Even after Pearl Harbor, support for the war was far from unanimous. His address two days after Pearl Harbor resulted in only positive, supportive letters, but two months later, he was on the airwaves again trying to garner support for the war. As late as 1942 the letters include those who want to appease the European fascists and only go after the Japanese. Even Congress was less than supportive. By September 1942, one writer, who called herself "Just another American," felt compelled to say, "Let the senators rave - and our representatives rant, let them wonder and wait - for elections - the everyday man wants you to go ahead - even faster than you are! ..We hear the sore-heads rave about capitalistic wars, about Jews, about the poor-man-gets-the-fighting-the-rich-man-gets-richer! We know they are there - always whining! They don't bother us. We know what we are doing - So do you - we are even surer of that fact."

Roosevelt said in one of his radio addresses that Americans are "not frightened by reactionary lawyers or by political editors." That's just as true today as it was then. Let's hope that our own President is listening to the voice of the people, not the newspapers, the politicians, and the career diplomats. That voice is out there today, although it might not be found in the letters to the White House. It's out there now, in the blogosphere. Are you listening, Mr. President?