President invokes Almighty God and declares our cause a righteous crusade
By JR Hoeft | Monday, June 6th, 2011 | Catch-All, HistoryToday is the 67th Anniversary of the D-Day invasion along the beaches of Normandy in France. That evening, as the allies participated in the largest amphibious assault in world history, beginning the invasion of northwestern Europe in Operation Overlord, President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed the nation:
During the speech, the president calls upon Americans to have faith in God, be continuously devoted, declares our cause “righteous”, and that the war effort is, indeed, a crusade.
I wonder what the ACLU thought of that speech?
Regardless, thank you to all who served during WWII and for the sacrifices they made for freedom and liberty.
Audio from the Internet Archive.
UPDATE: Pretty cool background information on D-Day and the text of Roosevelt’s speech from Rep. Randy Forbes.
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Conservative to the core; liberal with his opinion! J.R. has been involved in politics for over a decade and has worked on several campaigns in Hampton Roads. He has served on the Executive Committee of the Republican Party of Chesapeake and the Central Committee of the Republican Party of Virginia. He is also the director of “Blogs United” in Virginia. E-mail J.R.. Follow J.R. on Twitter.
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13 Responses to "President invokes Almighty God and declares our cause a righteous crusade"
Growing up in Bedford County, the American community with the highest per-capita losses on D-Day, June 6 is a special day. We were taught about the invasion and the high price paid for our liberty in elementary school.
It’s difficult to fathom the nearly impossible task that faced the Allied troops on that morning and the number of lives lost in just the struggle to come ashore. Truly, may God bless the brave men who took the beaches of Normandy and lived to tell about it and may God bless the loved ones of those who did not return.
A footnote to the invasion is that GEN Eisenhower had prepared in advance two statements for the media, one announcing that the invasion was successful and a second announcing that the invasion had failed and that he alone was responsible.
Omar Bradley commented several years later that if CNN had been on Omaha Beach on D-Day, then there never would have been a D+1.
God bless those members of “The Greatest Generation.”
Who’s “God” is Obama talking about… his or ours? And to associate our current wars with Ike’s D-Day speech about a “crusade” is political pandering to the home crowd. Today, using the word “Crusade” to represent our wars in Muslim countries is bad judgment and will become a rallying point for those in the Middle East who still aren’t over the Medieval assaults on their religion.
Tim: Y’know even if you believed Obama was a Moslem, which would be a truly ignorant thing to believe, it would be the same god. Christians, Jews and Moslems all worship the same god. Allah=Jehovah=Yahweh. It’s why Christians, Jews and Moslems are all “people of the book.”
But in this case, the post didn’t have a thing to do with what Obama did or didn’t say.
GWB called the war on terrorism “a crusade” before people in his administration realized just what you said and he took it back.
But this post was really about the heroism displayed by the troops and Gen. Eisenhower on D-Day and what FDR had to say about that.
SV, I didn’t say a thing about Obama being a Moslem/Muslim which you freely interpreted into my statement which is totally ignorant on your part. Maybe he was referring to Rev. Wright’s political interpretation of “God” where he sat for 20 years, or some other concept of God which he has never been clear about. And didn’t you read the “ACLU” comment at the end of the post? Obama is in campaign mode and any appearances, statements, speeches and other communication and are calculated, deliberate and are meant to swing votes.
Not that I often agree with Steve, but this post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek.
I was trying to get folks to think about what FDR said in the context of Bush and Obama…and how the left might react…but the reality is that it was the perfect prayer at the perfect time for America.
My hope is that we, as Americans, still can have faith in our Creator and ourselves to overcome even our most difficult of challenges, such as the economy we face today and other adversities.
JR,
Tongue-in-cheek or not, thanks for putting it up to remind us of the terrible sacrifices those brave allied troops made to liberate Europe and put an end to fascism. To those who haven’t been to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, it is more than worth the ride.
I agree JR with your sentiments regarding those brave and honorable souls who Gen. Eisenhower spoke to before they made the ultimate sacrifice for their families, their country and our future. It just tweaks me when Obama reaches back in our history to pattern and shape the problems he has caused or is causing with his presidency to parallel those problems that confronted our greatest leaders.
Um, Tim, you’re still missing the point, which JR tried to spell out for you….Obama didn’t do that … “reaches back in our history to pattern and shape the problems he has caused or is causing with his presidency to parallel those problems that confronted our greatest leaders.”….the president in the title of JR’s post is FDB, Obama doesn’t have a thing to do with this.
FDB?
Typo by Steve, Tim. He meant FDR.
As for HisRoc – while I said tongue-in-cheek, please don’t think for a minute that I meant to cheapen the sacrifice and superb dedication to duty and country by those brave men who fought for our freedom on the beaches of Normandy 67 years ago today.
I cannot thank them enough. I cannot thank God enough for giving me the opportunity to live in peace, security, and liberty.
What I am trying to get at with my misplaced sarcasm, is that God has always been appealed to by both parties and at the most dire of times in our national history, despite the howls of those who would dismiss Him.
When we fall upon our knees to our Almighty Creator, asking for his forgiveness and preservation collectively, we are doing what is right.
Hear! Hear!, Cheers! and let’s move on…
JR,
I understood your intent completely and did not disagree. FDR would be slow-roasted by the PC media and pundits if he said the same thing today.
It is useful to go back and read the words of our American leaders throughout the glorious history of this republic, beginning with the Founders. These were serious men who were not ashamed to believe that there is Right and Wrong in this world and that those who fight for Right are doing God’s will. Those who invoke God’s name in the cause of villainy and evil will suffer greatly when they meet The Creator.
Peace.
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