾把自己的名字列到提名名單上。然而，共和黨總統候選人溫德爾·威爾基卻大肆發難：”選舉羅斯福就意味著把他們的兒子、兄弟和情人送進墳墓。“大會開始醞釀投票。當寫有羅斯福作為候選人的名單提交給大會的時候，整個會場亂作一團，代表們以噓聲和喝倒彩聲表示強烈反對。羅斯福被迫改變策略，向選民保證他是主張和平的，甚至不惜許下諾言：”你們的孩子不會被送去參加任何外國的戰爭??我們防御的目的就是防御。羅斯福夫人立時從紐約飛往芝加哥，在會內會外發表講話，從而很快改變了會場氣氛。她說：“現在不是通常時期，而是戰爭迫近的非常時期，除了我們可以為整個國家利益做些什么這樣的問題之外，我們不應為其他任何問題而進行爭吵。”羅斯福夫人的話打動了代表們的心。當晚的報紙上都在顯著位置刊登了羅斯福夫人的講話，選民們的情緒也一下子倒向了羅斯福。

當時由于世界戰爭頻繁，為保證美國對外政策的一致性，美國人特別是孤立主義者不贊成領導人中途易人，所以55％的選民還是選擇了羅斯福。因此羅斯福終于打破了美國“國父”喬治·華盛頓總統確立的傳統，第三次當選為美國總統。

1940年12 月，正在加勒比海地區巡視的羅福收到英國首相丘吉爾的特急信件，內稱為對付德國軍事力量，英國需要大量武器裝備，但英國財政不能為美國武器裝備交付現金之日即將來臨。于是，羅斯福在記者招待會上不提由美國貸款給英國或給英國軍用物資的建議，卻談及平常的比方--“我”把花園澆水管借給家宅起火的鄰居，以幫助鄰居撲滅火災，而滅火之后鄰居是歸還水管還是賠償水管，都好商量；繼而在爐邊談話中宣稱：“我們必須成為民主國家的偉大兵工廠”，“我要求我們的人民絕對相信我們的共同事業將取得巨大成功”。美國公眾對此持贊成態度。

1941年1月，羅斯福提請國會“授權并撥給充分的款項，去制造更多的軍火和多種軍用物資，以供移交現在同侵略國家進行實際戰斗的國家”。1941年3月，國會通過的租借法案（總統有權將武器裝備租借給與美國安全有關的國家）經總統簽署而生效。（60%供給英國，32%供給蘇聯）。租借法案的通過，使美國處于非交戰狀態，是美國積極干預反法西斯戰爭的重要里程碑。

1941年6月，蘇德戰爭爆發之后，羅斯福譴責德國的侵略，宣布美國將援助蘇聯。8月，羅斯福和邱吉爾在紐芬蘭舉行會談并發表“大西洋憲章”。該憲章宣稱美國和英國不追求領土擴張，也不愿有違背有關民族意愿的領土變更，尊重各民族選擇其政府形式的權利。

1941年12月7日，日本偷襲珍珠港，太平洋戰爭爆發。德國和意大利對美國宣戰。美國則向日本、德國和意大利宣戰，正式參加第二次世界大戰。對珍珠港事件負有責任的美國太平洋陸軍司令沃爾特·肖特中將和太平洋艦隊總司令赫斯本德·金梅爾海軍上將于12月17日被解除職務。次年2月和3月，肖特和金梅爾分別以少將和海軍少將軍銜退役。

為了贏得戰爭，羅斯福下令實施戰爭動員和改組軍隊指揮機構。戰爭結束前，美國武裝部隊員額達到1514萬余人，其中陸軍1042萬人，陸軍航空隊230萬人（飛機7萬余架），海軍388萬余人（艦船4500艘），海軍陸戰隊59萬余人，海岸警備隊24萬余人。1941年6月成立的科學研究與發展局主管國防科技研究，主要成就有：雷達和電子設備的發展，實戰用火箭、炸彈、導彈等的無線電引信，原子彈等。生產管理局于1941年春夏使美國逐漸完成向戰時經濟的轉變。此后，供應品優先分配委員會、戰時生產委員會、經濟穩定委員會、戰時動員委員會（機構職能或交叉，或承繼）負責戰爭物資的生產與分配，保證了美國及其盟國的戰爭需要。新聞檢查局和戰時新聞局則負責美國的新聞與宣傳工作。自1939年起，羅斯福就對年邁體弱的將軍實行強制退役，提拔富有作戰指揮能力的人員進入最高指揮階層。1942年，羅斯福下令在原陸海軍聯合委員會的基礎上，組建參謀長聯席會議（由陸軍參謀長喬治·馬歇爾、海軍作戰部長歐內斯特·金、陸軍航空隊司令亨利·阿諾德及總統參謀長威廉·李海組成），對武裝部隊實施統一指揮。

