Describing the United States as a sleeping giant can hide the gap between resources and usable capacity. Roosevelt inherited a country whose predecessors had not maintained the infrastructure needed to support its potential. In this interpretation, the New Deal's large infrastructure investment was essential to American viability in World War II. Countries performing below their apparent potential should therefore examine whether their underlying systems have been neglected. The aside connects peacetime public investment with the national capacity required in wartime.
Notable Point · 44:35-45:37
Infrastructure turns potential into wartime power
The discussion links sustained infrastructure investment to whether American economic potential could become usable power in World War II.