Last updated: January 23, 2024
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"Our Bunker Hill of Tomorrow..."
On May 27, 1941, people across the United States tuned in to one of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Fireside Chats." During these radio addresses, which began in 1933, President Roosevelt reached out to Americans in their own homes. As if having a conversation with his audience, President Roosevelt shed light on the challenges the country faced, explained policies, as well as brought comfort to his audience as they faced an uncertain future.[1] This May 1941 speech served a similar purpose.
In this address, President Roosevelt warned that the war abroad posed a threat to the country's ideals, the same ideals colonists fought for during the United States' War for Independence. The President's harkening of the past, specifically his reference to the Battle of Bunker Hill, sparked a young African American teenager to travel to Boston to visit the monument built to commemorate the battle.
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
The Fireside Chat
With the start of World War II in 1939, President Roosevelt used his radio addresses to discuss national security and the nation's defenses. Directly entering the war remained unpopular during its early years which led Roosevelt to argue in favor of policies that both limited US participation in the war and provided support to the country's European allies. He also sought to prepare the country in case of future involvement.
In this May 1941 radio address, Roosevelt explained the measures the country had taken thus far to prevent war from reaching American shores. He highlighted the increase in armament production, strengthening of the military, and the aid the United States continued to provide its allies in order "to keep the dictators away from our own hemisphere."[2] He also expressed the serious threat Hitler and Nazism posed to Americans and the rest of the world. From "the whole fabric of working life as we know it" to "our right of worship," Americans' way of life could be at risk if Hitler and the Nazis succeeded.[3]
While the country prepared defenses "only to repel attack," President Roosevelt asserted that they should not wait for a land attack before taking action.[4] He stated:
Some people seem to think that we are not attacked until bombs actually drop in the streets of New York or San Francisco or New Orleans or Chicago. But they are simply shutting their eyes to the lesson that we must learn from the fate of every Nation that the Nazis have conquered.[…] Nobody can foretell tonight just when the acts of the dictators will ripen into attack on this hemisphere and us. But we know enough by now to realize that it would be suicide to wait until they are in our front yard. When your enemy comes at you in a tank or a bombing plane, if you hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes, you will never know what hit you. Our Bunker Hill of tomorrow may be several thousand miles from Boston, Massachusetts.[5]
He subtly reminded his listeners of the Battle of Bunker Hill, a Revolutionary War battle during which New England colonists came together to fight for their rights and freedoms against a threatening British miliary. By leaning into one of the Battle's most prolific myths that an officer commanded soldiers to "hold your fire until you see the whites of his eyes," Roosevelt asserted the country needed to be proactive and prevent the enemy from getting within striking distance.[6]
Boston Globe, May 31, 1941.
In his conclusion, Roosevelt reflected on how far the country had come since the American War for Independence. And with the country's growing strength, he argued, there came a responsibility to do more to protect its people and its founding ideals:
As a military force, we were weak when we established our independence, but we successfully stood off tyrants, powerful in their day, tyrants who are now lost in the dust of history. Odds meant nothing to us then. Shall we now, with all our potential strength, hesitate to take every single measure necessary to maintain our American liberties? Our people and our Government will not hesitate to meet that challenge. …
… I repeat the words of the signers of the Declaration of Independence -- that little band of patriots, fighting long ago against overwhelming odds, but certain, as we are now, of ultimate victory: "With a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."[7]
"A Long-Felt Ambition"
Sixteen-year-old David Joyce Jr. joined thousands of Americans in listening to this radio address. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Joyce had been working in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the time of the speech. According to the Boston Globe, when Joyce "heard President Roosevelt's reference to the heroes of Bunker Hill," he "determined then and there to fulfill a long-felt ambition."[8] Joyce left his job and immediately headed north to Boston. He wanted to see the Bunker Hill Monument with his own eyes.
In Boston, Police Officer Captain Francis Tiernan found the young Joyce wandering around Scollay Square. Identifying him as a "runaway," Captain Tiernan contacted Joyce's parents. However, Tiernan also called upon two police officers to accompany Joyce to the Bunker Hill Monument. The Globe reported, "Impressed by the shaft, David agreed that he had accomplished the object of his pilgrimage by treading the sacred soil of Bunker Hill and was glad to go home."[9]
We do not know much more about David Joyce Jr.'s story. In 1943, Joyce registered for the draft in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York; however, it is unclear whether he served.[10] What remains are questions: What did seeing the Bunker Hill Monument mean to Joyce? Did hearing President Roosevelt's speech motivate him to fight for his country? And if so, did Joyce see himself as following the example of the soldiers who fought at Bunker Hill?
Footnotes
[1] Margaret Biser, "The Fireside Chats: Roosevelt's Radio Talks," The White House Historical Association, August 19, 2016, https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-fireside-chats-roosevelts-radio-talks; Christopher H. Sterling, "'The Fireside Chats' - President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1944)," Library of Congress, 2002, https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/FiresideChats.pdf.
[2] Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency," May 27, 1941, Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/209607.
[3] Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency."
[4] Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency."
[5] Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency."
[6] The following article unpacks this popular battle myth: Harry Schenawolf, "Don't Fire Until You See the Whites of Their Eyes: Fact or Fiction," Revolutionary War Journal, May 10, 2019, https://www.revolutionarywarjournal.com/dont-fire-until-you-see-the-whites-of-their-eyes-fact-or-fiction/.
[7] Franklin D. Roosevelt, "Radio Address Announcing an Unlimited National Emergency."
[8] "Runaway Sees Bunker Hill Shaft, Now Ready to Return to N.Y. Home," Boston Globe, May 31, 1941.
[9] "Runaway Sees Bunker Hill Shaft, Now Ready to Return to N.Y. Home," Boston Globe, May 31, 1941.
[10] A 1930 Census Record and a Draft Registration card have been located for David Joyce, Jr.: "United States Census, 1930," database with images, GenealogyBank, David Joyce, Brooklyn (Districts 0501-0750), Kings, New York, United States. (Original index: United States Census, 1930, FamilySearch, 2014); "David William Joyce," Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Mutiple Registrations, National Archives, Record Group 147, Roll 44027_13_00091, Fold3.