LAD #33: F.D.R.'s First Inaugural Address

Before Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the economy of the United States was declining rapidly. Businesses were failing, banks were declining, and Americans who had once experienced comfortable living conditions now found themselves on the streets. "Hoovervilles" were constructed outside major cities and numerous impoverished, dirt people crawled the cities in search of work. Wilson, horrified of the conditions, could do nothing but wait. Even after Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected, he boosted the spirits of the American people through the power of his first inaugural address. He begins his speech by asserting that "our distress comes from no failure of substances." The new president claims that this is to show the people that the failures of the past years is not something they could control. "We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep." He continues to assert that the money changers that were the sole reason for the failure of the banks had fled, but people can work together to restore economic order. This implies that F.D.R. has faith in the country to overcome the greed that had once consumed it to become stable once again. He also calls for action at that very moment in order to help the struggling economy. The president exclaims that the American people must recognize the overbalance of population in our industrial centers and shift their focus from the spoils of industry to the promise and growth of agriculture. Instead of Wilson's ideas of letting the people solve the problems of the nation through hands off policies, F.D.R. decides to take initiative and offer solutions to the people of the nation.