Fireside chats
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The fireside chats were a series of thirty evening radio speeches given by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944.
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[edit] Origin of radio address
According to Roosevelt’s principal speechwriter Judge Samuel Rosenman, he first used "fireside chats" in 1929 during his first term as Governor of New York. Roosevelt faced a conservative Republican legislature so during each legislative session he would occasionally address the citizens of New York directly. He appealed to them for help getting his agenda passed. Letters would pour in following each of these "chats," which helped pressure legislators to pass measures Roosevelt had proposed. He began making the informal addresses as President on March 12, 1933, during the Great Depression.
[edit] Locution skills
Sometimes beginning his talks with "Good evening, friends", Roosevelt urged listeners to have faith in the banks and to support his New Deal measures. The "fireside chats" were considered enormously successful and attracted more listeners than the most popular radio shows during the "Golden Age of Radio." Roosevelt continued his broadcasts into the 1940s, as Americans turned their attention to World War II. [1]
[edit] Chronological list of fireside chats
- On the Bank Crisis - Sunday, March 12, 1933
- Outlining the New Deal Program - Sunday, May 7, 1933
- On the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program - Monday, July 24, 1933
- On the Currency Situation - Sunday, October 22, 1933
- Review of the Achievements of the Seventy-third Congress - Thursday, June 28, 1934
- On Moving Forward to Greater Freedom and Greater Security - Sunday, September 30, 1934
- On the Works Relief Program - Sunday, April 28, 1935
- On Drought Conditions - Sunday, September 6, 1936
- On the Reorganization of the Judiciary - Tuesday, March 9, 1937
- On Legislation to be Recommended to the Extraordinary Session of the Congress - Tuesday, October 12, 1937
- On the Unemployment Census - Sunday, November 14, 1937
- On Economic Conditions - Thursday, April 14, 1938
- On Party Primaries - Friday, June 24, 1938
- On the European War - Sunday, September 3, 1939
- On National Defense - Sunday, May 26, 1940
- On National Security - Sunday, December 29, 1940
- Announcing Unlimited National Emergency - Tuesday, May 27, 1941 (the longest fireside chat)
- On Maintaining Freedom of the Seas - Thursday, September 11, 1941
- On the Declaration of War with Japan - Tuesday, December 9, 1941
- On Progress of the War - Monday, February 23, 1942
- On Our National Economic Policy - Tuesday, April 28, 1942
- On Inflation and Progress of the War - Monday, September 7, 1942
- Report on the Home Front - Monday, October 12, 1942
- On the Coal Crisis - Sunday, May 2, 1943
- On Progress of War and Plans for Peace - Wednesday, July 28, 1943
- Opening Third War Loan Drive - Wednesday, September 8, 1943
- On Tehran and Cairo Conferences - Friday, December 24, 1943
- State of the Union Message to Congress - Tuesday, January 11, 1944
- On the Fall of Rome - Monday, June 5, 1944
- Opening Fifth War Loan Drive - Monday, June 12, 1944
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Entry on the Fireside Chats from the Museum of Broadcast Communications
- The New Deal Network from the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute
- Miller Center of Public Affairs at the University of Virginia, with transcripts and MP3 recordings of most of the Fireside Chats
- The Real Deal: Media and the Battle to Define FDR's Social Programs at the University of Virginia: audio with editorial and cartoon reactions.
- Vincent Voice Library at Michigan State University, with many Roosevelt speeches in mp3 format
- FiresideChats.tv Sketch comedy show produced at UCLA, inspired by Fireside Chats.