羅斯福在20世紀四十年代喚醒了美國對外干涉主義，同時他決定在二戰后建立一個維持世界和平的組織——聯合國。為了共同研究軍事形勢和制定聯合作戰計劃，羅斯福和邱吉爾在華盛頓舉行“阿卡迪亞”會議（1941年12月），達成的主要協議有：1942年和1943年美國的生產目標；成立“軍需品分配委員會”，統籌分配軍需品，成立美英聯合參謀長會議，協調盟軍的聯合作戰；太平洋地區成立美英荷澳盟軍司令部；組建中國戰區（同時組建中緬印戰區美軍懷念部）；重申盟國戰略為“歐洲第一”即首先戰勝納粹德國；擬定《聯合國家宣言》。

1942年元旦，在羅斯福的倡導下，美英蘇中等26個國家的代表在華盛頓簽署《聯合國家宣言》，國際反法西斯同盟正式形成。1942年上半年，北非英軍屢遭失敗，盟國面臨的軍事形勢極為不利。為了擺脫軍事困境和作為盟軍不能于1942年在歐洲開辟第二戰場的補償，羅斯福不顧馬歇爾的反對，和邱吉爾一道決定盟軍實施北非登陸計劃。北非作戰消滅了該區的德意軍隊。1943年初，羅斯福和邱吉爾率領有關指揮與參謀人員赴摩洛哥的卡薩布蘭卡，舉行軍事會議。會議決定：1943年進攻西西里，進攻法國的作戰延至1944年。在會議結束后的聯合記者招待會上，羅斯福宣稱：法西斯軸心國必須無條件投降“，”這不是說要消滅德、意大利、日本的所有居民，但是確是要消滅這些國家里的基于征服和奴役其他人民的哲學思想“。

從1943年起，同盟國由戰略防御轉為戰略進攻。為了協調盟國的作戰行動和探討盟國的戰后政策，羅斯福先后與盟國首腦舉行一系列重要會議。1943年3月，羅斯福即與艾登談及戰后成立維持世界和平與安全的國際組織的問題。在羅斯福的努力下，國會同意美國參加此種國際組織。

5月，羅斯福、邱吉爾及有關指揮與參謀人員在華盛頓舉行”三叉戟“會議，決定：奪取亞速爾群島以提供新的海空軍事基礎；加強對德國的空襲；訓令艾森豪威爾在占領西西里之后即著手準備進攻意大利本土；次年5月1日為實施”霸王“計劃的日期；制定詳細計劃，在太平洋地區發動打新的攻勢。

墨索里尼的法西斯意大利政府垮臺之后，羅斯福和邱吉爾于8月魁北克召開”象限“會議，決定與新政府談判停戰。但是，盟軍仍在為爭奪意大利而與德軍作戰。11月，羅斯福與邱吉爾、蔣介石在埃及舉行開羅會議。會議討論了中國和緬甸的軍事形勢并決定實施”安納吉姆“計劃，簽署了三國”開羅宣言“。宣言規定，三國旨在剝奪日本自一戰以來在太平洋地區所提的一切島嶼，使日本所竊取于中國之領土歸還中國，使朝鮮獲得自由與獨立。

開羅會議之后，羅斯福、邱吉爾一行即前往伊朗與蘇聯最高統帥斯大林舉行德黑蘭會議。會議主要討論開辟歐洲第二戰場、意大利地區的軍事行動和太平洋的進攻作戰、德國投降后蘇聯的對日作戰、波蘭邊界、戰后德國的處置以及建立戰后維持世界和平與安全的國際組織等問題。會議重申盟軍將于1944年5月實施”霸王“計劃。羅斯福為了讓馬歇爾留在華盛頓，決定任命艾森豪威爾為實施”霸王“計劃的盟軍最高司令。1944年6月5日（因氣候原因而由5月1日延遲），盟軍在法國諾曼底登陸，實施”霸王“作戰計劃，歐洲第二戰場形成。1944年，第二次世界大戰到了最緊要的關頭，美國的總統大選也同時迫近。美國輿論普遍認為，關鍵時刻行政首腦不宜更替。美國民主黨政府警告選民：“行到河中最好別換船。”

