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This Week in History

June 2-8, 1944
D-Day

June 2013

U.S. troops landing on the beaches of Normandy, France, June 6, 1944.

The anniversary of D-Day, the launching of the Allied Armies' liberation of France, is celebrated annually on June 6. It is important to reflect, today, on the leadership provided then to bring that war to a successful conclusion, and recognize the current folly of the “population wars” that have been fought since the Vietnam era, and the necessity to prevent them from spiraling into a nuclear World War 3.

World War II was the last just war which this nation fought. In it, we were pitted against a plan for Nazi world domination, which could indeed have resulted in the destruction of freedom worldwide, had it not been the leadership of the United States President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was the deliberate action of that President which, first, prevented the U.S. from falling under a Schachtian economic "solution" to the Depression; second, built up the "arsenal for democracy" which provided the superior logistics that actually permitted the war to be won; and three, made the crucial decisions that led to military success.

FDR was, of course, constrained within the partnership with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet leader Josef Stalin in actually implementing a war-winning plan. But his own vision was clear, in insisting that this war was intended to free the world, not only of Nazi-style militarism, but also of the oppression of all kinds of colonialism, which left people in misery. It was this vision, which FDR had conveyed throughout his Presidency, as he fought to defeat the Depression at home, as well as to forge cooperative alliances abroad, that infused the U.S. Military as it was sent into battle.

Much rhetoric will be spilled this coming week, in the attempt to compare the motivation behind the current mis-named U.S. "war on terror"—actually a war for population reduction and domination by the Anglo-Dutch empire —with the legendary battles of World War II. It will ring hollow, as it should. The horrible irony is that the philosophical heirs of the Nazis today, the Beast-men, inhabit the centers of power in the City of London, and other associated financial centers—not in Damascus, Baghdad or Teheran. The continuation of Roosevelt's good fight would not lead us to the policy of to kill, kill, kill in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world, à la Tony Blair, Barack Obama, John McCain, Dick Cheney, et al., but would organize alliances with the leaderships of the nations of Southwest Asia, in the manner Lyndon LaRouche has proposed. With the empire and its puppets politically defeated in the USA with the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Banking Act and resulting policy changes, we can transform the deserts into gardens, and cooperate in rebuilding the world.

A sense of this reality is evident when one reads the announcement which FDR made on June 5, 1944—the very eve of D-Day—about the liberation of Rome. In a Fireside Chat given that day, President Roosevelt described the historic significance of Italy, and declared that we had liberated the Italian people from slavery. However, unlike our postwar strategy today, FDR's first commitment to the Italian population was to collaborate with local governments, and provide them with the resources to feed and govern their people. The President did not talk about punishing the evil, and reshaping the society, but rather in using the wonderful productive capacity of the American economy to provide a better life for these people, regardless of the cost.

We conclude this remembrance with Roosevelt's D-Day prayer, which he broadcast to the American people on that very day:

My Fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer.

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day we have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight, and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest—until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home—fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts are prayers are ever with them—help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too—strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment—let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace—a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

 

The original article was published in the EIR Online’s Electronic Intelligence Weekly, as part of an ongoing series on history, with a special emphasis on American history. We are reprinting and updating these articles now to assist our readers in understanding of the American System of Economy.