Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inagural Speech

March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural speech to the citizens of America. Within his speech, he spoke to Americans with a sense of hope and encouragement. In 1933, America was in a time of need; “Taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen… the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.” Citizens were unaware of where to turn, and with America hitting rock bottom within the first month Roosevelt took his oath as president, “ We must act and act quickly.” The concerns of first inaugural speech of Franklin Delano Roosevelt can be compared to those of present times, full of loss of jobs, bank foreclosures and the overall quality of our economy causing America to be in a state of panic.


When millions lost their jobs and unemployment was at 25% of Americans, Franklin D. Roosevelt created the “New Deal Plan” in order to end the Great Depression. The New Deal Plan was a sequence of programs from 1933 to 1936 that provided “relief to the unemployed, reform of business and financial practices and the recovery of the economy.” The New deal brought real relief to most Americans. With the current situations, some say Barack Obama should learn from Franklin Roosevelt’s failures as well as from his achievements. Franklin Roosevelt’s “greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.”
The New Deal plan “ wasn’t as successful in the short run as it was in the long run, the institutions Franklin Roosevelt build have proved to be both durable and essential.” With programs initiated to reconstruct the job market, current day job issues can be resolved.

At the start of Franklin Roosevelt’s presidency, 11,000 of 24,000 banks have failed, helping destroy the American economy. State officials then shut down every bank, and every bank account was frozen; Americans were unable to get a bank loan, cash checks or get at their deposits. October 29, 1929, the New York Stock Market officially crashed and marked the beginning of the great depression. Prices for stocks were higher then they were worth, and Americans who had borrowed money intending to sell their stocks in order to repay the banks, went bankrupt. In present times, major banks such as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have failed, causing other banks to take over. If those other banks crash, Americans will not have access to banks yet again.

Similar to the situation of Roosevelt, Barack Obama and his economic team will face this economy crisis within their first month of office. Their more urgent financial problem is an “immense new wave of losses at banks and other lending institutions.” In these situations, the government should simply take control of the banks and try to rescue them. Referencing decisions made by Franklin Delano Roosevelt will assist our government and stop our recession from becoming a depression.


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