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Speech by US president Franklin D. Roosevelt
The
1939
State of the Union Address
was given to the
76th United States Congress
, on Wednesday, January 4, 1939, by
Franklin D. Roosevelt
, the 32nd United States president. Foreseeing
World War II
, he said, "In Reporting on the state of the nation, I have felt it necessary on previous occasions to advise the Congress of disturbance abroad and of the need of putting our own house in order in the face of storm signals from across the seas. As this Seventy-sixth Congress opens there is need for further warning.
A war which threatened to envelop the world in flames has been averted; but it has become increasingly clear that world peace is not assured."
[1]
On September 1, 1939, the War in Europe began.
Roosevelt ended his speech by quoting the closing lines from
Abraham Lincoln's
1862 State of the Union Address
when he said the following:
Once I prophesied that this generation of Americans had a rendezvous with destiny. That prophecy comes true. To us much is given; more is expected.
[a]
This generation will "nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. . . . The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just?a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless."
[2]
References
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edit
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Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
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- Legend:
Address to Joint Session
- Written message
- Written message with national radio address
* Split into multiple parts
- †
Included a detailed written supplement
- ‡
Not officially a "State of the Union"
Presidents
William Henry Harrison
(1841) and
James Garfield
(1881) died in office before delivering a State of the Union
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