Franklin D. Roosevelt – Fireside Chat, June 5, 1944

archive.org ^ | 6/5/44

[Homer_J_Simpson]

FDR on the fall of Rome

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles and the occasional radio broadcast delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Roosevelt talks about the significance of Rome’s liberation. Click on the link below to listen.

FDR on the fall of Rome

[GeronL]

bump

[Gay State Conservative]

Interesting....as he was delivering this address he knew that the largest,most important.military operation in the history of warfare was just hours away.

[kitkat]

I commented yesterday on another discussion that for all that Roosevelt was a Democrat, he at least wanted us to win the war. Now I realize that the Invasion of Normandy was the battle he knew about but didn’t mention when he gave that speech.

[TADSLOS]

Bump.

[DesScorp]

What an incredible hypocrite he was about Mussolini. "20 years ago, unfortunately, Fascists took control"

11-12 years before he gave this speech, he sent Mussolini glowing, hand-written letters telling Il Duce how much he admired him and his system and how impressed he was with what Mussolini accomplished. He was a public supporter... for the most part... of Italy's Fascist regime until they invaded Abyssinia. See Wolfgang Schivelbusch's excellent book Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933-1939. National Socialism, Fascism, and the New Deal were just different shades of the same modernist "progressive" impulse.

[DManA]

"One up and two to go."

One UP? It was up instead of DOWN in the 40's?

[dfwgator]

Joe Biden watched it on TV.

[rovenstinez]

So much reference to Christianity, and credit to other nations who helped. Quite a noble Statesman.

[Joe 6-pack]

Gen. Eaker mentioned by name @ 13:59

[kitkat]

“So much reference to Christianity, and credit to other nations who helped. Quite a noble Statesman.”

I’ve never considered Roosevelt to be a “noble statesman.” I believe he was concerned only with getting four terms of office as President, and to leave the opening for Truman, another Democrat, who was then elected.

[Heart-Rest]

Here's a youtube video link you might also be interested in checking out, which touches on that same date (June 5, 1944), then moves forward into footage from D-Day and beyond.

   WW II : RARE COLOR FILM : D-DAY : JUNE 5TH 1944

[Verginius Rufus]

FDR on the Fall of Rome.

Shorter than Edward Gibbon's version.

[Verginius Rufus]

FDR would have preferred to have Henry Wallace succeed him--the party insiders forced him to drop Wallace from the ticket in 1944.

If Wallace had been President after FDR's death, there would have been no Cold War because Wallace would have given Stalin everything he wanted.

[PJ-Comix]

What is also interesting is Roosevelt’s American aristocratic accent that is today gone.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I probably should have said, the liberation of Rome.

[tubebender]

Bump…

[Verginius Rufus]

FDR was "old rich," as opposed to Kennedy who was nouveau riche (or more recent grafters who piled up their wealth by public office, like LBJ and WJC).

One of the ambassadors during the FDR administration was a Biddle who was a descendant of the Biddle who was Andrew Jackson's target in the "bank war"--a very wealthy old Philadelphia family.