President Franklin Roosevelt had a few words to say about Thomas Jefferson at the opening of the Jefferson Memorial, April 13, 1943. The full statement is here.
Roosevelt on Jefferson:
"He faced the fact that men who will not fight for liberty can lose it. We, too, have faced that fact.
"He lived in a world in which freedom of conscience and freedom of
mind were battles still to be fought through—not principles already
accepted of all men. We, too, have lived in such a world.
"He loved peace and loved liberty—yet on more than one occasion he
was forced to choose between them. We, too, have been compelled to make
that choice.
"Jefferson was no dreamer-for half a century he led his State and his
Nation in fact and in deed. I like to think that this was so because he
thought in terms of the morrow as well as the day—and this was why he
was hated or feared by those who thought in terms of the day and the
yesterday.
"The
words which we have chosen for this Memorial speak Jefferson's noblest
and most urgent meaning; and we are proud indeed to understand it and
share it:
"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."
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