美國歷屆總統就職演說之---第32任總統Franklin D.Roosevelt的第四任期就職演講稿

Forth Inaugural Address of Franklin D.Roosevelt MR.Chief Justice, Mr.Vice President, my friends, you will understand and, I believe, agree with my wish that the form of this inauguration be simple and its words brief.We Americans of today, together with our allies, are passing through a period of supreme test.It is a test of our courage—of our resolve—of our wisdom—our essential democracy.If we meet that test—successfully and honorably—we shall perform a service of historic importance which men and women and children will honor throughout all time.As I stand here today, having taken the solemn oath of office in the presence of my fellow countrymen—in the presence of our God—I know that it is America's purpose that we shall not fail.In the days and in the years that are to come we shall work for a just and honorable peace, a durable peace, as today we work and fight for total victory in war.5 We can and we will achieve such a peace.We shall strive for perfection.We shall not achieve it immediately—but we still shall strive.We may make mistakes—but they must never be mistakes which result from faintness of heart or abandonment of moral principle.I remember that my old schoolmaster, Dr.Peabody, said, in days that seemed to us then to be secure and untroubled: ”Things in life will not always run smoothly.Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights—then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward.The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward;that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.“

Our Constitution of 1787 was not a perfect instrument;it is not perfect yet.But it provided a firm base upon which all manner of men, of all races and colors and creeds, could build our solid structure of democracy.And so today, in this year of war, 1945, we have learned lessons—at a fearful cost—and we shall profit by them.We have learned that we cannot live alone, at peace;that our own well-being is dependent on the well-being of other nations far away.We have learned that we must live as men, not as ostriches, nor as dogs in the manger.We have learned to be citizens of the world, members of the human community.We have learned the simple truth, as Emerson said, that ”The only way to have a friend is to be one."

We can gain no lasting peace if we approach it with suspicion and mistrust or with fear.We can gain it only if we proceed with the understanding, the confidence, and the courage which flow from conviction.The Almighty God has blessed our land in many ways.He has given our people stout hearts and strong arms with which to strike mighty blows for freedom and truth.He has given to our country a faith which has become the hope of all peoples in an anguished world.So we pray to Him now for the vision to see our way clearly—to see the way that leads to a better life for ourselves and for all our fellow men—to the achievement of His will to peace on earth.第四個總統任期

羅斯福選中哈里·S·杜魯門為自己競選的伙伴。開始，杜魯門感到突然，認為自己從來沒有進 行過這種競選活動，擔心對羅斯福的前途無補。經羅斯福勸解，他才最后答應。為了贏得競選，羅斯福駁斥了共和黨總統候選人托馬斯·E·杜威的“疲憊不堪的老人”的抨擊，公開了他的醫生羅斯· 麥金太爾海軍中將向人出示的一份健康證明書的情景，并示威性地在惡劣的天氣中進行競選活動。1944年11月17日，羅斯福再次以53％的得票率第四次當選為美國總統。1944年他召開了一系列會議，在財政、貿易、食品和農業等領域實行比較開放的政策。總之，他看住了美國，他是唯一能夠阻止美國重犯孤立主義錯誤的人。

1945年2月，羅斯福和邱吉爾、斯大林在克里米亞半島舉行雅爾塔會議。會議主要討論戰后德國的處置、波蘭與東歐政府、聯合國、蘇聯對日作戰等問題。會議重申納粹德國必須無條件投降。在這一任期里，羅斯福只擔任了73天職務就在佐治亞州與世長辭了。這樣，富蘭克林·羅斯福一連任了四屆，1 2年又39天的總統，是第一位任期超過兩屆、打破華盛頓先例的總統。由于1951年通過的憲法修正案第二十二條的限制，他將是美國歷史上惟一一位任期達四屆的總統。羅斯福4次當選美國總統，除了戰爭因素，究竟有無成功的秘訣呢？答案是肯定的。羅斯福的權威傳記作家詹姆斯·伯恩斯，經過大量研究而得出以下結論：抓住公眾輿論；善于選擇時機；關心政治細節；注意內部的派別之爭；個人的魅力和政治上的技巧。羅斯福連任4屆總統，對于美國政治制度和世界反法西斯戰爭都是極為重要的。

