In that first speech, Roosevelt praised the “fortitude and good temper with which everybody the hardships of the banking holiday.” The holiday, as well as the radio address, seemed to have the intended effect: When the banks opened again, the panicked “bank runs” that people had feared did not materialize, showing that public confidence had been restored in some measure for the time being.ĭuring the 1930s, well before the advent of television, some 90 percent of American households owned a radio. On March 12, 1933, he took one more important step, delivering a relatively informal address on the banking crisis that would be broadcast over the radio. In combination with the bank holiday, Roosevelt called on Congress to come up with new emergency banking legislation to further aid the ailing financial institutions of America. One of his earliest actions as president was to declare a “bank holiday,” or a period during which all banks would be closed until they were determined to be solvent through federal inspection. In his first inaugural address, Roosevelt sought to impart a new sense of confidence for the struggling nation, declaring that “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”ĭuring its first several months, famously labeled “The Hundred Days,” Roosevelt’s administration presented a broad array of measures to Congress aimed at jumpstarting America’s economic recovery–these would become the building blocks of his revolutionary New Deal. He was said to be fond of ad-libbing, explaining why official versions of his speeches often vary from the actual recorded version.īy the time Roosevelt took office in early March 1933, the Great Depression had spread across the globe, and America’s economy had declined to desperate levels, with banks in failure, industrial production crippled and more than 13 million people unemployed. In the general election, Roosevelt received some 23 million popular votes, compared with only 16 million for the Republican incumbent, Herbert Hoover.ĭid you know? Though he worked with speechwriters, Roosevelt took an active role in creating the chats, dictating early drafts and reading aloud revisions until he had almost memorized the text. In 1928, he was elected governor of New York, and four years later he won the Democratic nomination for president.

After being completely paralyzed for a period of time, he remained permanently confined to a wheelchair but did not give up his dreams of a political career.

Roosevelt was stricken with polio in 1921. Roosevelt's First Fireside ChatĪs a rising young politician from New York, Franklin D.

Fireside bowl