We face this new crisis—this new threat to the security of our nation—with . . . courage and realism.

Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now. . . .

The Nazi masters of Germany have made it clear that they intend not only to dominate all life and thought in their own country, but also to enslave the whole of Europe, and then to use the resources of Europe to dominate the rest of the world. . . .

It is not a government based upon the consent of the governed. It is not a union of ordinary, self-respecting men and women to protect themselves and their freedom and their dignity from oppression. It is an unholy alliance of power . . . to dominate and enslave the human race.

–President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
1940

What reason does Roosevelt give to support his argument that the United States should help the Allies?

Japan and Germany cannot be defeated without US assistance.
America was in a similar type of danger during colonial times.
Germany is a threat to democracy and to the people of the United States.
Isolationism is the smartest and the best course of action.