Often in state and local governments we have seen the strange alternation of progress and reaction. But always after retrogression there has come an interlude when men have marched steadfastly toward better things. In this hour, again, much of the world is slipping backward- for how long we do not know. But those who pessimistically say that all is lost make a grave mistake. Man will survive this ordeal also, and the soul of civilization, if not its outward forms, will endure. And to those who remain will fall the duty of building again the structure that has fallen. May it be the good fortune of America to act so wisely in the days to come that we will be ready and able, when there is peace again, to help in constructing a foundation of justice among men and nations upon which that peace may be preserved.
— FRANK MURPHY