第二篇：富蘭克林羅斯福就職演講

PresidentHoover, Mr.Chief Justice, my friends:

This is a day of national consecration.And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americansexpectthat on my inductioninto the Presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision whichthe present situation of our people impels.This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.Nor needwe 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 thatthe only thing we have to fear is fear itself nameless,unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts toconvert retreatinto advance.In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigorhas met with that understanding and support of the people themselves whichis essential to victory.And I am convinced that you will againgive that support to leadership in these critical days.In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties.They concern, thankGod, only material things.Values have shrunk to fantastic levels.taxes have risen.our abilityto pay has fallen.government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income.themeans of exchange are frozenin the currents of trade.the withered leaves of industrialenterprise lie on every side.farmers find no markets for their produce.and the savings ofmany years in thousands of families are gone.More important, a host of unemployed citizensface the grim problem of existence, and an equally greatnumber toil with little return.Only afoolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance.We are stricken by no plague oflocusts.Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed andwere not afraid, we have stillmuch to be thankful for.Nature still offers her bounty andhuman efforts have multiplied it.Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of itlanguishes in the very sight of the supply.Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed,through their own stubbornness and their ownincompetence, have admitted their failure, and haveabdicated.Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of publicopinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.True,they have tried.But their efforts havebeen cast in the pattern of an outworntradition.Faced by failure of credit, they haveproposed only the lending of more money.Stripped of the lure of profit by whichto induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfullyfor restored confidence.They only know the rules of a generation of selfseekers.They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.Wemay now restore that temple to the ancient truths.The measure of that restoration lies in theextent to which we apply social values more noble thanmere monetary profit.Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money.it lies in the joy of achievement, in thethrill of creative effort.The joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten inthe mad chase of evanescentprofits.These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they costus if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but tominister to ourselves, to our fellow men.Recognition of that falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in handwith the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to bevalued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit.and there mustbe an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too oftenhas given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.Small wonder that confidence languishes, for itthrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, andon unselfish performance.withoutthem it cannot live.Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.This Nation is asking for action, and action now.Our greatest primary task is toput people to work.This is nounsolvable problem if we face itwisely and courageously.It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by theGovernment itself, treating the task as we would treatthe emergency of a war, but at thesame time, through this employment, accomplishing great greatlyneeded projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our greatnatural resources.Hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of populationin our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to providea better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.Yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, andwith this the power to purchase the output of our cities.It can be helped by preventingrealistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our smallhomes and ourfarms.It can be helped by insistence thatthe Federal, the State, and the local governmentsact forthwith on the demand thattheir cost be drastically reduced.It can be helped by theunifying of relief activities which today are often scattered,uneconomical, unequal.It can behelped by national planning for and supervisionof all forms of transportation and ofcommunications and other utilities thathave a definitely public character.There are manyways in which it can be helped, but it cannever be helped by merely talking aboutit.We must act.We must act quickly.And finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require twosafeguards against a return of the evils of the old order.There must be a strict supervision of all banking andcredits and investments.There must be anend to speculation with other people's money.Andthere must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.These, my friends, are the lines of attack.I shall presently urge upon a new Congress inspecial session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shallseek the immediate assistance of the 48 States.Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house inorder and making income balance outgo.Our international trade relations, thoughvastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary tothe establishment of a sound national economy.Ifavor, as a practical policy, the putting of firstthings first.I shall spare no effort torestore world trade by international economic readjustment.but the emergency athome cannot wait on that accomplishment.The basic thoughtthat guides these specific means of national recovery is notnationally narrowly nationalistic.It is the insistence, as a firstconsideration, upon the interdependenceof the various elements in and parts of the United States of America arecognition of the old and permanently importantmanifestation of the American spirit of the pioneer.It is the wayto recovery.It is the immediate way.Itis the strongest assurance that recovery will endure.In the field of world policy, I would dedicate this Nationto the policy of the good neighbor: theneighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights ofothers.the neighbor who respects his obligations and respects the sanctity of his agreementsin 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 can not merely take, but we must give as well.that if we are to goforward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice forthe good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress can be made,no leadership becomes effective.We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline,because it makes possible a leadership which aims atthe larger good.This, I propose to offer,pledging that the larger purposes will bind uponus, bind upon us all as a sacred obligationwith a unity of duty hithertoevoked only in times of armed strife.With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of ourpeople dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which wehave inherited from our ancestors.Our Constitution is sosimple, so practicalthat it is possible always tomeet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss ofessential form.That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superblyenduring political mechanism the modern worldhas ever seen.It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife,of world relations.And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislativeauthority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meetthe unprecedented task before us.But it may be that anunprecedented demand and need for undelayed actionmay call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.I am prepared under my constitutional duty torecommend the measures that a strickennation in the midst of a stricken world may require.These measures, or such other measuresas the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within myconstitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.But, in the event that the Congress shall failto take one of these two courses, in the eventthat the national emergency is still critical, I shallnot evade the clear course of duty that will thenconfront me.I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisisbroad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power thatwould be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.For the trust reposed in me, I will return the courage and the devotion that befitthe time.I can do no less.We face the arduous days thatlie before us in the warm courage of nationalunity.with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moralvalues.with the clean satisfactionthat comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike.We aim at the assurance ofa rounded, a permanent national life.We do not distrust the the future of essential democracy.The people of the United Stateshave not failed.In their need they have registered a mandate thatthey want direct, vigorousaction.They have asked for discipline and directionunder leadership.They have made me thepresent instrument of their wishes.Inthe spirit of the gift I take it.In this dedication Inthis 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.

