Franklin Delano Roosevelt
32nd President of the United States; March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945
The recently constructed F D R Memorial is noticeably devoid of references to our Creator, despite Roosevelt's obvious conviction of the importance of the nation's belief in God during the war. (Editor’s Note: The simple reason for this is it wasn’t until 1978 that the design for his monument was finalized. By that time, there was and still is a push to eliminate religion and any reference to God from our daily lives. ) However, faith is mentioned in two areas.
To the right of the first waterfall, you can see this inscription: 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 man.
As you leave the memorial, the last quotation on the wall reads:
"Freedom of speech; Freedom of worship; Freedom from want; Freedom from fear." These words are taken from Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union
address and show the value he placed on our nation's religious liberty. Many are more familiar with this FDR quote from the four Norman Rockwell
paintings inspired by Roosevelt's speech.
THE FAITH OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT
As Professor Gary S. Smith has observed, Franklin Roosevelt often "stressed the importance of spiritual renewal, faith, and social justice and urged Americans to work to achieve a more robust spiritual life." It may surprise many to learn that after the Allies successfully took Normandy Beach, Roosevelt led the American people in prayer in a nationwide radio address:
Almighty God, our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty
endeavor, a struggle to preserve our republic, our religion, and our
civilizations, and to set free a suffering humanity.
He used the occasion to commit the American people to a rededication of their faith:
Many people have urged that 1 call the nation into a single day of special
prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our
people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new
day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips,
invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Roosevelt knew how our faith bound us together as a country:
And, O’Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each
other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be
dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but a
fleeting moment, let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose. Thy will
be done, Almighty God. Amen.
Roosevelt's faith was very important to him well before the war. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, serving as senior warden of the St. James Church in New York throughout his presidency. Furthermore, as Professor Smith notes, in 1935 he sought "council and advice" on the impact of domestic policy from the many clergymen whom he invited to the White House.
Roosevelt's faith became most important when he needed to rally the American people to defend western civilization against fascism. Even before Pearl Harbor, he recognized the threat that the Nazis and Japanese posed to our religious freedoms.
On May 27, 1941, Roosevelt spoke to the nation in one of his many radio addresses, to announce a state of "Unlimited National Emergency." He accurately described the "Nazi world" as one that "does not recognize any God except Hitler . . . as ruthless as the Communists in the denial of God . . . where moral standards are measured by treachery and bribery."
He recognized that this posed an impending global conflict "between human slavery and human freedom—between pagan brutality and the Christian ideal." America, he explained, shall side with "human freedom— which is the Christian ideal" and will only accept "a world consecrated to freedom of speech and expression—freedom of every person to worship God in his own way—freedom from want—and freedom from terror."
Roosevelt affirmed that such success could only be obtained through a combined faith in freedom and God. He called on Americans to "reassert our abiding faith in the vitality of our constitutional republic as a perpetual home of freedom, of tolerance, and of devotion to the word of God." Roosevelt then concluded by quoting the Founding Fathers, who faced similar odds "with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence."
Roosevelt again addressed the nation by radio as war became ever more inevitable, to express to Americans the threat Nazism posed to our democratic and religious freedoms. On October 27, 1941, he described a German document outlining Hitler's plan to "abolish all existing religions" in which "the property of all churches will be seized by the Reich and its puppets. The cross and all other symbols of religion are to be forbidden . . . in place of the cross of Christ will be put two symbols—the swastika and the naked sword." Roosevelt then concluded with a pledge to the Nazis that "We stand ready in the defense of our nation and the faith of our fathers to do what God has given us the power to see as our full duty."
Franklin Roosevelt was a man of deep religious belief who understood, just as powerfully as Washington before him, that religion and morality were indispensable supports to the preservation of our liberties and our country.
Ray R Barmore
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