The life of a nation
is the fullness of the measure of its will to live.
There are men who doubt this. There are men who believe that
democracy, as a form of Government and a frame of life, is limited
or measured by a kind of mystical and artificial fate that, for
some unexplained reason, tyranny and slavery have become the
surging wave of the future--and that freedom is an ebbing tide.
But we Americans know that this is not true.
Eight years ago, when the life of this Republic seemed frozen by a
fatalistic terror, we proved that this is not true. We were in the
midst of shock--but we acted. We acted quickly, boldly,
decisively.
These later years have been living years--fruitful years for the
people of this democracy. For they have brought to us greater
security and, I hope, a better understanding that life's ideals
are to be measured in other than material things.
Most vital to our present and our future is this experience of a
democracy which successfully survived crisis at home; put away
many evil things; built new structures on enduring lines; and,
through it all, maintained the fact of its democracy.
For action has been taken within the three-way framework of the
Constitution of the United States. The coordinate branches of the
Government continue freely to function.
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