第三篇：富蘭克林·羅斯福 就職演講

President Hoover, Mister Chief Justice, my friends: This is a day of national consecration, and I am certain that on this day, my fellow Americans expect that on my induction in the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.Nor need we shrink from honestly facing the conditions facing our country today.This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.So first of all, let me express 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.And 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.They concern, thank God, only material things.Values have shrunken to fantastic levels;taxes have risen, our ability to pay has fallen;government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income;the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade;the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side;farmers find no markets for their produce, and the savings of many years and thousands of families are gone.More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equal and great number toil with little return.Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.And yet, our distress comes from no failure of substance, we are stricken by no plague of locusts.Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have so much to be thankful for.Nature surrounds us with her bounty, and human efforts have multiplied it.Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure and have abdicated.Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.True, they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the patten of an outworn tradition.Faced by a failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.Stripped of the lure of profit by which they induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortation, pleading tearfully for restored confidence.They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers.They have no vision, and when there is no vision, the people perish.Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.A measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social value, more noble than mere monetary profits.Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money, it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative efforts, the joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us, if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered on to, but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of a false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profits, and there must be an end to our conduct in banking and in business, which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrong-doing.Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of our obligation, on faithful protection and on unselfish performance.Without them it cannot live.Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.This nation is asking for action, and action now.Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.This is no unsolvable problem if we take it wisely and courageously.It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.Hand in hand with that, we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution in an effort to provide better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.Yes the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the value of the agricultural product and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities.It can be helped by preventing realistically, the tragedy of the growing losses through fore closures of our small homes and our farms.It can be helped by insistence that the federal, the state, and the local government act forthwith on the demands that their costs be drastically reduce.It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal.It can be helped by national planning for, and supervision of all forms of transportation, and of communications, and other utilities that have a definitely public character.There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.We must act, we must act quickly.And finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against the return of the evils of the old order;there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments;there must be an end to speculation with other people’s money;and there must be provisions for an adequate but sound currency.These, my friends, are the lines of attack.I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session, detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the 48 states.Through this program of action, we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order, and making income balance outflow.Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time and necessity secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy.I favor as a practical policy the putting of first things first.I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment, but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.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 inter-dependence of the various elements in all parts of the United States of America – a recognition of the old and the 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 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 obligation, and respects the sanctity of his agreement, in and with, a world of neighbor.If I read the temper of our people correctly, we now realize what we have never realized before, our inter-dependence 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 can be made, no leadership becomes effective.We are all ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good.This, I propose to offer, we are going to larger purposes, bind upon us, bind upon us all, as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty, hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly, the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image, action to this end, is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from my ancestors.Our constitution is so simple, so practical, that it is possible always, to meet extraordinary needs, by changes in emphasis and arrangements without loss of a central form, that is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen.It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority will be fully equal, fully adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us.But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelay action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity, in the clearest consciousness of seeking all and precious moral values, with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike, we aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.We do not distrust the future of essential democracy.The people of the United States have not failed.In their need, they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action.They have asked for discipline, and direction under leadership, they have made me the present instrument of their wishes.In the spirit of the gift, I take it.In this dedication, in this dedication of a nation, we humbly ask the blessings of God, may He protect each and every one of us, may He guide me in the days to come.

