This is CBS, I On the World.

I'm John Batchel with Professor H.W. Brands, Bill Brands, America First, Roosevelt versus Lindberg, in the shadow of war.

A warm night in late May, 1941, Roosevelt going on the radio.

The speech that he makes, the remarks that he makes,

so in the frame of the fireside chats, and yet this is a call to action, in this, his voice is so dominating, they stop baseball games, The actors in Washington stop the play. They freeze it

and wait because they pipe in his words. Everywhere in America, they're listening to him. Remember,

there's no TV, there's no iPhone, there's the radio, which is modern technology. And it's

live. There's no recordings. And what he has to say is

extremely unhappy making, unlimited national emergency. What does that mean, Professor? What is it

that FDR wanted to achieve that night? Because he scared everybody. So the first thing he wants to do is to ramp up the production of arms.

And the production of arms will be to send more arms to Britain, but also to have more arms

for the United States.

At this point, he is saying, well, America may need to defend itself if attacked.

But he's also thinking America needs to be prepared to go on the

attack, to go into war in Europe. And so this, a national emergency is putting American industry on a

wartime footing, but also putting the American mind, the American people on a wartime footing. They're, okay, prepare for war.

Until this point, Roosevelt has taken the position that the war is over there and he's going to do his

best to keep the war over there. But now he's preparing Americans for the fact that that war

over there might become America's war. He doesn't quite

know how it's going to happen. He's beginning to figure out to plan how he can arrange to make it

happen. But this is moving America another large step toward war. He's making it very clear,

clearer than ever, that the United States is part and mind with the British.

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