Roosevelt’s 1941 Labor Day Radio Address

This is a transcript of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's 1941 Labor Day radio address, delivered just months before the U.S. entered World War II. Roosevelt frames the growing global conflict as a fight to preserve fundamental American rights, including those of free labor, against the threat of Hitler's violent attempt to rule the world. He calls for a massive, unified industrial effort from American workers and employers to build weapons on an unprecedented scale for the defense of democracy. Roosevelt rejects any form of appeasement or negotiation with Hitler, stating that the defense of America's freedom must take precedence over all private interests and that the nation will do everything in its power to crush the Nazi forces.