Address of President Roosevelt Accepting the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States by Roosevelt, Franklin Delano - 1936

Philadelphia: N.p., 1936. (5)ff. A signed typewritten speech, given by Franklin Delano Roosevelt on June 27, 1936, in acceptance of his nomination as the Democratic candidate for president. Roosevelt signed the speech at the end in blue ink, and the pages have sixteen corrections in blue pencil, with one sentence that has been crossed out. In the 1936 election, Roosevelt was the incumbent and had already started work on his New Deal in the midst of the Great Depression. In the speech, Roosevelt acknowledges his "grave responsibility" to the American people, but, in light of the relief brought by his New Deal programs, he also emphasizes that "...we have won against the most dangerous of our foes - we have conquered fear." He addresses economic inequality and denounces the "economic tyranny" of the "privileged princes of these new economic industries" who had "concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor - other people's lives." At the end of the speech, he states that "...here in America we are waging a great war. It is not alone a war against want and destitution and economic demoralization. It is a war for the survival of democracy. We are fighting to save a great and precious form of government for ourselves and for the world." Following this, in all capital letters, he closes the speech by saying "I accept the commission you have tendered me. I join you. I am enlisted for the duration of the war." Roosevelt won the election in a landslide victory, with all but eight electoral votes, in a time of economic instability and high unemployment; his accomplishments and rhetoric were no match for his opponent, Republican Alf Landon. Pages measure 8 by 14 inches. The pages are stapled and taped together at the top, and the area stapled has been reinforced with a strip of paper adhered to the blank verso of the last page. Creases to the pages from being folded into quarters, perhaps to fit into the President's pocket, else in fine condition.