This is a victory of more than arms alone.
This is a victory of liberty over tyranny.
From our war plants rolled the tanks and planes which blasted their way to the
heart of our enemies; from our shipyards sprang the ships which bridged all the
oceans of the world for our weapons and supplies; from our farms came the food
and fiber for our armies and navies and for our Allies in all the corners of the
earth; from our mines and factories came the raw materials and the finished
products which gave us the equipment to overcome our enemies.
But back of it all were the will and spirit and determination of a free people
-- who know that it is worth whatever price they had to pay to preserve it.
It was the spirit of liberty which gave us our armed strength and which made our
men invincible in battle.
We now know that that spirit of liberty, the freedom of the individual, and the
personal dignity of man, are the strongest and toughest and most enduring forces
in all the world.
And so on V-J Day we take renewed faith and pride in our own way of life.
We have had our day of rejoicing over this victory.
We have had our day of prayer and devotion.
Now let us set aside V-J Day as one of renewed consecration to the principles
which have made us the strongest nation on earth and which, in this war, we have
striven so mightily to preserve.
Those principles provide the faith, the hope, and the opportunity which help men
to improve themselves and their lot.
Liberty does not make all men perfect nor all society secure.
But it has provided more solid progress and happiness and decency for more
people than any other philosophy of government in history.
And this day has shown again that it provides the greatest strength and the
greatest power which man has ever reached.
We know that under it we can meet the hard problems of peace which have come
upon us.
A free people with free Allies, who can develop an atomic bomb, can use the same
skill and energy and determination ahead.