#Fdr fireside chats 1st one series#

During World War II, the networks offered up choice slots in their schedules for war bond rallies and home-front morale shows.įDR appeared on the radio hundreds of times during his 12-year presidency. Radio came under increasing federal regulatory scrutiny in the 1930s, and network executives curried favor with the White House by providing free airtime for dozens of government-produced public service programs that promoted New Deal initiatives. The radio networks were willing accomplices. “It was a natural gift, for in his whole life he never had a lesson in diction or public speaking.”įDR’s administration understood and used the power of radio to sell the New Deal and, later, to mobilize Americans to oppose the Axis powers. “His voice lent itself remarkably to the radio,” she wrote. Eleanor Roosevelt ( who made 300 radio appearances herself) said her husband came by his command of the microphone naturally.

#Fdr fireside chats 1st one series#

To bypass the Republican-controlled legislature and the near-monopoly by Republicans on state newspapers, FDR broadcast a series of informal-sounding monthly chats to the people of New York. FDR honed his radio voice as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933. And with a nation gripped first by the Great Depression and then World War II, Roosevelt and his administration made extensive use of radio as a tool to educate and persuade the American people.Įarlier presidents had appeared on radio, but FDR is widely regarded as the first chief executive to master the medium as a source of political advantage.

He pioneered the modern, electronic political campaign. His Fireside Chats reached record-breaking audiences.

He spoke in a confident, informal way, using simple words and phrases that were easy to grasp.