The Great Arsenal of Democracy: American Defense Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)

Quote #4

We are planning our own defense with the utmost urgency, and in its vast scale we must integrate the war needs of Britain and the other free nations which are resisting aggression. This is not a matter of sentiment or of controversial personal opinion. It is a matter of realistic, practical military policy, based on the advice of our military experts who are in close touch with existing warfare. These military and naval experts and the members of the Congress and the Administration have a single-minded purpose: the defense of the United States. (134-137)

Here's the thing about a conflict of this size, with a bunch of scary bad guys banding together—planning U.S. defensive strategy had to include the needs of the good guys doing the physical fighting.

The first priority was to protect American lives, but in order to do that, Americans had to do their part to produce weapons and munitions in the hopes that the Allies would have what they needed to put a quick stop to the war. The Axis had to deal with the problems closest to them (Britain, Greece, France, China) before they could even think about making a play for the U.S. of A. 

Quote #5

As planes and ships and guns and shells are produced, your government, with its defense experts, can then determine how best to use them to defend this hemisphere. (171)

Even though it kind of sounds like FDR is asking American industry to press pause on production of luxury cars and shiny watches for the defense of the rest of the world, it's in the best interest of the United States, too.

Dedicating all industrial resources to the production of munitions and other weapons will help Britain and China and all the other countries trying to stand up to the Axis, but rebuilding American military muscle will give the U.S. something to work with in case the war ever does come—and we know that eventually, it does.