#Fdr fireside chats reagan series#

presidential election, but Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Cox's running mate on the Democratic Party's ticket in the 1920 U.S. He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and then the assistant secretary of the Navy under president Woodrow Wilson during World War I. His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II.Īfter attending college, Roosevelt began to practice law in New York City. He also built the New Deal coalition, realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System and defining American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century. Roosevelt directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal in response to the worst economic crisis in American history. But scouts reported that the people around the country all seemed to feel they knew the President personally.Franklin Delano Roosevelt ( / ˈ d ɛ l ə n oʊ ˈ r oʊ z ə v ɛ l t, - v əl t/ DEL-ə-noh ROH-zə-velt, -⁠vəlt January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. The phrase ''My friends'' passed into the political vocabulary.Ĭan Reagan chat his way into friendship with the nation? There was extraordinary upper-class venom against Roosevelt in his day. He would send someone upstairs for a removable bridge which he disliked wearing but which reduced the sibilances of his voice. His face would smile and light up with them.'' Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins watched him: ''His head would nod and his hands would move in simple, natural, comfortable gestures. In city living rooms or farm kitchens they felt that he was talking to them direct. He explained the banking system in simple terms without giving the impression of talking down to listeners. Reporters who pointed this out were regarded as rather radical half a century ago.įDR was wheeled into the Diplomatic Reception Room on the ground floor of the White House, sat at a desk, waved genially at guests and technicians, and for 20 minutes talked into the radio, that first fireside chat, in a warm, reassuring voice. A contemporary report from the Brookings Institution described a situation that the nation took for granted but that seems appalling by modern standards: 1 percent of the people, according to Brookings, owned 59 percent of the national wealth at the other side of the scale, 87 percent owned only 8 percent of the wealth. And now the new president.Īmerica in 1929 was rich - or thought it was till the stock market crumbled. It was before television's time - but sound had been added to the newsreels in 1927. They wanted to catch the savor of the President himself. It was all right to tell people that ''the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,'' but they wanted more. Runs had started on various banks, and the new President ordered, March 5, a four-day bank holiday (and an embargo on gold). 29, 1929, which the New York Times headlined, ''Stocks collapse in 16,410,030-share day,'' President Hoover had regularly promised that prosperity was just around the corner. The national crisis was too big for that.įor a president guiding America, everything depends on inspiring confidence. He had made rash promises in his campaign: In a speech at Pittsburgh he promised to reduce the cost of government 25 percent, to achieve ''the one sound foundation of permanent economic recovery - a complete and honest balancing of the federal budget.'' Now he was president, and he couldn't balance the budget nor did he want to. He knew that the acid test of the New Deal was recovery. Some problems didn't appear on the surface. Reagan waited until his Wednesday prime-time press conference was out of the way, his ninth, before starting the follow-up personal discussions.įDR talked to the nation during a crisis when the dominant subject was hard times, unemployment, and near-panic. Just as FDR preceded his first fireside chat with a bigger show - the inaugural pageant - so Mr.

#Fdr fireside chats reagan series#

On Saturday, President Reagan institutes a latter-day series of fireside chats, designed to reach the citizen direct. ''My friends,'' he began simply, ''I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking.'' It was a timely topic. The new president, Franklin Roosevelt, was giving his first fireside chat. A warm, reassuring voice came from the horn of the old Atwater Kent on the living room table. Across America one Sunday night everybody turned on the radio.