David Roosevelt's Inaugural Address

It was a time that our country had never witnessed nor expected. Who would’ve thought the following of some of the greatest times in United States, such as the roaring twenties and the start of the Industrial revolution, would result in some of the darkest days the United States has ever seen. Starting the in late 1920s and throughout 1930s, was what we know as the Great Depression. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as the 32nd president on March 4th, 1933, a year in which was considered one of the lowest points of the Great Depression. A damaged and torn nation looked to its new leader in hopes of economic resilience and prosperity. FDR’s inaugural address is considered to be one of the most famous acts of public speaking where common sayings such as “Only thing we have to fear is fear itself’ were first uttered (Moley 1). In a time of such unconventional circumstances, FDR’s inaugural address reassured the American people that the United States will become the great country it once was.

President Franklin Roosevelt’s “First Fireside Chat” is a reassuring piece that inspired the nation in a time of need using his voice that projected his personal warmth and charm into the nation’s living rooms to explain the banking crisis. He slowly and comprehensibly informed the American people on what has been done and to explain the complex banking system while using rhetorical appeals of ethos, logos, and pathos to effectively restore American faith in the United States government and banking system.

The first inaugural address of Franklin D. Roosevelt was one that strove to lift the American people off their feet as the country entered some of it's worst years during the Great Depression. One of Roosevelt's strong advantages during his address was his ability to relate to the very real concerns of the everyday American citizens. With pressures of the failing economy facing the President-elect, he delivered this speech, addressing the nation about his plans for a New Deal. Roosevelt made his first point in his address by stating, “...the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” This statement later became one of the most famous Presidential lines in all of history. The purpose of this statement was to remind the nation that for this

Language plays a crucial role in the development of power. Famous personalities in the United States use rhetorical devices to emphasize a specific point and make it clear to the audience. President Thomas Jefferson is a Democratic-Republican and won the election of 1800. In 1801 he presented his inauguration speech and was significant because it was the first time in the history when the power shifted from one party to the other. Martin Luther King, Jr. served as an American minister and played an active role in the civil rights movement. John F. Kennedy delivered his speech during his inauguration in order to develop relations with the Soviet Union and end Cold War. All the speeches were delivered by most known personalities and made use of rhetorical devices such as allusion and repetition to make their message memorable in the hearts of the citizens of America.

In the general purposes of the three inaugural addresses of FDR, JFK and Barack Obama, they were focused on appreciating the constitutional process which involves the inauguration of the U.S president. For example, recently, President Obama stated in his speech that people gathers each year to observe the enduring strength of the U.S and the act of democracy. FDR also appreciated the need for the inauguration in upholding the constitutional values and cultures.

Two days after taking office, Roosevelt issued a proclamation closing all American banks for four days until Congress could meet in special session to consider banking-reform legislation. So great was the panic about bank failures that the "bank holiday," as the president euphemistically described it, created a general sense of relief. Three days later, Roosevelt sent to Congress the Emergency Banking Act, a generally conservative bill designed primarily to protect the larger banks from being dragged down by the weakness of smaller ones. The bill provided for Treasury Department inspection of all banks before they would be allowed to reopen, for federal assistance to some troubled institutions, and for a thorough reorganization of those in the greatest difficulty.

George Washington had to borrow money to relocate to New York, then the center of American government. His presidential inauguration was held near New York 's Wall Street in late April 1789. A tremendous crowd showed up to see the man now known as "the Father of His Country." Borrowing a custom from English monarchs, who by tradition address Parliament when its sessions open, Washington gave a brief speech. It was the first inaugural address and the first of many contributions that Washington would make to the office of the presidency. But this would be no monarch; the new leader wore a plain brown suit.

