An official with the new World War II Memorial has dispelled an Internet rumor that part of President Franklin Roosevelt's famous speech to the nation after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor engraved on the monument deliberately ends just before a reference to God.
An e-mail circulating claims the inscription includes the following quote from near the end of the speech:
"With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph."
In the original speech, Roosevelt added to the line: "So help us God."
In reality, a different quote from the Dec. 8, 1941, speech was used on the memorial, Betsy Glick, director of communications for the memorial, explained to WND.
"The truth is that part of the speech [with the reference to God] does not appear anywhere on the memorial," she said. "We only picked one sentence from that entire speech, and it is included in its entirety. It's about four paragraphs above the sentence that ends with 'so help us God.'"
Glick speculated that the person who originated the e-mail about the memorial perhaps failed to remember the quote correctly.
The quote engraved on the memorial is: "Dec. 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy … No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory."
Glick mentioned there were many political and military quotes submitted to be included on the memorial, and ultimately the Commission on Fine Arts and the National Capital Planning Commission approved those that were inscribed.
"We wanted to pick something that commemorated the attack on Pearl Harbor," she said, "and that particular sentence directly relates to Pearl Harbor – that it was a premeditated invasion and that the American people would win absolute victory."
The incorrect e-mail has an elderly lady visiting the memorial and reading out loud the quote that is not inscribed.
"Wait a minute," she is quoted as saying. "They left out the end of the quote. They left out the most important part. Roosevelt said 'so help us God.'"
"You're probably right," her husband says. "We're not supposed to say things like that now."
"The two shook their heads sadly and walked away," the bogus e-mail says.
Though many memorials and monuments throughout Washington, D.C., include references to God or Providence, a review of the inscriptions on the World War II Memorial on its website reveals no such quotes.
Sorry folks, but this is an internet myth, a hoax, circulating since at least 2004. It's taken in a lot of good people, but it's a fiction based on a poor recollection instead of fact.
You can check Snopes or Urban Legend fact check sites, or if you'd prefer, just look to pearlharbor.org (or the National Archives web site, etc.) to find the exact text, which shows that the WWII Memorial engraved quote is exactly correct, and that the words 'so help us God' appear not in the qoted sentence but later in the speech, to wit:
"But always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the People when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces - with the unbounding determination of our People - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."
In fact, here's the response from the American Battle Manuments Commission to an inquiry from Elizabeth Dole on behalf of one of her misinofrmed constiuents in January 2006:
"This letter responds to your inquiry on behalf of your constituent who expressed concern regarding editing of FDR's "Day of Infamy speech on the National World War II Memorial.
As is so often the case in reports that become widespread, criticism of editing FDR's famous speech on the memorial is unfounded.
The line in the speech that some claim was edited - "With confidence in our anned
forces, with the unbounded determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable
triumph, so help us God" - is not inscribed on the memorial.
The sentence that is inscribed - "No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion,the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory" appears earlier in FDR's speech and is used in its entirety.
The entire speech contains more than 450 words. Because of proper letter sizing
and inscription area, we had to manage between 35 and 40 words in total to achieve both the aesthetic effect and evocation desired. The inscribed sentence was selected because its phrasing ("No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion...") directly relates to the rest ofthe carved inscription, which commemorates the attack on Pearl Harbor. The complete inscription in the memorial reads as follows:
PEARL HARBOR
DECEMBER 7,1941, A DATE WHICH WILL LIVE IN INFAMY ... NO MATTER
HOW LONG IT MAY TAKE US TO OVERCOME THIS PREMEDITATED INVASION,
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, IN THEIR RIGHTEOUS MIGHT,
WILL WIN THROUGH TO ABSOLUTE VICTORY
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