How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #4
With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems. (61)
Even reading this line decades in the future, you'd be forgiven for thinking Roosevelt was about to initiate a coup, with all this talk of executive action and combative rhetoric. Even contemporaries were worried. To deal with a crisis of epic proportions, FDR was given powers far beyond most previous presidents, and certainly more than any president in a time of peace. The words "tyrant" and "dictator" were whispered by his detractors. But these were only whispers. As he states in his address, the overwhelming election victory gave President Roosevelt a mandate from the people to act as he saw fit to fix the country. And that's exactly what he did.
Quote #5
I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe. (71)
This is Roosevelt's fail-safe. Plan Z. The one you hope you never have to use. And probably the primary reason for all of the war rhetoric to begin with. Speechwriter Raymond Moley was smart enough to realize that framing the struggle to fix the country as a war was the only way to get people on board. There is no overstating just how wild it would be to give a president these kinds of powers without real conflict.