U.S. At War: Mr. Roosevelt at His Best

Noonday sun sifted mustily down through the Capitol's frosted-glass skylights. Up rose two clerks—one in the House, one in the Senate. For 40 minutes they droned away in clear, colorless voices, reading Franklin Roosevelt's message to the reconvened 78th Congress. The two Congressional audiences were small. But Congressmen who pondered the text found that the President had sent them a confident, meaty almost Churchillian review of the progress of the war.

In some 5,500 clear and unvarnished words he hinted at future strategy, stoutly defended his foreign policy, pointed proudly to U.S. production, nodded...

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