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Franklin Delano Roosevelt |
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Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 32nd President of the United States
Franklin Delano Roosevelt - "32nd" - (March 4, 1933 to April 12, 1945)
Born: January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York
Died: April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia (Cerebral Hemorrhage - 63)
Interred: Hyde Park, New York
51 years old, Episcopalian, Lawyer, Democrat
Parents: James & Sara (Delano) Roosevelt
Married: March 17, 1905, to Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
Children: Anna Eleanor (1906-75); James (1907-91); Elliott (1910-90); Franklin Delano, Jr. (1914-88); John Aspinwall (1916-81)
Also served: New York State Legislature
Governor of New York Vice Presidents:
John Nance Garner of Texas (1st & 2nd terms)
Henry A. Wallace of Iowa (3rd term)
Harry S. Truman of Missouri (4th term)
Fact:
Was the first President to receive over 27 million popular votes.
Roosevelt was related by blood or marriage to 11 former presidents
In 1921, at the age of 39, Roosevelt contracted polio which left him without the use of his legs. He is the only president permanently confined to a wheelchair while in office.
In 1939, he became the first president to appear on television.
Nickname: "FDR"
Read the Fireside Chats given by President Roosevelt.
Visit the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Visit the FDR Presidental Library & Mueseum Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
Hear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
FDR Asks Congress To Declare War
FDR Day of Infamy 12-8-1941
FDR Nothing To Fear
FDR Report To Congress 12-8-1941
FDR D-Day Prayer 6-6-1944
FDR Declares War Against Italy 12-11-1942
FDR Four Freedoms ra
FDR Four Freedoms wav
FDR Revive and Prosper
FDR Lighting the Christmas Tree 12-24-1941
FDR New Deal
FDR Attack on his dog Fala
FDR Rendezvous with Destiny
FDR One Third Of A Nation
FDR Walking
FDR Arsenal of Democracy
FDR Government of Indifference
FDR Enlisted for the Duration of the War
20 Things You Didn't Know About U.S. Presidents
FDR and his "little dog Fala" were inseparable
In his 1941 State of the Union Address, as the nation prepared for war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt spelled out "Four Freedoms " as a reminder of what we must fight for. From the days of his first Presidential campaign during the depths of the Great Depression, Roosevelt spoke directly to the people. "I pledge you, I pledge myself," he said in his 1932 acceptance speech, "to a new deal for the American people." Four years later, he proclaimed that "this generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny." Throughout his Presidency, 1933 - 1945, he addressed America by radio in what came to be known as fireside chats. Each idea, each phrase was underscored by courage and optimism that inspired no less in the people he served.
Fireside Chats - On the Bank Crisis.
Sunday, March 12, 1933 - Outlining the New Deal Program.
Sunday, May 7, 1933 - On the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program.
Monday, July 24, 1933 - On the Currency Situation
Sunday, October 22, 1933 - Review of the Achievements of the Seventy-third Congress.
Thursday, June 28, 1934 - On Moving Forward to Greater Freedom and Greater Security.
Sunday, September 30, 1934 - On the Works Relief Program.
Sunday, April 28, 1935 - On Drought Conditions.
Sunday, September 6, 1936 - On the Reorganization of the Judiciary.
Tuesday, March 9, 1937 - On Legislation to be Recommended to the Extraordinary Session of the Congress.
Tuesday, October 12, 1937 - On the Unemployment Census.
Sunday, November 14, 1937 - On Economic Conditions.
Thursday, April 14, 1938 - On Party Primaries.
Friday, June 24, 1939 - On the European War.
Sunday, September 3, 1939 - On National Defense.
Sunday, May 26, 1940 - On National Security.
Sunday, September 29, 1940 - Announcing Unlimited National Emergency.
Tuesday, May 27, 1941 - On Maintaining Freedom of the Seas.
Thursday, September 11, 1941 - On the Declaration of War with Japan.
Tuesday, December 9, 1941 - On Progress of the War.
Monday, February 23, 1942 - On Our National Economic Policy.
Tuesday, April 28, 1942 - On Inflation and Progress of the War.
Monday, September 7, 1942 - Report on the Home Front.
Monday, October 12, 1942 - On the Coal Crisis.
Sunday, May 2, 1943 - On Progress of War and Plans for Peace.
Wednesday, July 28, 1943 - Opening Third War Loan Drive.
Wednesday, September 8, 1943 - On Teheran and Cairo Conferences.
Friday, December 24, 1943 - State of the Union Message to Congress.
Tuesday, January 11, 1944 - On the Fall of Rome.
Monday, June 5, 1944 - Opening Fifth War Loan Drive.
Monday, June 12, 1944
March 12, 1933
Address of President Roosevelt by radio, delivered from the
President's Study in the White House at 10 PM today.
