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FDR’s D-Day Prayer Still Calls For A Response
FDR’s D-Day prayer to announce the Normandy landings of WW2 still has truths to teach about the timeless enemies that threaten all of humanity
FDR’s D-Day prayer to announce the Normandy landings of WW2 still has truths to teach about the timeless enemies that threaten all of humanity
For all the greatness that is to be found in the American canon of rhetoric, I find myself constantly returning to and being stirred up by FDR’s D-Day prayer.
Widely called “A Mighty Endeavour” for what Roosevelt dubbed Operation Overlord to the public in the opening line, the radio address was most of the country’s first notice that Allied troops where on the ground in France. With the time difference involved, almost a full day of the invasion was underway, and FDR opened up with an explanation that during the previous night’s broadcast he had known that H-Hour on D-Day had passed, and the matter was in the balance. By the evening of June 6th, Washington, D.C. time, FDR left the invasion at “it has come to pass with success thus far” without further comment.
Written mostly before the invasion started with input from his daughter and son-in-law, the text was publicly released so that FDR’s imploring for the country…
