US Presidency
1940

Let me tell you just a few of the many things accomplished during the past few years. I do not propose, I can not ( to ) go into every detail. It is a known fact, however, that in 1933, when this Administration came into office, the United States Navy had fallen in standing among the navies of the world, in power of ships and in efficiency, to a relatively low ebb. The relative fighting power on the Navy had been greatly diminished by failure to replace ships and equipment, which had become out-of-date. But between 1933 and this year, 1940 seven fiscal years your Government will have spent ( $ 1,487,000,000 ) a billion, four hundred eighty-seven million dollars more than it spent on the Navy during the seven years ( before ) that preceded 1933. What did we get for the money, money, incidentally, not included in the new defense appropriations only the money heretofore appropriated? The fighting personnel of the Navy rose from 79,000 to 145,000.