FIRST RADIO FOR THE FIRST FAMILY
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 8, 1922, President Warren G. Harding became the first POTUS to have a radio in the White House. The New York Times reported in a headline story the next day, "Wireless telephone receiver installed in Harding's study."
The wireless receiver, soon to be called radio, was set up by White House staff in a bookcase. It was said that the President enjoyed listening to it. The radio played a major role in the Harding years.*
The first presidential election returns were broadcast by KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1920 and Harding, on June 14, 1922, became the first POTUS to be heard on the radio in a live broadcast of his speech dedicating a memorial to Francis Scott Key.
Calvin Coolidge was the first POTUS (1924) to give a speech specifically written for broadcast on radio, but Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first to use the medium to great political advantage. His "Fireside Chats" were instrumental in his success in leading the nation out of the Great Depression and through WWII. FDR once said...
"A government can be no better than the public opinion that sustains it."
*Development of amplifying vacuum tubes revolutionized radio receivers and transmitters. There were 100,000 radio sets in American homes in 1922 and a year later there were 550,000. Sales went from $2 million in 1921 to $400 million by 1924. The Sears & Roebuck catalog first offered radios in 1923.
SOURCES
"The Press in American Politics 1787-2012," by Patrick Novotny, Praeger, Santa Barbara, California, 2014.
"Warren G. Harding became the first president to be heard on the radio," This Day in History, June 14, 1922, www.history.com
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On February 8, 1922, President Warren G. Harding became the first POTUS to have a radio in the White House. The New York Times reported in a headline story the next day, "Wireless telephone receiver installed in Harding's study."
The wireless receiver, soon to be called radio, was set up by White House staff in a bookcase. It was said that the President enjoyed listening to it. The radio played a major role in the Harding years.*
The first presidential election returns were broadcast by KDKA in Pittsburgh in 1920 and Harding, on June 14, 1922, became the first POTUS to be heard on the radio in a live broadcast of his speech dedicating a memorial to Francis Scott Key.
Calvin Coolidge was the first POTUS (1924) to give a speech specifically written for broadcast on radio, but Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first to use the medium to great political advantage. His "Fireside Chats" were instrumental in his success in leading the nation out of the Great Depression and through WWII. FDR once said...
"A government can be no better than the public opinion that sustains it."
*Development of amplifying vacuum tubes revolutionized radio receivers and transmitters. There were 100,000 radio sets in American homes in 1922 and a year later there were 550,000. Sales went from $2 million in 1921 to $400 million by 1924. The Sears & Roebuck catalog first offered radios in 1923.
SOURCES
"The Press in American Politics 1787-2012," by Patrick Novotny, Praeger, Santa Barbara, California, 2014.
"Warren G. Harding became the first president to be heard on the radio," This Day in History, June 14, 1922, www.history.com
Warren Harding's "Readjustment Speech"
1920 Presidential Campaign
