FDR’s Message on the Defense Industry for the New Year

An editorial note frames an excerpt from President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 "Four Freedoms" speech, drawing parallels between historical and modern defense industry challenges. The speech outlines the US national policy of supporting allies resisting aggression and calls for a rapid increase in armament production. Roosevelt expresses dissatisfaction with the pace of production and asks Congress for the authority and funds to manufacture munitions for nations at war. This proposal, which became the Lend-Lease program, aimed to supply allies who could no longer pay in cash, with the US acting as an "arsenal for them as well as for ourselves." The piece uses this historical context to remind today's policymakers that challenges of production capacity and bipartisan funding are not new.