"IT IS OUR PROBLEM. TOGETHER WE CANNOT FAIL"

FDR DELIVERS FIRST 'FIRESIDE CHAT' FROM WHITE HOUSE

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On March 12, 1933, ninety years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first "Fireside Chat*" from the White House here in the Nation's Capital.

The President spoke into a radio microphone beginning at 10 p.m. local time.  The topic of the first "chat" is "On the Bank Crisis."  This address lasts 13 minutes 42 seconds.  

The President says...

"When you deposit money into a bank...the bank invests your money...put(ting) your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and agriculture turning around."  

The President continues...

"Your government does not intend that the history of the past few years shall be repeated.  We do not want and will not have another epidemic of bank failures.**  

Start(ing) tomorrow with the opening of banks in the 12 Federal Reserve Bank cities (and) followed on Tuesday (by) about 250 cities in the United States." 

FDR concludes the first Fireside Chat with these words...

"The success of our whole...program depends upon the cooperation of the public.  It is your problem no less than mine.  Together we cannot fail." 

*FDR gave 31 fireside chats between 1933 & 1944.  The President did not have a fireplace in the room where he spoke but CBS reporter Harry Butcher coined "fireside chat" to evoke FDR's comforting style of delivery to the American people.  

90% of American families had access to a radio receiver in their homes in 1933.  According to history.com, FDR took an active role in writing his speeches & was fond of 'ad-libbing.' Audio recordings of these chats may be accessed at the Museum of Broadcast Communications website, www.museum.tv/ 

 **By 1933, 9000 banks in the United States had closed down permanently.  America was in the grips of the Great Depression with 13 million unemployed.

SOURCES

"Fireside Chat on Banking,"  March 12, 1933, The American Presidency Project, www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ 

"Fireside Chats," History, April 23, 2010, www.history.com/

FDR Giving a Fireside Chat

NBC Radio Microphone

Used in Fireside Chats

National Museum of American History

Washington, D.C.

THE CONSTITUTION OUGHT TO BE READ AGAIN & AGAIN

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2205

FDR: CONSERVATIVE & HONORABLE BY TODAY'S STANDARDS

Hyde Park, NY (JFK+50) The future 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt*, was born here in Hyde Park 135 years ago today, January 30, 1882, to James R. and Sara Delano Roosevelt.  FDR, elected four times, served as POTUS longer than any president ever had or ever will.

Bill Federer, writing for worldnetdaily.com, argues that Mr. Roosevelt, a liberal in his day, "appears to be conservative" by today's standards.   To support his point, Federer lists the following statements by FDR...

The first is applicable to today's discussion on the constitutionally of a presidential executive order on immigration...

"I hope that you have re-read the Constitution of the United States.  Like the Bible, it ought to be read again and again."

And in comparison to the modern discourse of America's political landscape...

"I can't talk about my opponent the way I would like to because...I am a Christian...and I don't believe there is anything to be gained in saying dreadful things about other people."

*Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was a graduate of Groton and Harvard &  attended Columbia Law School, passing the NY bar in 1907.  FDR was elected to the NY State Senate, appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, 

FDR ran as the Vice-Presidential nominee for the Democratic Party in 1920, served as Governor of New York from 1929 to 1932 and served as POTUS from 1933 until his death on April 12, 1945.  FDR led the Nation out of the Great Depression and through most of World War II.

SOURCE

"Why FDR is Considered Conservative by Today's Standards," by Bill Federer, January 2017, World Net Daily, www.wnd.com/

FDR Memorial

September 25, 2011

Photo by John White 

THE TRUMP TOWER OF 1932-33

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2161

FDR'S MANHATTAN TOWNHOUSE 

New York City (JFK+50) President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt and President-elect Donald J. Trump have in common the fact that their transition bases are within 12 blocks of each other here in Manhattan.

Today FDR's transition base at 47-49 East 65th Street is occupied by Hunter College's Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute*.  According to a story in the New York Times written by Jim Dwyer, the director of the Roosevelt House, Harold Holzer, calls the double-width townhouse "the Trump Tower of 1932-33."

