Fiorello La Guardia on Death of FDR

My fellow New Yorkers, the one dominant thought in our mind is that shared by 130 million Americans in our country, and hundreds of millions of men and women throughout the world. The greatest casualty of the entire world is now suffered by all the people of the world.

The shock is so great that under ordinary conditions it would be exceedingly difficult to absorb. But we must carry on because of him who is dead in the entire world. We were in this gathering in not a very large room, a number of New Yorkers gathered.

We all came in so cheerful and happy. A citation was to be awarded, broadcasting station WNYC. Here were men of different ancestry, of different religious faith. Of different political beliefs, yet all now, in great, we've all seen to have been brought closer together.

Mr. Gardner, Osborne, whom you just heard. Judge Murray, Halbert of the Federal Court. Mr. John W. Singer. Mr. William Van White, a nephew of one of my predecessors, Mr. William S. Bennett, president, the Empire State Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, for President Edgar Nathan, when his own right belongs to the sons of the American Revolution.

These distinguished gentlemen, these Americans long line of ancestry, these sons of the Mayflower the half-mode were to confer a citation on WNYC directed by Morris Novak and the President Mayor, the sons of this theory. It's no wonder that we have been so affected. This gathering here is so typical of American unity. It's so typical of what

our country stands for. And my friends, I've talked to you so often, and under difficulty conditions. This is the most difficult ever had. It means so much to you and to me. It means so much to people that you and I will never hear from, will never know, people who have been suffering for years, for generations, who had looked forward to this man as their