U.S. At War: Arithmetic of Promise

In Britain there was a wave of elation. In the Axis countries there was a stunned silence—and then an uneasy denial that the program (its staggering figures were not revealed to the people) could be carried out. In the U.S. that same program brought good tidings of hope ("Let no man say it cannot be done. It must be done. . . .").

Thus last week the world reacted to President Roosevelt's message to Congress on the state of the nation at war. Long after his firm voice had died away, the figures of the...