June 5, 2024 • 19 mins
Please enjoy March 4, 1933: First Inaugural Address a great episode of the legendary Franklin D. Roosevelt - A Classic Old Time radio Show.
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Mister truth, Justice, My friends, this is a day of national consecration,
and I am certain that on thisday, my fellow Americans expect that,
on my induction into the presidency,I will address them with a canda
(00:29):
and a decision which the present situationof our people impels. This is pre
eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.
(00:50):
Nor need we shrink from honestly facingconditions in our country today. This
great nation will, in your asit has endured, will revive and will
prosper. So first of all,let me assert my firm belief that the
(01:18):
only thing we have to fear isfear itself, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified
terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convertretreat into advance. In every dark hour
of our national life. A leadershipof frankness and of vidor has met with
(01:44):
that understanding and support of the peoplethemselves which is essential to victory. And
I am convinced that you're a gamegive that support to leadership in these critical
days in such a spirit, onmy part and on yours, we face
(02:06):
our common difficulties. They concern,thank God, only material things. Values
of shrunk to fantastic levels. Taxesof risen, our ability to pay has
fallen. Government of all kinds isfaced by serious entertailment of income. The
(02:28):
means of exchange are frozen in thecurrents of trade. The withered leaves of
industrial enterprise lie on every side.Farmers find no markets for their produce,
and the savings of many years andthousands of families are gone. More important,
a host of unemployed citizens face thegrim problem of existence, and an
(02:54):
equally great numbered toil with little return. Were a foolish optimist can deny the
dark realities of the moment. Andyet our distress comes from no failure of
substance. We are stricken by noplague of locusts, compared with the perils
(03:15):
which our forefathers conquered because they believedand were not afraid. We have still
much to be thankful for. Naturestill offers have bounty, and human efforts
have multiplied it. Plenty is atour doorstep, but a generous use of
it languishes in the very sight ofthe supply. Primarily, this is because
(03:39):
the rulers of the exchange of mankind'sbut have failed through their own stubbornness and
their own incompetence, have admitted theirfailure and have abdicated practices of the unscrupulous
money changes. Stand indicted in thecourt of public opinion, rejected by the
(04:04):
hearts and minds of men. Truethey have tried, but their efforts have
been cast in the pattern of anoutworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit,
they have proposed only the lending ofmore money. Stripped of the lure
of profit by which to induce ourpeople to follow their false leadership, they
(04:29):
have resorted to exhortations, pleading carefullyfor restored confidence. They only know the
rules of a generation of self seekers. They have no vision, and when
there is no vision, the peopleperish. Yes, the money changers have
(04:51):
fled from their high seats in thetemple of our civilization. We may now
restore. Are that temple to theancient truths. The measure of that restoration
(05:11):
lies in the extent to which weapply social values more noble than mere monetary
prophet Happiness lies not in the merepossession of money. It lies in the
joy of achievement, in the thrillof creative effort, The joy the moral
stimulation of work. No longer mustbe forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent
(05:34):
fraudt These dot bath my friends willbe worth all Lake Foster if they teach
us that our true destiny is notto be minister Donto, but to minister
to ourselves, to our fellow men. Recognition of that city of material wealth
(06:00):
as the standard of success goes handin hand with the abandonment of the false
belief that public office and high politicalposition are to be valued only by the
standards our pride of place and personalprofits. And there must be an end
to a conduct in banking and inbusiness which too often has given to a
(06:26):
sacred trust the likeness of callous andselfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes,
for it thrives only on honesty,on honor, on the sacredness of
(06:47):
obligations, on faithful protection, andon unselfish performance. Without them, it
cannot live. Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.
This nation is asking for action,and action now. Our greatest primary task
(07:20):
is to put people to work.This is no unsolvable problem. If we
taste it wisely and courageously. Itcan be accomplished, in part by direct
recruiting by the government itself, treatingthe task as we would treat the emergency
(07:43):
of a war, but at thesame time, through this employment accomplishing greatly
needed projects to stimulate and reorganize theuse of our great natural resources. Hand
in hand with that, we mustfrankly recon recognize the overbalance of population in
our industrial centers and by engaging ona national scale in a redistribution endeavor to
(08:11):
provide a better use of the landfor those best fitted for the land.
Yes, the task can be helpedby definite efforts to raise the values of
agricultural products and with this the powerto purchase the output of our cities.