第四篇：美國總統羅斯福就職演講稿

美國總統羅斯福就職演講稿（英文,中文版）

美國總統羅斯福就職演講稿（英文版）

President Hoover, Mr.Chief Justice, my friends:

This is a day of national consecration.And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.This is preeminently 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 of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.And 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.They concern, thank God, only material things.Values have shrunk to fantastic levels;taxes have risen;our ability to pay has fallen;government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income;the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade;the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side;farmers find no markets for their produce;and the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return.Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance.We are stricken by no plague of locusts.Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for.Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it.Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.Primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated.Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.True, they have tried.But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition.Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence.They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers.They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money;it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.The joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.These dark days, my friends, 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, to our fellow men.Recognition of that 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 valued 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, and on unselfish performance;without them it cannot live.Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.This Nation is asking for action, and action now.Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing great--greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.Hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.Yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities.It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms.It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, the State, and the local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced.It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal.It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities that have a definitely public character.There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.We must act.We must act quickly.And finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order.There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments.There must be an end to speculation with other people's money.And there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.These, my friends, are the lines of attack.I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the 48 States.Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo.Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy.I favor, as a practical policy, the putting of first things first.I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment;but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not nationally--narrowly nationalistic.It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States of America--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 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 can not 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 can be made, no leadership becomes effective.We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good.This, I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us, bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors.Our Constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen.It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us.But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.But, in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me.I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.For the trust reposed in me, I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time.I can do no less.We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity;with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values;with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike.We aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.We do not distrust the--the future of essential democracy.The people of the United States have not failed.In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action.They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership.They have made me the present instrument of their wishes.In the spirit of the gift I take it.In this dedication--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.美國總統羅斯福就職演講稿（中文版）

胡佛總統，首席法官先生，朋友們： 今天，對我們的國家來說，是一個神圣的日子。我肯定，同胞們都期待我在就任總統時，會像我國目前形勢所要求的那樣，坦率而果斷地向他們講話。現在正是坦白、勇敢地說出實話，說出全部實話的最好時刻。我們不必畏首畏尾，不老老實實面對我國今天的情況。這個偉大的國家會一如既往地堅持下去，它會復興和繁榮起來。因此，讓我首先表明我的堅定信念：我們唯一不得不害怕的就是害怕本身--一種莫名其妙、喪失理智的、毫無根據的恐懼，它把人轉退為進所需的種種努力化為泡影。凡在我國生活陰云密布的時刻，坦率而有活力的領導都得到過人民的理解和支持，從而為勝利準備了必不可少的條件。我相信，在目前危急時刻，大家會再次給予同樣的支持。

我和你們都要以這種精神，來面對我們共同的困難。感謝上帝，這些困難只是物質方面的。價值難以想象地貶縮了；課稅增加了；我們的支付能力下降了；各級政府面臨著嚴重的收入短缺；交換手段在貿易過程中遭到了凍結；工業企業枯萎的落葉到處可見；農場主的產品找不到銷路；千家萬戶多年的積蓄付之東流。

更重要的是，大批失業公民正面臨嚴峻的生存問題，還有大批公民正以艱辛的勞動換取微薄的報酬。只有愚蠢的樂天派會否認當前這些陰暗的現實。

但是，我們的苦惱決不是因為缺乏物資。我們沒有遭到什么蝗蟲的災害。我們的先輩曾以信念和無畏一次次轉危為安，比起他們經歷過的險阻，我們仍大可感到欣慰。大自然仍在給予我們恩惠，人類的努力已使之倍增。富足的情景近在咫尺，但就在我們見到這種 情景的時候，寬裕的生活卻悄然離去。這主要是因為主宰人類物資交換的統治者們失敗了，他們固執己見而又無能為力，因而已經認定失敗了，并撒手不管了。貪得無厭的貨幣兌換商的種種行徑。將受到輿論法庭的起訴，將受到人類心靈理智的唾棄。

是的，他們是努力過，然而他們用的是一種完全過時的方法。面對信貸的失敗，他們只是提議借出更多的錢。沒有了當誘餌引誘 人民追隨他們的錯誤領導的金錢，他們只得求助于講道，含淚祈求人民重新給予他們信心。他們只知自我追求者們的處世規則。他們沒有眼光，而沒有眼光的人是要滅亡的。

