WIST Quotations

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- (Attributed)

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

Be sincere; be brief; be seated.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
(Attributed)

FDR's son, James, attributed this to his father, and it has frequently since been credited to him (with varying punctuation).

The other day James Roosevelt opened a talk he made at Hollywood by saying: “My father gave me these hints on speechmaking. Be sincere … be brief … be seated.”
[Washington Post (1940-01-13)]

But similar sentiments elsewhere make it more likely that this is something FDR picked up and passed on. More research into this quotation (and the similar "Stand up ... speak up ... shut up") here: Quote Origin: Be Sincere; Be Brief; Be Seated – Quote Investigator®.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Interview (1932-09-11), New York Times Magazine

Dave — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 14:41:19 +0000

The Presidency is not merely an administrative office. That’s the least of it. It is more than an engineering job, efficient or inefficient. It is pre-eminently a place of moral leadership. All our great Presidents were leaders of thought at times when certain historic ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Interview (1932-09-11), New York Times Magazine
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Letter (1930-05-12) to John A. Kingsbury

Dave — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 13:10:27 +0000

There is no question in my mind that it is time for the country to become fairly radical for a generation. History shows that where this occurs occasionally, nations are saved from revolution.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Letter (1930-05-12) to John A. Kingsbury
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Letter (1938-06-15) to Rev. Daniel Poling, “Greeting to the World’s Christian Endeavor Convention in Melbourne, Australia”

Dave — Mon, 10 Oct 2016 01:55:55 +0000

I doubt if there is in the world a single problem, whether social, political, or economic, which would not find ready solution if men and nations would rule their lives according to the plain teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Letter (1938-06-15) to Rev. Daniel Poling, “Greeting to the World’s Christian Endeavor Convention in Melbourne, Australia”
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Letter (1938-06-25) to Walter White, “Greeting to the NAACP,” NAACP Annual Conference, Columbus, Ohio

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

For it is evident that no democracy can long survive which does not accept as fundamental to its very existence the recognition of the rights of its minorities.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Letter (1938-06-25) to Walter White, “Greeting to the NAACP,” NAACP Annual Conference, Columbus, Ohio
(Source)

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Letter (1940-01-09) to William Allan Neilson

Dave — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 23:41:07 +0000

We must scrupulously guard the civil rights and civil liberties of all citizens, whatever their background. We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Letter (1940-01-09) to William Allan Neilson
(Source)

Neilson was the co-chair of the Sponsor Committee, Fourth Annual Conference of the American Committee for Protection of Foreign-Born. It was read to the conference on 1940-03-01, and entered into the Congressional Record (along with other letters received) on 1940-03-11.

Just over two years later, 1942-02-19, FDR signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the evacuation of all persons (which largely meant Japanese-Americans) deemed a national security threat from the West Coast to internment centers further inland. The EO was in effect until rescinded by Roosevelt in 1944-12 after the Supreme Court ruling in Ex parte Endo.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Letter (1942-04-23), “Message to American Booksellers Association,” Annual Banquet (1942-05-06), Astor Hotel, New York City

Dave — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:03:09 +0000

We all know that books burn — yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can abolish memory. No man and no force can put thought in a concentration camp forever. No man and no force can take from the world the ideas that embody man’s eternal fight against tyranny of every kind. In this war, we know, books are weapons.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman, US President (1933–1945)
Letter (1942-04-23), “Message to American Booksellers Association,” Annual Banquet (1942-05-06), Astor Hotel, New York City
(Source)

The letter was delivered with a speech by Archibald MacLeish (appointed by Roosevelt as Librarian of Congress, 1939-1944) titled "A Free Man's Books." This was shortly after FDR named April 17 as "Victory Book Day".

This quotation was turned into a poster by S. Broder, published by the US Office of War Information in 1942.

Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Message (1938-04-29) to Congress, On Curbing Monopolies

Dave — Sun, 01 Feb 2004 16:00:00 +0000

The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is Fascism — ownership of Government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.