| The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996. |
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| NUMBER: | 46974 |
| QUOTATION: | On this tenth day of June, nineteen hundred and forty, the hand that held the dagger has struck it into the back of its neighbor.... In our unity, in our American unity we will pursue two obvious and simultaneous courses; we will extend to the opponents of force the material resources of this nation, and at the same time we will harness and speed up the use of those resources in order that we ourselves in the Americas may have equipment and training equal to the task of any emergency and every defense. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945), U.S. president. FDR Speaks authorized edition of speeches, 1933-1945 (recordings of Franklin Roosevelt’s public addresses), side 6, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va. (June 10, 1940), ed. Henry Steele Commager, Introduction by Eleanor Roosevelt, Washington Records, Inc. (1960).
The President chose the Virginia Commencement Address to announce Mussolini’s decision to enter the war via an unannounced attack on the French Republic and to affirm U.S. support of the beleaguered democratic nations by material and moral support and to announce American determination to defend itself against possible attack. |
| BIOGRAPHY: | Columbia Encyclopedia. |
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| | | The Columbia World of Quotations. Copyright © 1996 Columbia University Press. |
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