This Fireside Chat was FDR’s attempt to assure Americans that, at least in 1940, the government’s main concern was the defense of the United States. But, in “the name of our common humanity,” he also asked Americans to donate to the Red Cross to try to ease the suffering of European civilians. Roosevelt then went on to justify his calls for greater defense production in the United States, obviously because of the increased danger from the Axis powers, but also because it might eventually become necessary for the United States to enter the European war.
