How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #1
In other words, the Axis not merely admits but the Axis proclaims that there can be no ultimate peace between their philosophy of government and our philosophy of government. (18)
The first rule you ever learned was to treat others they way you wanted to be treated, and that rule exists because everyone's different. Coexisting peacefully means accepting those differences and trying to find a middle ground—except that Hitler made it super clear he wasn't about that. He had no plans to tolerate any type of government he wasn't in charge of, and that put the U.S. in a position of having to prepare to defend itself.
Quote #2
Frankly and definitely there is danger ahead—danger against which we must prepare. But we well know that we cannot escape danger, or the fear of danger, by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads. (48-49)
Hitler made it clear from the very beginning that, like some crazed supervillain, he had big plans for world domination. FDR totally understood why so many Americans were less than eager to involve themselves in the physical fighting, but he didn't approve of the way some people were choosing to ignore the problem in the hopes that it would go away. It doesn't work with homework, and it wasn't going to work with this mustachioed menace. The best way to ensure the safety of the United States would be to recognize the danger and start trying to figure out what can be done to stop it.
Quote #3
Emphatically, we must get these weapons to them, get them to them in sufficient volume and quickly enough so that we and our children will be saved the agony and suffering of a war which others have had to endure. (120)
Even at this early stage of World War II, lots of people had already died, and the bad stuff had just barely gotten started. If the American people wanted to spare their children the same fate, keep them from having to fight on the ground in Europe as had happened a generation before in World War I, then U.S. industry needed to dedicate itself to producing the weapons and munitions the Allies needed to put a stop to the conflict. And they needed to do it yesterday.
Quote #4
We are planning our own defense with the utmost urgency, and in its vast scale we must integrate the war needs of Britain and the other free nations which are resisting aggression. This is not a matter of sentiment or of controversial personal opinion. It is a matter of realistic, practical military policy, based on the advice of our military experts who are in close touch with existing warfare. These military and naval experts and the members of the Congress and the Administration have a single-minded purpose: the defense of the United States. (134-137)
Here's the thing about a conflict of this size, with a bunch of scary bad guys banding together—planning U.S. defensive strategy had to include the needs of the good guys doing the physical fighting.
The first priority was to protect American lives, but in order to do that, Americans had to do their part to produce weapons and munitions in the hopes that the Allies would have what they needed to put a quick stop to the war. The Axis had to deal with the problems closest to them (Britain, Greece, France, China) before they could even think about making a play for the U.S. of A.
Quote #5
As planes and ships and guns and shells are produced, your government, with its defense experts, can then determine how best to use them to defend this hemisphere. (171)
Even though it kind of sounds like FDR is asking American industry to press pause on production of luxury cars and shiny watches for the defense of the rest of the world, it's in the best interest of the United States, too.
Dedicating all industrial resources to the production of munitions and other weapons will help Britain and China and all the other countries trying to stand up to the Axis, but rebuilding American military muscle will give the U.S. something to work with in case the war ever does come—and we know that eventually, it does.