如今，貨幣兌換商已從我們文明廟宇的高處落荒而逃。我們要以千古不變的真理來重建這座廟宇。衡量這重建的尺度是我們體現比金錢利益更高尚的社會價值的程度。

幸福并不在于單純地占有金錢；幸福還在于取得成就后的喜悅，在于創造努力時的激情。務必不能再忘記勞動帶來的喜悅和激勵，而去瘋狂地追逐那轉瞬即逝的利潤。如果這些暗淡的時日能使我們認識到，我們真正的天命不是要別人侍奉，而是為自己和同胞們服務，那么，我們付出的代價就完全是值得的。

認識到把物質財富當作成功的標準是錯誤的，我們就會拋棄以地位尊嚴和個人收益為唯一標準，來衡量公職和高級政治地位的錯誤信念；我們必須制止銀行界和企業界的一種行為，它常常使神圣的委托混同于無情和自私的不正當行為。難怪信心在減弱，信心，只有靠誠實、信譽、忠心維護和無私履行職責。而沒有這些，就不可能有信心。

但是，復興不僅僅只要改變倫理觀念。這個國家要求行動起來，現在就行動起來。我們最大、最基本的任務是讓人民投入工作。只要我信行之以智慧和勇氣，這個問題就可以解決。這可以部分由政府直接征募完成，就象對待臨戰的緊要關頭一樣，但同時，在有了人手的情況下，我們還急需能刺激并重組巨大自然資源的工程。

我們齊心協力，但必須坦白地承認工業中心的人口失衡，我們必須在全國范圍內重新分配，使土地在最適合的人手中發表揮更大作用。

明確地為提高農產品價值并以此購買城市產品所做的努力，會有助于任務的完成。避免許多小家庭業、農場業被取消贖取抵押品的權利的悲劇也有助于任務的完成。聯邦、州、各地政府立即行動回應要求降價的呼聲，有助于任務的完成。將現在常常是分散不經濟、不平等的救濟活動統一起來有助于任務的完成。對所有公共交通運輸，通訊及其他涉及公眾生活的設施作全國性的計劃及監督有助于任務的完成。許多事情都有助于任務完成，但這些決不包括空談。我們必須行動，立即行動。

最后，為了重新開始工作，我們需要兩手防御，來抗御舊秩序惡魔卷土從來；一定要有嚴格監督銀行業、信貸及投資的機制：一定要杜絕投機；一定要有充足而健康的貨幣供應。

以上這些，朋友們，就是施政方針。我要在特別會議上敦促新國會給予詳細實施方案，并且，我要向18個州請求立即的援助。

通過行動，我們將予以我們自己一個有秩序的國家大廈，使收入大于支出。我們的國際貿易，雖然很重要，但現在在時間和必要性上，次于對本國健康經濟的建立。我建議，作為可行的策略、首要事務先行。雖然我將不遺余力通過國際經濟重新協調所來恢復國際貿易，但我認為國內的緊急情況無法等待這重新協調的完成。

指導這一特別的全國性復蘇的基本思想并非狹隘的國家主義。我首先考慮的是堅持美國這一整體中各部分的相互依賴性--這是對美國式的開拓精神的古老而永恒的證明的體現。這才是復蘇之路，是即時之路，是保證復蘇功效持久之路。

在國際政策方面，我將使美國采取睦鄰友好的政策。做一個決心自重，因此而尊重鄰國的國家。做一個履行義務，尊重與他國協約的國家。

如果我對人民的心情的了解正確的話，我想我們已認識到了我們從未認識的問題，我們是互相依存的，我們不可以只索取，我們還必須奉獻。我們前進時，必須象一支訓練有素的忠誠的軍隊，愿意為共同的原則而獻身，因為，沒有這些原則，就無法取得進步，領導就不可能得力。我們都已做好準備，并愿意為此原則獻出生命和財產，因為這將使志在建設更美好社會的領導成為可能。我倡議，為了更偉大的目標，我們所有的人，以一致的職責緊緊團結起來。這是神圣的義務，非戰亂，不停止。

有了這樣的誓言，我將毫不猶豫地承擔領導偉大人民大軍的任務，致力于對我們普遍問題的強攻。這樣的行動，這樣的目標，在我們從祖先手中接過的政府中是可行的。我們的憲法如此簡單，實在。它隨時可以應付特殊情況，只需對重點和安排加以修改而不喪失中心思想，正因為如此，我們的憲法體制已自證為是最有適應性的政治體制。它已應付過巨大的國土擴張、外戰、內亂及國際關系所帶來的壓力。

