"I never saw him - but I knew him. Can you have forgotten how, with his voice, he came into our house, the President of these United States, calling us friends..." - Carl Carmer, April 14, 1945.
On Sunday evening, March 12, 1933 a troubled nation sat down by its radio sets to listen to their president. With his calm and reassuring voice, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt explained how the nation was going to recover from the current banking crisis.
That evening marked the beginning of the historic Fireside Chats, thirty-one radio addresses that covered issues like the renewed Depression and our role in World War II. In his Fireside Chats, Roosevelt shared his hopes and plans for the nation and invited the American people to "tell me your troubles.”
He believed the American citizens -- individually and together -- could bring about change. By referring to his audience in terms of “you” and “we,” FDR constructed a sense of national identity, encouraged individual participation, and forged an intimate relationship between the president and the public.
With almost 90% of all households owning radios at the end of his presidency, it made sense that Roosevelt would choose radio addresses as his means of connecting with the public. And FDR did connect with the public in a way no other president had before.
A conversation between the people and their president, the Fireside Chats provide a portrait of America during one of its most difficult times and how its leader reminded us of our dreams, our hopes, and the promise of democracy.
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