FDR was seated in front of the fireplace of the East 65th Street Apartment on November 9, 1932 when he addressed the nation on radio as President-elect of the United States.  Little did his audience know, he would be their POTUS for the next 12 years.

Just as a number of potential cabinet appointees have gone up the elevators of Trump Tower in the past few weeks, FDR's prospects climbed up the stairs of FDR's townhouse.

One of those prospects became the first woman to hold a cabinet position.  She was Frances Perkins.  Ms. Perkins described her visit by recalling...

"The house was strangely disorderly (as) it had become a general camping place for reporters, politicians, policemen (and) detectives..."

FDR would not use the townhouse as POTUS.  After his mother's death in 1941, the property was sold to Hunter College.  It is highly doubtful that the current President-elect will sell Trump Tower.

*The Roosevelt House, 47-49 East 65th Street in Manhattan is a Neo-Georgian apartment designed by Charles A. Platt.  The Roosevelts, including FDR, Eleanor, children Anna & James, moved into Apt. 47 while FDR's mother, Sara, resided in Apt. 49 in December 1908.  The house was sold to Hunter College in 1942, became a NYC landmark in 1973 & on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

SOURCES

"Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College,"  www.roosevelthouse.hunter.cuny.edu/

"That Other President-Elect's Manhattan Transition Base," by Jim Dwyer, The New York Times, December 16, 2016.

75TH ANNIVERSARY OF US WAR DECLARATION ON JAPAN

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2153

THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WILL GAIN THE INEVITABLE TRIUMPH...SO HELP US GOD!

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) These were the words spoken by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt Seventy-five years ago today, December 8, 1941, in asking the Congress of the United States to approve a war declaration* on Japan.  

The President spoke at 12:30 p.m. Eastern time to a joint session of Congress the day following the Japanese attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Both houses approved the war declaration.  The tally was 82-0 in the Senate and 388-1 in the HR.  The only NO vote in either body was by Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin**.  The President signed the war declaration at 4:10 p.m.

FDR said in his speech...

"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.   With confidence in our armed forces- with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."

*Congressional Declaration of War on Japan (Dec 8, 1941)

JOINT RESOLUTION Declaring that a state of war exists between the Imperial Government of Japan and the Government and the people of the United States and making provisions to prosecute the same.

Whereas the Imperial Government of Japan has committed unprovoked acts of war against the Government and the people of the United States of America.

Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled.

That the state of war between the United States and the Imperial Government of Japan which has thus been thrust upon the United States is hereby formally declared and the President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan and to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States.

Approved December 8, 1941, 4:10 p.m. E.S.T.

**Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was born in Missoula County, MT & graduated from the Universities of Montana & Washington.  She was the 1st woman to hold high government office in the United States when elected to Congress representing her district in Montana.

SOURCE

"Congressional Declaration of War on Japan, December 8, 1941."  U.S. Historical Documents, University of Oklahoma College of Law, https://www.law.ou.edu/ushistory/japwar.shtml

FDR's Address to Congress

December 8, 1941

WAR DECLARATION ON JAPAN

JFK+50:  Volume 6, No. 1790

USA DECLARED WAR ON JAPAN 74 YEARS AGO 

Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) Seventy-four years ago today, December 8, 1941, the Congress of the United States approved a war declaration on the Empire of Japan.  

The war declaration followed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's address to a joint session the day following the Japanese attack on the United States Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

FDR's address was delivered at 12:30 p.m.  The Senate approved the war declaration first, and then the House of Representatives followed at 1:10 p.m. 

The tally was 82-0 in the Senate and 388-1 in the HR.  The only NO vote in either body was by Congresswoman Jeanette Rankin*.  The President signed the war declaration at 4:10 p.m.

FDR said in his speech to Congress...

"No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.   With confidence in our armed forces- with the unbounding determination of our people - we will gain the inevitable triumph - so help us God."



*Jeannette Rankin (1880-1973) was born in Missoula County, MT & graduated from the Universities of Montana & Washington.  She was the 1st woman to hold high government office in the United States when elected to Congress representing her district in Montana.

FDR's Address to Congress

December 8, 1941