So Help Us God

There has been a bit of a kerfuffle regarding an inscription at the new WWII memorial in Washington. The inscription quotes a speech by President Roosevelt. Here is the story making the rounds: bq. One woman read the words aloud: "With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph." But as she read, she was suddenly angry. bq. "Wait a minute," she said. "They left out the end of the quote. They left out the most important part. Roosevelt said, 'So help us God.'" bq. "You're probably right," her husband said. "We're not supposed to say things like that now." bq. "I know I'm right," she insisted. "I remember the speech." bq. The two shook their heads sadly and walked away. bq. Listening to their conversation, I thought to myself, "Well, it has been 50 years. She's probably forgotten." bq. But she was right. bq. The people who edited out that part of the speech when they engraved it on the memorial could have fooled me. I was born after the war. But they couldn't fool the people who were there. Roosevelt's words are engraved on their hearts. bq. Send this around to your friends. People need to know before everyone forgets. She was wrong... Here are the closing five paragraphs of Roosevelt's speech: bq. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory. bq. I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us. bq. Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger. bq. With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God. bq. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. As you can see there is a so help me God but it comes three paragraphs after the paragraph used in the inscription. This info (and lots more) can be found at this wonderful site: Snopes