![]() That evening at 10pm, radio’s evening prime time, our President spoke directly to the nation. ![]() The 3 major networks cleared their schedules for the live broadcasts. Microphones of the National, Columbia, and Mutual Broadcasting systems were installed on the ground floor of the Executive Mansion in front of the fireplace in the Diplomatic Reception Room. The term “fireside chat” was not invented by FDR but by a CBS executive in a 1933 press release Though most of the radio speeches were not actually in front of a fireplace, the very first fireside chat was. On Sunday, March 12, 1933, only 8 days after his inauguration, Roosevelt took to the airwaves giving his first fireside chat. Skillfully he would drive home the point the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Our economy had declined dramatically with bank failures, industry crippled, and 13 million unemployed.Īs President, he needed to calm the fears, restore the confidence of Americans and gain support for the programs of the New Deal. The Great Depression had spread across the globe by the time Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933. Trump’s tweets are mean spirited, divisive, and abusive he attacks and bully’s others, praises himself, assaults ally nations, and lavishes praise on dictators. Roosevelt lifted the nation’s spirits during two great national crises- the Great Depression and WWII. ![]() The Presidential communications comparisons end there. Just as Roosevelt saw the potential of mass media to communicate with the widest audience directly, so twitter is Trump’s tool to speak immediately to the American people. Twitter is, in fact, Trump’s own version of FDR’s fireside chats. Whereas Roosevelt masterfully used the relatively new medium of radio to speak to Americans to instill trust and comfort a troubled nation, Trump’s motives for his “fireside chat” is purely self-serving. Communicating the PresidencyĪlong with being a natural leader, FDR was a communications natural. ![]() Hoping to channel FDR, DJT wants to have a live televised fireside chat with the nation to read the full transcript of his “perfect” call with the Ukranian president, proof positive there was no wrongdoing. Trump, I am also ready to be disappointed. Of course, because this is not 1939 and our president is not Franklin D. I am ready to have my confidence restored, my spirits buoyed, and be reassured of our democracy. Happy Days are Here Again! I can’t wait to warm up the tubes of my massive Magnavox mahogany radio in anticipation of a Presidential fireside chat! “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men…Only the Shadow Knows.” ![]()
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