Reply #33: My Toast... [View All]

[Jeff in Cincinnati]

Our Democratic Ward Club started holding a Roosevelt Day Dinner this year (on Roosevelt's Birthday, of course). In lieu of a speech, we decided to have a toast -- with obligatory martinin in hand, of course...

"Sixty-five years ago this nation struggled with economic calamity, while across broad oceans the armies of tyranny were on the march. In that dark hour one voice told Americans "We have nothing to fear." In the humanity's most desperate moment, one voice imagined a better world, a world based on Four Freedoms: Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. The world that he imagined, my friends, remains ours to create, but his voice and his vision invigorate us as Democrats and ennoble us as human beings. In this dark hour we go forward committed, and we go forward united, and we go forward always without fear. In celebration of his 123rd birthday, I give you a gallant leader, Franklin Delano Roosevelt."