Historical Context: Franklin Delano Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover during the 1932 presidential election. FDR was set to take over theduring the worst economic time period in the United States. Below is the first time FDR will address the nation with so many economic uncertainties. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address, 1933
“I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor (honesty) and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels. This is preeminently (primarily) the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today.
This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment (limitation) of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise (businesses) lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return.
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...
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources”.

Answer the following questions in full detail. Just answer the questions they are not ACE responses.

Reread the first two sentences of Roosevelt’s speech. What does Roosevelt state about what the present situation requires him to do when speaking to the American people? Why?
What does Roosevelt state that Americans should fear? Why should he choose to begin his speech by addressing the citizen’s fears? Explain.
What problems and possible solutions does Roosevelt state in his inaugural address? (you can bullet point this response)
How do you describe the tone of FDR’s speech and how do you think the American people felt after listening to his words?