will bind upon us--bind upon us all--as a sacred obligation with a
unity of duty hitherto evoked only in times of armed strife.

With this pledge taken, I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this
great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our
common problems.

Action in this image--action to this end--is feasible under the form
of government which we have inherited from our ancestors. Our
Constitution is so simple, so practical that it is possible always to
meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without
loss of essential form. That is why our constitutional system has
proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern
world has ever seen. It has met every stress of vast expansion of
territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world
relations.

And it is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and
legislative authority may be wholly equal--wholly adequate--to meet the
unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented
demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure
from that normal balance of public procedure.

I am prepared under my constitutional duty to recommend the measures
that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require.
These measures, or such other measures as the Congress may build out of
its experience and wisdom, I shall seek, within my constitutional
authority, to bring to speedy adoption.

But in the event that the Congress shall fail to take one of these two