Video: 'FDR - Fireside Chat - Germany's Invansion of Poland 09-03-1939'

(Sunday, September 3, 1939, 10:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time; during the Invasion of Poland, part of World War II) — Pleading that the United States face Europe’s havoc with “national unity,” not selfish partisanship, President Franklin D. Roosevelt tonight solemnly promised the nation his utmost effort to keep the United States neutral.

Video: 'President Roosevelt On "Neutrality"'

“As long as it remains within my power to prevent,” he said in a broadcast address just eleven hours after Britain declared war on Nazi Germany, which invaded Poland two days before, “there will be no blackout of peace in the United States.”

Video: 'The World at War: On Our Way: U.S.A. - 1939-1942 (7 of 26)' (Sept. 3, 1939, at 0:10)