In the relatively short span of twenty-five years from his first national campaign in 1920 until his death in the first year of his fourth term as President in 1945, Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave hundreds and hun dreds of speeches. He spoke as a private citizen, as a Democratic cam paigner, as Governor of New York State, above all as President of the United States during the darkest years of the Depression, and as the ac knowledged leader of the Free World in the global struggle against fas cism. He was a masterful speaker, surely with few if any peers in that regard among American political figures before his time Or since.
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In the relatively short span of 25 years--from his first national campaign in 1920 to his death in the first year of his fourth term as President in 1945--Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered hundreds of speeches, many of them masterly orations.
Perhaps the finest speechmaker in American history, FDR was a consummate expert at reading his audience. He could be dazzlingly informal, imperiously statesmanlike, witheringly sarcastic, stern and serious, and when the occasion permitted, outright funny. Though his audiences often included more than 30 million listeners in America and millions more around the world, he succeeded in doing what so many speakers strive for and so few accomplish--he left his listeners with the feeling that he was speaking to them alone.
This representative collection of 27 of FDR"s finest speeches recalls a number of momentous events in his political career and the life of the nation. Included are his dramatic and inspirational First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933) in which he told the nation that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself"Lhis first "Fireside Chat" (March 12, 1933) over the radio; his dramatic War Message to Congress (December 8, 4941) following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor ("a day that will live in infamy"); his Fourth Inaugural Address (January 20, 1945); and many more.
Assembled here in one convenient volume, these speeches provide students of history, politics and rhetoric, as well as general readers, with an immensely useful referencer a wealth of fine oration, and a valuable window on the Roosevelt years.
Introduction
Acceptance Speech for Vice-Presidential Nomination
Hyde Park, August 9, 1920
Campaign Speech
Buffalo, October 20, 1928
Message to the New York State Legislature
Albany, August 28, 1931
Acceptance Speech
Chicago, July 2, 1932
Commonwealth Club of San Francisco
September 23, 1932
First Inaugural Address
Washington, D.C., March 4, 1933
First Fireside Chat
Washington, D.C., March 12, 1933
Second Fireside Chat
Washington, D.C., May 7, 1933
Acceptance Speech
Philadelphia, June 27, 1936
Campaign Speech
Chicago, October 14, 1936
Second Inaugural Address
Washington, D.C., January 20, 1937
Quarantine Address
Chicago, October 5, 1937
Fireside Chat (on the Outbreak of World War II)
Washington, D.C., September 3, 1939
"Dagger in the Back"
Charlottesville, June 10, 1940
Press Conference
Washington, D.C., December 17, 1940
Fireside Chat ("The Arsenal of Democracy")
Washington, D.C., December 29, 1940
State of the Union Message to Congress ("The Four Freedoms")
Washington, D.C., January 6, 1941
Third Inaugural Address
Washington, D.C., January 20, 1941
Fireside Chat (on German submarine attacks)
Washington, D.C., September 11, 1941
War Message to Congress
Washington, D.C., December 8, 1941
Fireside Chat
Washington, D.C., February 23, 1942
Fireside Chat
Washingtorn, D.C.; October 12, 1942
Radio Address to New York Herald Tribune Forum
Washington, D.C., November 17, 1942
Fireside Chat (on GI Bill of Rights)
Washington, D.C., July 28, 1943
Fireside Chat (on the Fifth War Loan Drive)
Washington, D.C., June 12, 1944
Campaign Speech to the Teamsters Union
Washington, D.C., September 23, 1944
Fourth Inaugural Address
Washington, D.C., January 20, 1945
