Christmas Greetings from President Franklin Roosevelt
Today I want to share with you the Christmas message President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed in 1935:
The spirit of Christmas breathes an eternal message of peace and good-will to all men. We pause therefore on this Holy Night and, laying down the burdens and the cares of life and casting aside the anxieties of the common day, rejoice that nineteen hundred years ago, heralded by angels, there came into the world One whose message was of peace, who gave to all mankind a new commandment of love. In that message of love and of peace we find the true meaning of Christmas.
And so I greet you with the greeting of the Angels on that first Christmas at Bethlehem which, resounding through centuries, still rings out with its eternal message: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will to men.”
Franklin Roosevelt
Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt helps to distribute hundreds
of Christmas bags to hundreds of needy children
on December 23, 1939.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
The Roosevelt family and friends leave the White House to attend church on December 25, 1938. Back row from left to right: Eleanor Roosevelt’s sister-in-law, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, the president’s mother Sarah Roosevelt, President Roosevelt, the Roosevelts’ son James and his wife, the Roosevelts’ son Franklin Roosevelt Jr., and the new Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins. Front row: the Roosevelts’ granddaughter Sara Delano Roosevelt and Diana Hopkins, daughter of Secretary Hopkins.
Because of Jesus, we can lay down the burdens and cares of life and cast aside the anxieties of our common days.
Therefore humble yourselves
under the mighty hand of God,
that He may exalt you at the proper time,
casting all your anxiety on Him,
because He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:6-7