{"id":100358,"date":"2024-08-30T09:36:18","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=100358"},"modified":"2024-08-30T09:36:44","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T13:36:44","slug":"for-labor-day-roosevelts-urgent-appeal-to-american-workers-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/for-labor-day-roosevelts-urgent-appeal-to-american-workers-part-2.html","title":{"rendered":"For Labor Day: Roosevelt\u2019s Urgent Appeal to American Workers (part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/em><\/strong> In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes more about President Roosevelt\u2019s Labor Day speech in 1941 with the nation on the verge of WWII. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Today I continue with my look back at Labor Day on 1 September 1941, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave a radio address<\/a> to the nation calling on American workers to faithfully fulfill their mission and build armaments:<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026I know that I speak the conscience and determination of the American people when I say that we shall do everything in our power to crush Hitler and his Nazi forces.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: President Roosevelt giving his radio speech on Labor Day, 1941. Credit: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum: Photograph Collection. # 47-96:1523.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an earlier radio address, on 29 December 1940, Roosevelt had referred to the power of American labor to build the \u201cArsenal of Democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: the Arsenal of Democracy exhibit at the Michigan History Museum. Credit: Michigan History Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before the Unites States entered World War II it was contributing significant military supplies to its allies \u2013 all made by American workers.<\/p>\n

In support of Roosevelt\u2019s 1941 Labor Day message, the Detroit News<\/em> published a pollical cartoon with the heading: \u201cEnjoy the Honor and Remember the Responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Detroit News (Detroit, Michigan), 1 September 1941, page 18<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In an editorial accompanying this cartoon, the Detroit News<\/em> concludes:<\/p>\n

The theme of this Labor Day appeal is to keep clear the vision of citizenship responsibility. Let every citizen, whatever his [or her] task, find pride in saying this day: \u201cI am an American!\u201d And let him [or her] feel that this declaration will be meaningless unless it carries with it a willingness to get on the job early and stick late until the national defense program is completed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Worker \u2013 Soldier of Democracy<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is an example of an advertisement campaign to ignite workers across America.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Tacoma Times (Tacoma, Washington), 2 September 1941, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The photo caption reads:<\/p>\n

I Am Labor. I stand before you on this, my day, free and proud. I am the incarnation of Work, and Work is the foundation of modern civilization.<\/p>\n

Before the silvery bombers can take the air, my skilled fingers have fashioned and serviced them. The shining shell, the precise rifle, the intricate clockwork of tank and ship, these grew beneath the trained and intelligent hands with which I get my living.<\/p>\n

Because the things I do are basic and necessary, I yield my dignity to no man. Because of that dignity, I prize my manhood and my freedom. I shall defend it. To those who would degrade me to an automaton, make me a slave, I return loud and scornful laughter. Here in my United States I am more than a Worker, more than a Laborer, I am a Man.<\/p>\n

This manhood, this freedom, on my own Labor Day of 1941, I do not propose to yield.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Below is an image from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum that is part of a collection representing the call to America\u2019s automakers to help build and supply wartime equipment to our allies fighting in Europe. The manufacturing of military tanks, trucks, guns and munitions would come from industries like Chrysler Corporation. This image also appears in the video Automakers and the Arsenal of Democracy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: Chrysler Corporation workers making the first mass-produced Bofars antiaircraft guns. Credit: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WWII Sends Record Number of Women to Work<\/strong><\/p>\n

While women were busy prior to the United States entering the war, their numbers increased when labor shortages hit with so many men signing up to fight.<\/p>\n

According to oral histories<\/a> of Lowell, Massachusetts, sisters such as Claire Contardo and Doris Poisson filled the men\u2019s positions and began earning higher wages. Defense companies like Remington Arms, General Electric, and U.S. Rubber offered women decent wages and working conditions, and the chance to learn new skills. Women flocked to the new jobs.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:
Photo: women working in Lowell, Massachusetts. Credit: Mass Moments via Mass Humanities Council Project.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Labor Pledges to Help in All-Out War on Nazis<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article describes how American labor rallied to President Roosevelt\u2019s call.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), 2 September 1941, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article reports:<\/p>\n

American workers, 40,000,000 strong, joined with President Roosevelt on Labor Day Monday in pledging single-mindedness and sacrifice in the production of weapons to destroy Hitlerism.<\/p>\n

From coast to coast and from the Canadian to the Mexican borders, speakers, both labor and non-labor, enlarged upon the theme voiced by Mr. Roosevelt at Hyde Park \u2013 that the wheels of industry must roar faster and faster to make the United States the arsenal of democracy.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Note on the header image:<\/em><\/strong> \u201cFour Freedoms and Arsenal of Democracy\u201d poster displayed in Defense Square, Washington, D.C., for a month beginning 7 November 1941. The panels were designed for the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) by Jean Carlu, eminent poster artist. They were shown first in New York and, after the Washington, D.C., showing, went on a tour of many large cities throughout the country. Credit: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.<\/p>\n

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