而我們還希望行使法律的人士做到充分的平等，能充分地擔負前所未有的任務。但現在前所未有的對緊急行動的需要要求國民暫時丟棄平常生活節奏，緊迫起來。

讓我們正視面前的嚴峻歲月，懷著舉國一致給我們帶來的熱情和勇氣，懷著尋求傳統的、珍貴的道德觀念的明確意識，懷著老老少少都能通過克盡職守而得到的問心無愧的滿足。我們的目標是要保證國民生活的圓滿和長治久安。

我們并不懷疑基本民主制度的未來。合眾國人民并沒有失敗。他們在困難中表達了自己的委托，即要求采取直接而有力的行動。他們要求有領導的紀律和方向。他們現在選擇了我作為實現他們的愿望的工具。我接受這份厚贈。

在此舉國奉獻之際，我們謙卑地請求上帝賜福。愿上帝保信我們大家和每一個人，愿上帝在未來的日子里指引我。

第五篇：美國總統（富蘭克林-羅斯福）就職演說 First Inaugural Address

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

First Inaugural Address

Delivered 4 March 1933

president Hoover, Mr.Chief Justice, my friends:

This is a day of national consecration.And I am certain that on this day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.This is preeminently 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 of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory.And 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.They concern, thank God, only material things.Values have shrunk to fantastic levels;taxes have risen;our ability to pay has fallen;government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income;the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade;the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side;farmers find no markets for their produce;and the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return.Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance.We are stricken by no plague of locusts.Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for.Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it.plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply.primarily, this is because the rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed, through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated.practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.True, they have tried.But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition.Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money.Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence.They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers.They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.Yes, the money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization.We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.The measure of that restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money;it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.The joy, the moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits.These dark days, my friends, 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, to our fellow men.Recognition of that 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 valued 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, and on unselfish performance;without them it cannot live.Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.This Nation is asking for action, and action now.Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing great--greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our great natural resources.Hand in hand with that we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and, by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution, endeavor to provide a better use of the land for those best fitted for the land.Yes, the task can be helped by definite efforts to raise the values of agricultural products, and with this the power to purchase the output of our cities.It can be helped by preventing realistically the tragedy of the growing loss through foreclosure of our small homes and our farms.It can be helped by insistence that the Federal, the State, and the local governments act forthwith on the demand that their cost be drastically reduced.It can be helped by the unifying of relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal.It can be helped by national planning for and supervision of all forms of transportation and of communications and other utilities that have a definitely public character.There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped by merely talking about it.We must act.We must act quickly.And finally, in our progress towards a resumption of work, we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order.There must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments.There must be an end to speculation with other people's money.And there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency.These, my friends, are the lines of attack.I shall presently urge upon a new Congress in special session detailed measures for their fulfillment, and I shall seek the immediate assistance of the 48 States.Through this program of action we address ourselves to putting our own national house in order and making income balance outgo.Our international trade relations, though vastly important, are in point of time, and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound national economy.I favor, as a practical policy, the putting of first things first.I shall spare no effort to restore world trade by international economic readjustment;but the emergency at home cannot wait on that accomplishment.The basic thought that guides these specific means of national recovery is not nationally--narrowly nationalistic.It is the insistence, as a first consideration, upon the interdependence of the various elements in and parts of the United States of America--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 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 can not 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 can be made, no leadership becomes effective.We are, I know, ready and willing to submit our lives and our property to such discipline, because it makes possible a leadership which aims at the larger good.This, I propose to offer, pledging that the larger purposes will bind upon us, bind upon us all as a sacred obligation with a unity of duty hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image, action to this end is feasible under the form of government which we have inherited from our ancestors.Our Constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen.It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly equal, wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us.But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure.I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional authority, to bring to speedy adoption.But, in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two courses, in the event that the national emergency is still critical, I shall not evade the clear course of duty that will then confront me.I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis--broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.For the trust reposed in me, I will return the courage and the devotion that befit the time.I can do no less.We face the arduous days that lie before us in the warm courage of national unity;with the clear consciousness of seeking old and precious moral values;with the clean satisfaction that comes from the stern performance of duty by old and young alike.We aim at the assurance of a rounded, a permanent national life.We do not distrust the--the future of essential democracy.The people of the United States have not failed.In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action.They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership.They have made me the present instrument of their wishes.In the spirit of the gift I take it.In this dedication--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.