US Presidency
1941

That is especially true in those lands where freedoms do not exist, where the purposes of our democracy and the characteristics of our country and of our people have been seriously distorted. Such misunderstandings are not new. I remember that, a quarter of a century ago, in the early days of the first World War, the German Government received solemn assurances from their representatives in the United States that the people of America were disunited; that they cared more for peace at any price than for the preservation of ideals and freedom; that there would even be riots and revolutions in the United States if this Nation ever asserted its own interests. Let not dictators of Europe or Asia doubt our unanimity now. Before the present war broke out on September 1, 1939, I was more worried about the future than many people, indeed, than most people. The record shows that I was not worried enough. That, however, is water over the dam.