FDR’s 4th inaugural address and MLK
FDR’s fourth address was only 559 words. (Still not shorter than Washington whose second address was less than 200 words). The end of World War II was three months away and FDR was trying to just remind people that things would get better. The message was essentially: me again, peace. I had forgotten about this line:
“Things in life will not always run smoothly. Sometimes we will be rising toward the heights—then all will seem to reverse itself and start downward. The great fact to remember is that the trend of civilization itself is forever upward; that a line drawn through the middle of the peaks and the valleys of the centuries always has an upward trend.”
Reminds us of president Obama’s oft quoted words from MLK (which were themselves a quote from an Episcopal preacher). Here’s how Obama put it in one of his many references:
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”
