The Great Arsenal of Democracy is one of the most famous of 30 firesie chats broadcast on the radio by United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was read on December 29, 1940, at a time when Nazi Germany had conquered much of Europe and threatened Britain. Germany was allied with Italy and Japan, and was collaborating with the Soviet Union. Franklin Roosevelt had referred to Detroit as the "Arsenal of Democracy," when the auto industry geared up to produce weaponry during World War II.