We have nothing to fear,
but fear it self.
As long as our faith doesn't fail,
we can face any storm,
with hand held high
and a smile as a shield from the gale.
If we truly believe in what we feel,
the moment our doubts disappear,
We can see shining clear,
like the sun through a tear,
we have nothing to fear,
but fear.
In his first inaugural address in 1933,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt told
a frightened nation,
the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself.
Our primary task is to put people to work.
And to that end,
more legislation was passed
within the next 99 days
and in any previous Congress.
Saint or demon,
radical or humanitarian,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
was not the type of man
to arouse any half -hearted feelings.
People either revered or hated him.
But his New Deal
had obviously made more friends than enemies,
for in 1936,
he was re -elected
with a plurality of 10 million votes.
Now, less than two decades after
the world had been made safe for democracy,
the nightmare of another
world conflict
loomed in Europe.
And Franklin Roosevelt
worked tirelessly
to build up solidarity
among the countries
of the Western Hemisphere.
Breaking with tradition in 1940,
he ran and was elected for a third term.
And on December 7th, 1941,
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
plunged us into war.
Not only the United States,
but the whole free world
was locked in a violent death struggle.
And elected for a fourth term,
FDR was determined that this time,
we should not win the war
and lose the peace.
He traveled far and wide
to bring the free nations of the
world into an alliance.
The United Nations was born,
but he did not live to attend
its first session.
On April 12, 1945,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt died.
And with a war not yet won,
Harry S. Truman became our 33rd
president.
Pledging himself to maintain Roosevelt's policies,
he saw us through the war.
And with a spunk and fiery spirit
that no one had guessed he possessed,
Truman faced the problems
of a post -war atomic world.
And, in 1948,
Against All Predictions
was elected to a second term.
Go get em, Harry!
You'll show em all!
You might best whip your back
against them all!
Go get em, Harry!
Fight for the rise!
And we 'll back you, Harry!
with all the nation's might.
And soon, all the nation's might
backed up the president's decision
to fight against aggression in Korea.
Harry S. Truman
had taken on a gigantic responsibility,
but Franklin D. Roosevelt
had bequeathed to him
and to all of us an unconquerable weapon,
the reaffirmation of faith in
our four freedoms,
freedom of speech and of worship,
from want and from fear.
If we truly believe in what we feel,
the moment our doubts disappear.
We can see shining clear,
like the sun through a tear.
We have nothing to fear, but fear!
Walter Brennan 
