United States History - 20th Century - 1901 to 1945, Executive Branch, U.S. Politics - History, U.S. International Relations

FDR's fireside chats

Name: FDR's fireside chats
Author: Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy
ISBN: 9780140179057

by Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy

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Overview

On thirty-one occasions during his presidency, FranKlin Delano Roosevelt went on the radio to talk things over with the people of the United States. Those fireside chats, characterized by a disarming frankness and an informal and conversational tone, represent an unprecedented presidential attempt to achieve intimacy with the nation. The American people listened, gathered around their radios in living rooms and kitchens across the country, as President Roosevelt discussed virtually every major problem facing the United States at home and abroad--including both the gravest domestic struggle since the Civil War and perhaps the most serious foreign crisis in the nation's history. In the fireside chats the president touched upon all of the issues surrounding the depression and the New Deal, and upon the events, fears, and hopes that were part of the American experience of World War I. Editors Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy have gathered the fireside chats together for the first time in a single volume and, by careful attention to recordings and stenographic reports, present the speeches exactly as Roosevelt spoke them. A general introduction discusses the importance of Roosevelt in American political history, the rise of the radio as a political tool, and the way Roosevelt, aided by speech writers and advisers, prepared and delivered the chats. Issues of the day are explored in two additional introductory essays--one describing the domestic situation Roosevelt confronted as he entered the White House in March 1933; the other surveying the international scene during the late 1930s, when Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese militarists propelled the world toward a catastrophic war. To read the fireside chats a half century after they were delivered is to reenter a world of economic disaster, social reform, and international danger. It is also to hear, once again, the voice of one of the most skilled speakers and trusted leaders in American history.

The first complete collection of FDR's historic conversations with the American people, this volume contains the entire texts of the 31 "fireside chats" that Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered over the radio during his 13 years as president, and with which he reassured and mobilized millions of listeners.

About the Author, Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy

Russell D. Buhite, Professor and Head of the Department of History in the University of Tennessee, holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University. He is the author of Soviet-American Relations in Asia, 1945-1954, published by the University of Oklahoma Press.

David W. Levy is the Irene and Julian J. Rothbaum Professor Emeritus of Modern American History and David Ross Boyd Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Oklahoma.

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Roosevelt's 31 radio fireside chats are gathered together, with a general introduction that discusses the importance of Roosevelt in American political history, the rise of the radio as a political tool, and the way the president--aided by speech writers and advisers--prepared and delivered the chats. Issues of the day are explored in two additional introductory essays. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)