It can be helped by preventing,realistically the tragedy is the growing loss through
(08:37):
forclosure of our small homes and ourfarms. It can be helped by insistence
that the federal, the state andthe local governments act forthwith on the demand
that back cost be drastically reduced.It can be helped by the unifying of
(09:00):
relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal. It can be
helped by national planning for and supervisionof all forms of transportation and of communications
and other utilities that have a definitelypublic character. There are many ways in
(09:22):
which it can be helped, butit can never be helped by merely talking
about it. We must act,We must act quickly. And Finally,
in our progress towards a resumption ofwork, we require two safeguards against a
(09:45):
return of the evils of the oldorder. There must be a strict supervision
of all banking and credits and investments. There must be an end to speculation
with other people's money. And Imust be provision for an adequate but sound
(10:15):
currency. These, my friends,are the lines of attack. I shall
presently urge upon a new Congress inspecial sessions details measures for their fulfillment,
and I shall seek the immediate assistanceof this forty eight states. Through this
(10:46):
program of action, we address ourselvesto putting our own national house in order
and making income balance outgo. Ourinternational trade relations, though vastly important,
are in point of time and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound
(11:09):
national economy. High favor as apractical policy the putting our first things first.
I shall spare no effort to restoreworld trade by international economic readjustment.
(11:30):
But the emergency at home cannot wait. On that accomplishment. The basic thought
that guides these specific means of nationalrecovery is not nationally narrowly nationalistic, which
is the insistent as the first considerationupon the interdependence of the various elements in
(11:54):
that part of the United States ofAmerica, a recognition of the old and
permanently important manifestation of the American spiritof the pioneer. It is the way
to recovery. It is the immediateway. It is the strongest assurance that
(12:15):
recovery will endure. In the fieldof world policy, I would dedicate this
nation to the policy of the goodneighbor, the neighbor who resolutely respects himself,
and because he does so, respectsthe rights of others. The neighbor
(12:39):
who respects his obligations and respects thesanctity of his agreements in and with a
world of neighbors. If I readthe temper of our people correctly, we
(13:00):
our realizes, we have never realizedbefore, our interdependence on each other.
That we cannot merely take, butwe must give as well. That if
we are to go forward, wemust move as a trained and loyal army,
willing to sacrifice for the good ofa common discipline, because without such
(13:24):
discipline, no progress can be made, no leadership becomes effective. We are,
I know, ready and willing tosubmit our lives and our property to
such discipline, because it makes possiblya leadership which aims at the larger God.
(13:46):
This I propose to offer, pledgingthat the larger purposes will bind upon
us, bind upon us all asa sacred obligation with a unity of duty,
hitherto evoke only in times of armedstrife. With this pledge taken,
(14:09):
I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of thisgreat army of our people dedicated to a
disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image. Action to this
end is feasible under the form ofgovernment which we have inherited from our ancestors.
(14:31):
Our constitution is so simple, sopractical, that it is possible always
to meet extraordinary needs by changes inemphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.
That is why our constitutional system hasproved itself the most superbly enduring political
(14:54):
mechanism the modern world has ever seen. It has met every stress, a
vast expansion of territory, a foreignwars, a bitter internal strife of world
relations, and it is to behoped that the normal balance of executive and
(15:16):
legislative authority may be fully equal,wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before
us. But it may be thatan unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action
may call for a temporary departure fromthat normal balance, a public procedure.
(15:41):
I am prepared, under my constitutionalduty to recommend the measures that a stricken
nation in the midst of a strickenworld may require. These measures or such
other measures as the Congress may buildout of its experience and wisdom, I
(16:03):
shall seek within my constitutional authority tobring to speedy adoption. But in the
event that the Congress shall fail totake one of these two courses, in
the event that the national emergency isstill critical, I shall not evade the
clear course of duty that will thenconfront me. I shall ask Congress for
(16:29):
the one remaining instrument to meet thecrisis, broad executive power to wage a
war against the emergency, as greatas the power that would be given to
me if we were in fact invadedby a foreign fall. For the trust
(16:59):
proposed in me, I will returnthe courage and the devotion that befits the
time I can do no less.We face the arduous days that live afore
us in the warm courage of nationalunity, with a clear consciousness of seeking
(17:22):
old and precious moral value, withthe clean satisfaction that comes from the stern
performance of duty by old and youngalike. We aim at the assurance of
a rounded, a permanent national life. We do not distrust there the future
(17:47):
our essential democracy. The people ofthe United States have not failed in their
need. They have registered a mandatethat they want direct, vigorous action.
They have asked for discipline and directionunder leadership. They have made me the
(18:14):
present instrument of their wishes. Inthe spirit of the gift, I take
it in this dedication, in thisdedication of a nation, we humbly ask
the blessing of God. May Heprotect each and every one of us.
