Fdr First Inaugural Speech Summary

Thesis Statement: During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency, his administration helped and tried to solve the problems of the Great Depression. He caused the government to play a very important role in society and from their help many people responded with their opinion of what they felt about it.

In 1933 history was changed for the better. Nineteen thirty three was an era where people were left devastated by the lost of many essentials that people today would take for granted. Eighty four years ago in Washington D.C the 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, gave his first inauguration speech before later serving four additional years to his country. Many of people were awaiting to hear his words spoken loud and clear stating that change was imminent with the assistance of hard work and dedication. The president’s aspiration was clearly presented as he was there to help improve their situation with plans to make things better. The purpose of president Hoover’s speech was to appeal to many through the use of pathos and ethos accompanied by his use of well known rhetoric devices such as amplification.

Though money is lacking there is still nature. He even goes as far to say that the country is in better shape than when the forefathers were alive. The parts in which he mentions nature and all it was to offer is a bit ironic. This is because the farmers that were not careful in the way and in what they planted ruined the land. Over time that began to add up, which lead the nation straight into the Dust Bowl. Because of the Dust Bowl, farms were lost and so were many jobs, but FDR states that employing people is on the top of his list. Leading with, “This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously” (Peters/Woolley). He idea was that the government should employ the people, and he compared this crisis as to how the government would handle the threat of a war. At the time the country was not at war, so instead they would employ the people to work on projects that the country was in need of. FDR would later create the WPA, Works Progress Administration, to employ people for these projects. WPA had a huge impact on the work force, “employed eight and a half million Americans” and “built 650,000 miles of roads, 78,000 bridges, 125,000 civilian and military buildings, 800 airports, and 700 miles of airport runways”

He also stated that people needed to have faith in each other and that having faith will be one of the first steps in getting out of the depression. They needed to forget about the hardships, all the difficulties, and just need to push forward no matter what (160-161). FDR also stated that when people had dreams for steam power, or when they had dreams for an economic machine, and it would raise the standard of living for everyone people would unite together to get the job done. FDR was implying that everyone needs to work together in order to get out of the depression (Johnson 161). People began to believe that the government was not helping the Depression at all anymore.

On March 4, 1933 President Roosevelt or most commonly named FDR presented his inaugural speech as an acceptance to his presidency in Washington, DC. He used this moment to address particular ongoing issues and topics that the people of the U.S wanted answers to. People wanted to anxiously know if sooner rather than later things would get better with the economic depression as well as unemployment, and the future of the United States. In his introduction, Roosevelt started with mentioning the obvious issues and it is impacting our nation. However, he immediately stated that America will not stay like this forever. He then develops his speech with a lecture of morality and integrity. He addresses his number one target that is a big part of the recession or any kind for that matter: banks. The “...unscrupulous money changers…” (25) as he described the stock market collapse, stated that the court of the public opinion had already been accused of many things. As the transition goes from soothing the public to attacking and indicting the banks, the succeeding President now starts with the more important stuff: action. With Roosevelt winning the election against former President Hoover, he

In the speech First Inaugural Address, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a fully educated man with a strong political background, elicits strong diction to instill emotion and desire in the hearts of the citizens, establishes anaphora’s when discussing the Great Depression, and well placed calls to action in order to show the actions that need to be taken in order to wage a “war” with the Great Depression ultimately transitioning the citizens feelings into newfound hope and a sense of unity. First, Roosevelt portrays strong diction of the downfall in the economy in order to get citizens to share Roosevelts conviction and drive of rising above fear. Take, for example, how Roosevelt stating, “the only thing to fear is fear itself.” This produces

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

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a man who besides his intelligence, charm and strong confidence, he was able to sustain the nation through the most overbearing crisis know as the Great Depression as well as World War II. While managing to stay optimistic, Franklin Roosevelt helped people regain faith in themselves. Despite all the chaos going on at the time, “he was met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory (pg. 90).” He was praised for pushing the government to help those who were underprivileged. This was a new beginning in time for Americans known as the New Deal. He told the country to live by; “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself (pg 90).” Franklin Roosevelt made a very

When FDR came into the presidency, this nation was in the throes of a depression, which had come as a shock following the Roaring 20s, a time of prosperity and wealth for the United States. Despite that, Roosevelt foresaw a bright and renewed future for us, and he

He said: “This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.   …… the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”   It showed that the federal government must confront with the depression and let Americans known what was the fundamental problems they had to deal with. As a result, he then pointed out the difficulties which Americans faced, such as the value of product had shrunken, tax had risen, the income of government had been curtailed, et cetera. Most important was the unemployed citizens face the fatal problem of existence.

From the first president George Washington to the thirty-second president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, inaugural addresses have transformed from God-filled, hopeful speeches to pleas to the nation. Washington gives a humble address, and makes many references to God to the nation assuring them that if they have faith in God, they will have faith in him, he makes it obvious to the people he’s not pleading to them for help. FDR on the other hand establishes his ethos immediately by gaining the trust of the nation, and also pleads to the people to lure them in on the subject of unemployment. Both presidents use biblical allusions to appeal to the people in their addresses.

“We met the issue of 1933 with courage and realism. We face this new crisis, this new threat to the security of our nation, with the same courage and realism” (Roosevelt 434). The issue of 1933 the president was referring to was the great depression, a period in America’s history of record economic recession. Only through the practice of realism, realizing what situation we were in and figuring out what was best for recovery, and courage, the will to work hard and fearlessly, did America pull out of the recession. The president is trying to draw a connection between the new threat to national security and a familiar situation to prove that underestimating Germany is a grave mistake and we can’t just turn our heads to imminent danger. “But we well know that we cannot escape danger, or the fear of danger, by crawling into bed and pulling the covers over our heads” (Roosevelt 435). Roosevelt strengthens his argument by inferring that hiding doesn’t fix the problem it only physically masks it and only by facing this situation head and realistically will we overcome it. Roosevelt’s credibility is enhanced by being a leader, stepping up, and realizing that we can’t just sit back and hope Germany is stopped. We must take matters into our own hands and help those on the offense trying to preserve democratic ideals.

During the presidential election and campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt the U.S. entered a depression. A solution that was encouraged by the public was of a turning the country into a temporary dictatorship to fix the economy. During the Roosevelt presidency the depression grew bad and a solution was deeply needed. Most of the public during that era actually believed that dictatorship would fix the depression and Roosevelt would say that he was ready to “assume extraordinary powers if Congress failed to act against the emergency”. The public would show support by applauding him while he would conduct speeches explaining his ideas on why he should be elected and after being elected he would give the citizens hope. However did not follow through with the dictatorship idea, Roosevelt did not want to go through that path instead went for more of a democratic

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

Franklin D. Roosevelt became the thirty-second president of the U.S. in 1933. He was one of the most skillful political leaders and it showed as he led the people out of the Great Depression. The U.S. was in a state of depression when Roosevelt took office, but through his New Deal program, the federal government became much more involved socially and economically in peoples' lives in contrast to its traditionally passive role. The government's responsibilities in peoples' lives changed and individuals' responsibilities changed too. The role of the government in peoples' lives expanded greatly during the New Deal era.