ESSENTIAL QUESTION
In his First Inaugural Address, how did President Franklin Roosevelt use language to rally Americans to focus on a positive future rather than the bleak present reality?
CONTEXT
It was 1933 and America was in crisis, the most dangerous time, some said, since the American Revolution. In October, 1929, the US Stock Market crashed, bringing on the worse economic depression in American history. 25% of the workforce, one in four men, were unemployed at a time when there was no unemployment insurance of any kind. American productivity was only 1/3 of what it had been in early 1929. Many farmers lost their land and homes due to a drastic drop in prices. Factories shut down. Mines were abandoned. Banks closed. People were starving. Families split up to go elsewhere to look for work, but often there was no work to find. People looked to the federal government for help, but President Hoover’s policies did not address the problems of the nation.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) won the presidential election in 1932 and immediately set about not only changing the American mindset but also changing the American future. This excerpt is from his first Inaugural Address given on March 4, 1933, at the US Capitol.
TEXT
…This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So first of all let me assert me firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days…
…Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort. The joy and moral stimulation of work no longer must be forgotten in the mad chase of evanescent profits. These dark days will be worth all they cost is if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves and to our fellowmen…Our greatest primary task is to put people to work…
,..If I read the temper of our people correctly we now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other: that we cannot merely take but we must give as well: that if we are to go forward we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective…
INQUIRY
- Why does FDR focus on speaking “the truth”? What does this imply about the behavior of the previous President’s administration?
- What does “endure” mean? What is the effect of using this verb in this circumstance?
- FDR uses the verbs, “endure”, “revive”, and “proper” in that order. How does this define his plans for his administration?
- One of the most well-known quotations from this speech is “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…” What does that mean?
- According to FDR, what is the effect of this fear? What might be the importance of FDR using the verb “paralyze”, considering that he had been disabled with polio since 1921 when he was 39 years old?
- Describe the partnership between the government and the public that FDR is calling upon.
- What will the role of work be in the days to come? Why is it important that people work rather than simply be given money or materials?
- Identify at least three examples of contrasts in this excerpt. Explain the effects of each example.
- FDR uses the image of a “trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline.” What is the effect of this image?
- Describe an example in your life that required hard work but from which you gained “the joy of achievement…[or] the thrill of creative effort”.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
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