Commems Collection Classic: 1937 Battle Of Antietam 75th Anniversary - FDR Speech

In 1937, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt attended the commemoration ceremonies for the Roanoke Colony 350th Anniversary and the Battle of Antietam 75th Anniversary; he gave an address at each. His speech at Roanoke was politically-charged, but his speech at the Antietam ceremony was more heartfelt and more about national unity vs. divisive politics. (The Roanoke address was made on August 18, 1937, the Antietam speech was given on September 17, 1937.) FDR also attended the Battle of Antietam (Sharpsburg) recreation on September 17,

The speech:

The passage of time has a strange effect on all great crises, especially on those which have occurred in comparatively recent times. History, in the strict interpretation, covers the events of yesterday and of the past week. But, actually in the minds of almost everyone, we do not class as history those things which have come to pass within our own memory or that of our parents.

Young people, as I well know in my own family, who are in their early twenties today have little or no personal recollection of the recent World War of only two decades ago; but that war entered into their childhood memories. On the other hand they think of the War with Spain, which most of us remember, as ancient history.

In my own case, though I came into the world some seventeen years after the close of the war between the States, the results of that war and of the difficult years that followed it do not make me think of it as history.

And today, seventy-five years after the critical battle of Antietam, there are still among us many who can remember it. It is, therefore, an American battle which thousands of Americans, middle-aged and old, can still visualize as bearing some relationship to their own lives.

We know that Antietam was one of the decisive engagements of the Civil War because it marked the first effort of the Confederacy to invade the North—tactically a drawn battle, but actually a factor of vital importance to the final result because it spelled the failure of the attempt.

Whether we be young or old, it serves us little good purpose to discuss again the rights and the wrongs of the long four years war between the states. We can but wish that the war had never been. We can and we do revere the memory of the brave men who fought on both sides. We can and we do honor those who fell on this and other fields.

But we know today that it was best, for the generation of Americans who fought the war and for the generations of Americans who have come after them, that the war between the states did not end in a division of our land into two nations. I like to think that it was the will of God that we remain one people.

Today, old and young alike, are saddened by the knowledge of the bitter years that followed the war—years bitter to the South because of economic destruction and the denial to its population of the normal rights of free Americans--years bitter to the North because victory engendered in the North among many the lesser passions of revenge and tyranny.

We must not deny that the effects of the so-called "era of reconstruction" made themselves felt in many evil ways for half a century. They encouraged sectionalism, they led to misunderstanding and they greatly retarded the unity of the people of the United States.

It is too soon to define the history of the present generation; but I venture the belief that it was not until the World War of twenty years ago that we acted once more as a nation of restored unity. And I believe also, that the past four years mark the occasion, the first occasion, certainly since the War between the States, and perhaps during the whole 150 years of our government, that we are not only acting but also thinking in national terms.

Deeply we appreciate that the distress or difficulty of any one part of the Union adversely affects each and every other part. We stand ready in all parts of the land to lend a helping hand to those Americans who need it most.

In the presence of the spirits of those who fell on this field-Union soldiers and Confederate soldiers--we can believe that they rejoice with us in the unity of understanding which is so increasingly ours today. They urge us on in all we do to foster that spirit of unity, foster it in the spirit of tolerance, of willingness to help our neighbor, and of faith in the destiny of the United States of America.


1937 Battle of Antietam 75th Anniversary Half Dollar



For other of my posts about commemorative coins and medals, including more on the Antietam half dollar and more on FDR's speech at Roanoke, see: Commems Collection.