(18:41):
May He guide me in the daysto come. Pas
Mister truth, Justice, My friends, this is a day of national consecration,
and I am certain that on thisday, my fellow Americans expect that,
on my induction into the presidency,I will address them with a canda
(00:29):
and a decision which the present situationof our people impels. This is pre
eminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.
(00:50):
Nor need we shrink from honestly facingconditions in our country today. This
great nation will, in your asit has endured, will revive and will
prosper. So first of all,let me assert my firm belief that the
(01:18):
only thing we have to fear isfear itself, nameless, unreasoning, unjustified
terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convertretreat into advance. In every dark hour
of our national life. A leadershipof frankness and of vidor has met with
(01:44):
that understanding and support of the peoplethemselves which is essential to victory. And
I am convinced that you're a gamegive that support to leadership in these critical
days in such a spirit, onmy part and on yours, we face
(02:06):
our common difficulties. They concern,thank God, only material things. Values
of shrunk to fantastic levels. Taxesof risen, our ability to pay has
fallen. Government of all kinds isfaced by serious entertailment of income. The
(02:28):
means of exchange are frozen in thecurrents of trade. The withered leaves of
industrial enterprise lie on every side.Farmers find no markets for their produce,
and the savings of many years andthousands of families are gone. More important,
a host of unemployed citizens face thegrim problem of existence, and an
(02:54):
equally great numbered toil with little return. Were a foolish optimist can deny the
dark realities of the moment. Andyet our distress comes from no failure of
substance. We are stricken by noplague of locusts, compared with the perils
(03:15):
which our forefathers conquered because they believedand were not afraid. We have still
much to be thankful for. Naturestill offers have bounty, and human efforts
have multiplied it. Plenty is atour doorstep, but a generous use of
it languishes in the very sight ofthe supply. Primarily, this is because
(03:39):
the rulers of the exchange of mankind'sbut have failed through their own stubbornness and
their own incompetence, have admitted theirfailure and have abdicated practices of the unscrupulous
money changes. Stand indicted in thecourt of public opinion, rejected by the
(04:04):
hearts and minds of men. Truethey have tried, but their efforts have
been cast in the pattern of anoutworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit,
they have proposed only the lending ofmore money. Stripped of the lure
of profit by which to induce ourpeople to follow their false leadership, they
(04:29):
have resorted to exhortations, pleading carefullyfor restored confidence. They only know the
rules of a generation of self seekers. They have no vision, and when
there is no vision, the peopleperish. Yes, the money changers have
(04:51):
fled from their high seats in thetemple of our civilization. We may now
restore. Are that temple to theancient truths. The measure of that restoration
(05:11):
lies in the extent to which weapply social values more noble than mere monetary
prophet Happiness lies not in the merepossession of money. It lies in the
joy of achievement, in the thrillof creative effort, The joy the moral
stimulation of work. No longer mustbe forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent
(05:34):
fraudt These dot bath my friends willbe worth all Lake Foster if they teach
us that our true destiny is notto be minister Donto, but to minister
to ourselves, to our fellow men. Recognition of that city of material wealth
(06:00):
as the standard of success goes handin hand with the abandonment of the false
belief that public office and high politicalposition are to be valued only by the
standards our pride of place and personalprofits. And there must be an end
to a conduct in banking and inbusiness which too often has given to a
(06:26):
sacred trust the likeness of callous andselfish wrongdoing. Small wonder that confidence languishes,
for it thrives only on honesty,on honor, on the sacredness of
(06:47):
obligations, on faithful protection, andon unselfish performance. Without them, it
cannot live. Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.
This nation is asking for action,and action now. Our greatest primary task
(07:20):
is to put people to work.This is no unsolvable problem. If we
taste it wisely and courageously. Itcan be accomplished, in part by direct
recruiting by the government itself, treatingthe task as we would treat the emergency
(07:43):
of a war, but at thesame time, through this employment accomplishing greatly
needed projects to stimulate and reorganize theuse of our great natural resources. Hand
in hand with that, we mustfrankly recon recognize the overbalance of population in
our industrial centers and by engaging ona national scale in a redistribution endeavor to
(08:11):
provide a better use of the landfor those best fitted for the land.
Yes, the task can be helpedby definite efforts to raise the values of
agricultural products and with this the powerto purchase the output of our cities.
