The Power of Cooperation, Leadership and Sacrifice
by Thomas Chaney
...Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
On June 6th, 1944, eighty-one years ago today, one of the greatest trials and sacrifices in the long and multitudinous history of our country took place. This was D-Day, the first day of the operation to liberate France, beginning in the Cherbourg-Havre area of Normandy. We lack the words, being so removed from the necessity of the time, to describe the immense force of the hour. It was the moment where the tide of the war would be turned, when the Americans and other Allied forces would finally land on the shores of Normandy to begin the liberation of what would begin in France but would later be performed on the continent as a whole. So, we will use the prayer given by FDR over the mission to give us an idea of the adequate devotion this day is due:
“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 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.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.”
THE FOUR FREEDOMS
More than three years before D-Day, on January 6th, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed Congress with the subject of the Lend-Lease program. This was the effort, despite not being formally involved in the war, that enabled our government to aid and arm our allies in Europe through their battle against the German war machine. The majority of the speech was dedicated to the technicality of the proposal: how and when and by what methods are resources would be used in the distant war, with only occasional moments of rhetorical weight that lent power to his aim. But, by far, the most significant moment in the entire address came near the end, in what would become one of Roosevelt’s many, many famous moments as a speaker. Here, he described with remarkable clarity the final outcome of the struggle of World War II, what the Allied powers hoped to achieve not just in the West, but throughout the world. In just five sentences he laid out his vision for the days yet to come:
“In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
- The first is freedom of speech and expression–everywhere in the world.
- The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way–everywhere in the world.
- The third is freedom from want–which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-everywhere in the world.
- The fourth is freedom from fear–which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor–anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.”
It seems that of all Americans who heard our president’s call, it was the famous artist Norman Rockwell alone who understood these lofty ideals laid before the nation. Inspired by these aims, in the year after the address, Rockwell commemorated a series of four paintings, each depicting one of the freedoms enunciated by FDR before his congressional audience. This was the moment, at last, when, in the work of an artist who depicted his deep understanding of the country in which he lived in every one of his paintings, that the efforts of the president were finally understood. Each of the paintings say something specific about our great nation, something that was preluded to in the Lend-Lease Address of President Roosevelt, and in moments of reflection remind us of what was being fought over.
The speech that wasn't given
In the event that the mission failed, General Eisenhower had prepared a short speech to be given bearing full responsibility for the shortcomings of the operation. The speech was put inside his wallet and remained there. This silent ownership of the most consequential mission of the century was undoubtedly the kind of burden that weighs heaviest, the fate of the world was in the balance, and Ike, Atlas-like, stood before his hour of testing with the honor and courage that remind of what form true leadership takes:
D–Day is a powerful testament to what free people can achieve when united in purpose. It also serves as a reminder to civilians today of the importance of thoughtful and responsible leadership.
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