War—Huh Yeah—What Is It Good For?

Absolutely nothing? (Say it again?)

Um, war is actually good for quite a lot when it comes to moving the hearts and minds of the American people. We're not talking about actual guns-and-tanks war in this speech, however. Speechwriter Raymond Moley came up with the idea to style FDR's inaugural address as a call to war, and it worked wonders. The downtrodden public seized on Roosevelt's decisive actions and committed themselves to making his words a reality.

And the allusions in his speech aren't exactly subtle. FDR sums it all up by saying:

With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems. (61)

Roosevelt knew well that the country had the resources to rebound from crisis…but it needed to use them efficiently. By organizing the masses into an army, he firmly established himself as taskmaster-in-charge and paved the way for the game-changing programs coming down the road.