Week Six: Franklin D. Roosevelt's Inaugural Address
“… let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself”
As 1933 opened, America was in the most severe phase of the Great Depression. Unemployment was at unprecedented levels with 1 out of 4 American workers out of work and enormous numbers of businesses shuttered. That winter, the US was facing enormous economic and social challenges. Taking office at the final Presidential Inauguration to be held in March, Franklin D. Roosevelt offered Americans hope, determination, and the broad outlines of a plan for national recovery that came to be known as the New Deal. Is that what Americans need to hear on January 20, hope, determination, and a plan? This video from CSPAN includes the Oath of Office and FDR’s address and runs a little less than 21 minutes.
The War Memorial is a non-partisan organization.
“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.”
