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 work 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. 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

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