LAD#28 - FDR's First Inaugural

Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address on Saturday, March 4, 1933. He beckoned the nation to not shy away from the conditions of the country. Promising that it would revive and prosper. Roosevelt’s belief that the only thing the nation had to fear was fear itself. That terror only paralyzed the efforts to convert retreat into advance. He advised the people that he need their understanding and support to be able to help the nation to his best ability. Yet the difficulties surround the people were merely concerned with material things. The crash of the stock market left a host of unemployed people who face the grim problem of existence. But Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied. Roosevelt reminds the nation that the measure of restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. He then quoted Shakespeare in saying "Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." The people were assured that the greatest task before him was to put them to work. The plan of progress was to implement a strict supervision of monetary aspects such as banking, credit, investment, and currency. Roosevelt called upon the people to be willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline. In the case that the constitutional could not fulfill the needs of the people, Roosevelt was willing to recommend the measures that a stricken nation in the midst of a stricken world may require. In other words seek to weld power outside his constitutional dictated powers. Finally, Roosevelt assured the people that he would not evade the course of duty before him and would use his power to wage a war against emergency.