I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking -- with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking but more particularly with the overwhelming majority who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of checks. I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days, why it was done, and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from State Capitols and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations, etc., couched for the most part in banking and legal terms should be explained for the benefit of the average citizen. I owe this in particular because of the fortitude and good temper with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and hardships of the banking holiday. I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and help during the past week.
First of all let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit-bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning around. A comparatively small part of the money you put into the bank is kept in currency -- an amount which in normal times is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. In other words the total amount of all the currency in the country is only a small fraction of the total deposits in all of the banks.
What, then, happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March? Because of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold. -- A rush so great that the soundest banks could not get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell perfectly sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash except at panic prices far below their real value.
By the afternoon of March 3 scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business. Proclamations temporarily closing them in whose or in part had been issued by the Governors in almost all the states.
It was then that I issued the proclamation providing for the nation-wide bank holiday, and this was the first step in the Government's reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric.
The second step was the legislation promptly and patriotically passed by the Congress confirming my proclamation and broadening my powers so that it became possible in view of the requirement of time to entend (sic) the holiday and lift the ban of that holiday gradually. This law also gave authority to develop a program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities. I want to tell our citizens in every part of the Nation that the national Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- showed by this action a devotion to public welfare and a realization of the emergency and the necessity for speed that it is difficult to match in our history.
The third stage has been the series of regulations permitting the banks to continue their functions to take care of the distribution of food and household necessities and the payment of payrolls.
This bank holiday while resulting in many cases in great inconvenience is affording us the opportunity to supply the currency necessary to meet the situation. No sound bank is a dollar worse off than it was when it closed its doors last Monday. Neither is any bank which may turn out not to be in a position for immediate opening. The new law allows the twelve Federal Reserve banks to issue additional currency on good assets and thus the banks which reopen will be able to meet every legitimate call. The new currency is being sent out by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in large volume to every part of the country. It is sound currency because it is backed by actual, good assets.
As a result we start tomorrow, Monday, with the opening of banks in the twelve Federal Reserve bank cities -- those banks which on first examination by the Treasury have already been found to be all right. This will be followed on Tuesday by the resumption of all their functions by banks already found to be sound in cities where there are recognized clearing houses. That means about 250 cities of the United States.
On Wednesday and succeeding days banks in smaller places all through the country will resume business, subject, of course, to the Government's physical ability to complete its survey. It is necessary that the reopening of banks be extended over a period in order to permit the banks to make applications for necessary loans, to obtain currency needed to meet their requirements and to enable the Government to make common sense checkups. Let me make it clear to you that if your bank does not open the first day you are by no means justified in believing that it will not open. A bank that opens on one of the subsequent days is in exactly the same status as the bank that opens tomorrow.
I know that many people are worrying about State banks not members of the Federal Reserve System. These banks can and will receive assistance from members banks and from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. These state banks are following the same course as the national banks except that they get their licenses to resume business from the state authorities, and these authorities have been asked by the Secretary of the Treasury to permit their good banks to open up on the same schedule as the national banks. I am confident that the state banking departments will be as careful as the National Government in the policy relating to the opening of banks and will follow the same broad policy. It is possible that when the banks resume a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals. Let me make it clear that the banks will take care of all needs -- and it is my belief that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money -- that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes -- the phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again be glad to have their money where it will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. I can assure you that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress.
The success of our whole great national program depends, of course, upon the cooperation of the public -- on its intelligent support and use of a reliable system.
Remember that the essential accomplishment of the new legislation is that it makes it possible for banks more readily to convert their assets into cash than was the case before. More liberal provision has been made for banks to borrow on these assets at the Reserve Banks and more liberal provision has also been made for issuing currency on the security of those good assets. This currency is not fiat currency. It is issued only on adequate security -- and every good bank has an abundance of such security.
One more point before I close. There will be, of course, some banks unable to reopen without being reorganized. The new law allows the Government to assist in making these reorganizations quickly and effectively and even allows the Government to subscribe to at least a part of new capital which may be required.
I hope you can see from this elemental recital of what your government is doing that there is nothing complex, or radical in the process.
We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. This was of course not true in the vast majority of our banks but it was true in enough of them to shock the people for a time into a sense of insecurity and to put them into a frame of mind where they did not differentiate, but seemed to assume that the acts of a comparative few had tainted them all. It was the Government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible -- and the job is being performed .
I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift. I can even promise you salvation for some at least of the sorely pressed banks. We shall be engaged not merely in reopening sound banks but in the creation of sound banks through reorganization. It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country. I can never be sufficiently grateful to the people for the loyal support they have given me in their acceptance of the judgment that has dictated our course, even though all of our processes may not have seemed clear to them.
After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail.
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