It can be helped by preventing,realistically the tragedy is the growing loss through
(08:37):
forclosure of our small homes and ourfarms. It can be helped by insistence
that the federal, the state andthe local governments act forthwith on the demand
that back cost be drastically reduced.It can be helped by the unifying of
(09:00):
relief activities which today are often scattered, uneconomical, unequal. It can be
helped by national planning for and supervisionof all forms of transportation and of communications
and other utilities that have a definitelypublic character. There are many ways in
(09:22):
which it can be helped, butit can never be helped by merely talking
about it. We must act,We must act quickly. And Finally,
in our progress towards a resumption ofwork, we require two safeguards against a
(09:45):
return of the evils of the oldorder. There must be a strict supervision
of all banking and credits and investments. There must be an end to speculation
with other people's money. And Imust be provision for an adequate but sound
(10:15):
currency. These, my friends,are the lines of attack. I shall
presently urge upon a new Congress inspecial sessions details measures for their fulfillment,
and I shall seek the immediate assistanceof this forty eight states. Through this
(10:46):
program of action, we address ourselvesto putting our own national house in order
and making income balance outgo. Ourinternational trade relations, though vastly important,
are in point of time and necessity, secondary to the establishment of a sound
(11:09):
national economy. High favor as apractical policy the putting our first things first.
I shall spare no effort to restoreworld trade by international economic readjustment.
(11:30):
But the emergency at home cannot wait. On that accomplishment. The basic thought
that guides these specific means of nationalrecovery is not nationally narrowly nationalistic, which
is the insistent as the first considerationupon the interdependence of the various elements in
(11:54):
that part of the United States ofAmerica, a recognition of the old and
permanently important manifestation of the American spiritof the pioneer. It is the way
to recovery. It is the immediateway. It is the strongest assurance that
(12:15):
recovery will endure. In the fieldof world policy, I would dedicate this
nation to the policy of the goodneighbor, the neighbor who resolutely respects himself,
and because he does so, respectsthe rights of others. The neighbor
(12:39):
who respects his obligations and respects thesanctity of his agreements in and with a
world of neighbors. If I readthe temper of our people correctly, we
(13:00):
our realizes, we have never realizedbefore, our interdependence on each other.
That we cannot merely take, butwe must give as well. That if
we are to go forward, wemust move as a trained and loyal army,
willing to sacrifice for the good ofa common discipline, because without such
(13:24):
discipline, no progress can be made, no leadership becomes effective. We are,
I know, ready and willing tosubmit our lives and our property to
such discipline, because it makes possiblya leadership which aims at the larger God.
(13:46):
This I propose to offer, pledgingthat the larger purposes will bind upon
us, bind upon us all asa sacred obligation with a unity of duty,
hitherto evoke only in times of armedstrife. With this pledge taken,
(14:09):
I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of thisgreat army of our people dedicated to a
disciplined attack upon our common problems.Action in this image. Action to this
end is feasible under the form ofgovernment which we have inherited from our ancestors.
(14:31):
Our constitution is so simple, sopractical, that it is possible always
to meet extraordinary needs by changes inemphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.
That is why our constitutional system hasproved itself the most superbly enduring political
(14:54):
mechanism the modern world has ever seen. It has met every stress, a
vast expansion of territory, a foreignwars, a bitter internal strife of world
relations, and it is to behoped that the normal balance of executive and
(15:16):
legislative authority may be fully equal,wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before
us. But it may be thatan unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action
may call for a temporary departure fromthat normal balance, a public procedure.
(15:41):
I am prepared, under my constitutionalduty to recommend the measures that a stricken
nation in the midst of a strickenworld may require. These measures or such
other measures as the Congress may buildout of its experience and wisdom, I
(16:03):
shall seek within my constitutional authority tobring to speedy adoption. But in the
event that the Congress shall fail totake one of these two courses, in
the event that the national emergency isstill critical, I shall not evade the
clear course of duty that will thenconfront me. I shall ask Congress for
(16:29):
the one remaining instrument to meet thecrisis, broad executive power to wage a
war against the emergency, as greatas the power that would be given to
me if we were in fact invadedby a foreign fall. For the trust
(16:59):
proposed in me, I will returnthe courage and the devotion that befits the
time I can do no less.We face the arduous days that live afore
us in the warm courage of nationalunity, with a clear consciousness of seeking
(17:22):
old and precious moral value, withthe clean satisfaction that comes from the stern
performance of duty by old and youngalike. We aim at the assurance of
a rounded, a permanent national life. We do not distrust there the future
(17:47):
our essential democracy. The people ofthe United States have not failed in their
need. They have registered a mandatethat they want direct, vigorous action.
They have asked for discipline and directionunder leadership. They have made me the
(18:14):
present instrument of their wishes. Inthe spirit of the gift, I take
it in this dedication, in thisdedication of a nation, we humbly ask
the blessing of God. May Heprotect each and every one of us.
(18:41):
May He guide me in the daysto come. Pas
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com