Hey, America, Let's Not Get Cocky
- FDR cautions that the United States can't expect to defend its security and democratic integrity against the Axis powers all alone (because its allies have fallen). People need people.
- He characterizes dictators as untrustworthy, threatening to world peace, threatening to freedom, and bad for business.
- He emphasizes that a dictator's peace is a false peace, and that it comes at the cost of insecurity and loss of liberties for others.
- Then, he cites a quote from Benjamin Franklin to make a point about the ethics of freedom and how to get it and keep it…because a Ben Franklin quote is always a good idea.
- He praises America for its empathetic character, but he urges the country to be smart.
- He also urges his audience to remain extremely critical of flashy, idealistic political movements, especially if their goal is to undermine the stability of the United States for their own purposes.