Journalist Robert Trout coined the phrase ''fireside chat'' to describe President Franklin D. Roosevelt's frequent radio broadcasts, invoking an image of the president sitting by a fire in a living room, speaking earnestly to the American people. Roosevelt's down-to-earth broadcasts served as a great reassurance to the many Americans who felt alienated from the U.S. government during the hard times of the Great Depression. They also contributed to President Roosevelt's tremendous popularity among ordinary Americans, leading to his record three reelections despite the often fervent opposition to his policies from the business community and other quarters.Here, President Roosevelt is heard speaking of the Dust Bowl, an area of the United States that suffered ecological devastation at the height of the Depression in the 1930s. In the early 1930s, over-cultivation, reckless livestock grazing, and a severe drought ruined a great swath of the U.S. prairie states. Strong winds in the...
On this day in 1933, eight days after his inauguration, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his first national radio address or "fireside chat," broadcast directly from the White House. Roosevelt...
On January 20, 1937, in the first inauguration held in January instead of March, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in to his second term. During his first four years, Roosevelt's...
On March 4, 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the thirty-second president of the United States. In his famous inaugural address, President...
On December 8, 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt appeared before a joint session of Congress and asked for an official declaration of war against Japan. The previous day, Japan had...
On August 16, 1935, beloved American humorist Will Rogers was killed in an airplane accident near Point Barrow, Alaska, plunging the United States into mourning. Three years later, President...
On May 10, 1939, New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), designed by architects Philip Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone, was dedicated in a ceremony attended by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It...
On April 12, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sitting for a portrait in Warm Springs, Georgia, when he complained ''I have a terrific headache'' and went up to his room to rest. A few...
After failing to unseat Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election, Republican Wendell Wilkie became one of the president's most unlikely allies. Wilkie, a utility magnate and...
In her years as an outspoken first lady and delegate to the United Nations, Eleanor Roosevelt was one of the most respected women in the world. She was a symbol of the new role women were to play...
On February 4, 1945, the "Big Three" Allied leaders, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, met at Yalta, a resort town on...