The second term for President Franklin D. Roosevelt is very important for various reasons. One of them is that historically it was the first inauguration to be celebrated in January instead of March as previous presidential inaugurations. Secondary, this speech reminded people the New Deal intentions and accomplishments. Also, to underline the progress coming up and priorities in the second term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Roosevelt in 1933. In this speech he explained to the average citizen what happened with the banking crisis, why it happened, and how the government was going to fix it. He explained in the commoner’s vernacular the system in which banks invest a large majority of money people deposit and keep only a small amount in currency. It is normally plentiful for the needs of the community, but when people had started distrusting the banks and rushed to get their money out, the banks weren’t able to meet the rushed demand. By the 3rd of March hardly any banks were open for business and to explain how the government had stopped the problem from escalating President Roosevelt commented “It was then that I issued the proclamation providing for the national bank holiday, and this was the first step in the Government’s reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric.” (Roosevelt) This shows how they had began to fix the problem, and tells why all of the banks were closed. The second step in repairing the economy was to extend the bank holiday which was to be lifted gradually as different bank facilities were being rehabilitated. The bank holiday was put into effect because it provided the time that was needed to for banks to be able to supply needed currency. Roosevelt reassured people that none of the banks were worse off than they were

The primary source I have chosen is the “Second Inaugural Address” by Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865. Lincoln delivered his address as the Civil War was drawing to a conclusion and the final ends towards slavery. His address was to thousands of spectators, but was intended for a national and international audience. Some of the conspirators involved with Lincoln’s assassination such as John Wilkes Booth, George Atzerodt, and John Surratt were present in the crowd during the inauguration. Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States. Abraham most importantly led the Civil War into victory. He preserved the Union, abolished slavery, and strengthened the federal government, while also modernizing the economy.

In 1933 President Franklin D. Roosevelt is taking the office from Herbert Hoover the president when The Great Depression began its destruction on America. Herbert Hoover was often thought of as one of the main reason for the Depression for he saw it as “a passing incident in our national lives” (New Deal). He did very little to help the people and believed that the situation “wasn’t the federal government's job to try and resolve.” A majority of American workforce is now unemployed when President Franklin D. Roosevelt takes office. President Roosevelt's inaugural speech is his way of expressing his goals as the new leader to the American people. Roosevelt is stuck in a situation where many of the American people already feel neglected because of Hoover’s lack of leadership. In Roosevelt’s speech he uses many techniques to make his claim. His claim being that the American people can trust that he is going to better their situations and America altogether.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt wrote his First Inaugural Address in 1933. He had defeated Herbert Hoover. "By 1933, the depression had reached its depth." During the campaign, Roosevelt had said little about how he planned to solve the problems of the government. A few problems that he mentioned were "values had shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen, and our ability to pay has fallen." There are other problems as well. When the stock market crashed in 1929, quite a few people had been buying things on credit, which could not be paid off. “The means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade,” is a quote from the address that describes the situation of the stock market during the early 1930’s.

In his acceptance speech to the Democratic National Convention on June 27, 1936, President Franklin Roosevelt mentioned many challenges and concerns facing the United States during that time period. In his speech the President used short-hand phrases, brief references, and pejorative naming to make his larger, political and ideological points. FDR used terms like ‘economic royalists’, along with phrases like ‘new despotism wrapped in the robes of legal sanctions’, to identify the large corporations, investors and employers, who according to him are trying to influence policies and control the government for their own personal benefits. The President also uses phrases like ‘Necessitous men are not free men’, to reiterate his concerns and to point out how the working people of America are being deprived from their rights by these very same privileged employers. FDR compares 1936 to 1776, referring to the American Revolution and its significance in putting the power back in the hands of the average Americans, and how it is necessary to check the power of the corporations in order to protect the interests of the American people and restore the power back in the hands of the people.

Roosevelt’s speech was given during a troubling time for Americans and the economy. His speech was given over a radio broadcast, which was the fastest and easiest way to communicate with all of America in the 1930s. He talks in his speech about how the government is taking action to try to protect banks and revive the banking system with the Emergency Banking Act. During this time in America, the state of mind of the American people was very poor, and many Americans had to deal with poverty and unemployment. His speech gives the sense that the country is mending, and the speech also explains the system to people who do not

On March 4, 1933, at the worst times of the Great Depression, Franklin Roosevelt gave his first inaugural address to 100,000 Americans on the Capitol Plaza in Washington DC. "Most importantly," he said, "let me declare my firm conviction that the main thing we need to dread is dread itself." He guaranteed that he would act quickly to confront the "dull substances existing apart from everything else" and guaranteed Americans that he would "wage a war against the crisis" similarly just as "we were in truth attacked by an outside enemy." His discourse gave numerous individuals certainty that they'd chosen a man who was not hesitant to find a way to take care of the country's