First Fireside Chat Precis Summary

FDR’s First Fireside Chat Precis
The Great Depression hit the United States on October 21th of 1929, now commonly referred to as “Black Tuesday”, when the Stock Market crashed. This abruptly ended the roaring and glamorous 1920’s as companies lost everything and were forced to lay off their workers. About 15 million workers were out of jobs by 1933. Companies weren't the only things failing, banks were closing left and right. Up until that point, banks were not required to ensure the depositors' money and so some banks decide to invest their depositor's money into the stock market. When the stock market crashed banks lost all of their depositor's money. This put anxiety in people as they lost faith and trust in their banks. This panic

as people ran to the banks to take their money out was called a “bank run”. When someone deposits their money some of that immediate cash get used for things to keep the bank open such as a loan, and so if someone wanted to take out a small amount they would still be able to do so. So went people went on “bank runs” the banks weren't able to give everyone their full deposits on the spot, causing them to fail and close. Around 650 banks closed in 1929, and by the end of the 30’s that number rose to around 9,000 banks failing. When Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1933 he guilty realized that these bank runs needed to stop. So he decided to connect to the America public via radio to talk to them about gaining their trust back in banks. These were called Fireside Chats. FDR shut all the banks down for a national “Bank Holiday” as he explained the banking system to the listeners in order to gain their awareness and faith into their banks and not to cause any more bank runs.
To begin, FDR starts off his speech by personally addressing his listeners, the U.S citizens.

He takes his time explaining the overview of what he is going to say and why it is important for the listener to understand. He says that he is going to first by explaining the banking system itself and what he plans to do to help fix the situation. He first explains what happens by when someone puts there money in the bank by saying, “when you deposit money in a bank that bank does not put money into a safe deposit vault” He then follows that by explaining why banks do this and why it's important not to take your money out of the bank, “... Invests your money in different forms of credit bonds, commercial paper, mortgages and many other kinds of loans.” FDR finishes that explanation by saying that “a bank puts your money to work. . .” FDR does this to ensure people learn that trustworthy banks do this to in order to stay in business and that its normal procedure to do. He then sums up the bank runs in February and March, “A rush so great the soundest of banks could not get enough currency to meet the demand.”. FDR then goes on to declare his national “Bank Holiday”, This was the start of the “ Government's Reconstruction.”. He says that this “also gave authority to develop a program of rehabilitation of our banking facilities” FDR wants the U.S citizens to be aware that the Government is devoted to “public welfare”. The third step in his plan was to ensure that banks were

still allowed to “Continue their functions to take care of… payrolls.” while the government still regulated these banks on the holiday, this would make it easier to allowing the time for these banks to be funded with the needed money. FDR then puts trust in his listeners by saying, “No sound bank is a dollar worse off then it was when it was when it closed its doors last Monday.” He cannot stress enough for the people to trust their banks because in order for this government plan to work, the citizens themselves cannot cause bank runs. In the next paragraph he makes it very clear that the government is trying to prevent the “history of the past few years” from happening again, so they plan on not reopening all of the banks at the same time as a precaution. FDR began to explain the reopening of the banks as followed. It would start Monday with “Banks in the twelve federal reserve bank cities” opening up with approval by the Treasury. On Wednesday, banks believed to be “succeeding in smaller placed through the country.” will reopen. FDR reassure the public by telling them that they need to be patient if a bank does don't open when it is scheduled to open because the government must make sure each back is stable to reopen which could take a longer amount of time. He tells them that all banks even if not a member of the Federal Reserve will get help from “member banks” as well as the “Reconstruction Finance Corp.”. The state banks will operate the same way that national banks are but just at a state level. FDR address that there will certainly be people who out of fear run to the bank. He assures them that hoarding is not a good “past time” and it is better to “keep your money in a reopened bank than under the mattress” which was a common thing as people kept all their money in their houses where it could not be protected under surveillance, their money also wasn't later insured if they did this. FDR finishes by stating that the country has had a bad banking system even though the majority of the banks were trustworthy. He wanted to restart with a set of sound honest and sturdy banks that could be trusted by its depositors. FDR is happy with the growing confidence that some banks had instilled in its customers and wants to see everyone have that same confidence. At the end of his speech he thanks the people for listening to him and giving him full support even if they didn't fully understand what the plan meant at first. He compares the value of currency in this new financial system and declares that the people's confidence is overall the most valuable thing in the readjustment of this plan. He says, “you people must have faith;you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses.” He urged the public to unite with him in the government and tell them that “it is up to you to support and make it work.” He ends the speech by saying “Together we cannot fail”. These two things are crucial to making the public seem involved with the situation like they are an important part of the change, which they were. He does this to give the people an initiative to follow what he is saying.
FDR’s Fireside chat can easily identified as Ethos, Pathos, and Logos.

FDR used Ethos because he was one of the first presidents that were very hands-on with business and wanted to be involved with so he was being very honest towards the public to gain their support. He genuinely wanted to reform the banking system so it was imperative that he make statements that demanded the public not to keep their money in their house and do not cause any bank runs. FDR also uses pathos because he is very passionate about what he is talking about. He wants to convince people on a personal level to listen to what he has to say. He does this by using the radio as a very personal connect to his listeners. Radios for the first time allowed the President to speak directly almost like he was face to face in the listeners home. Last, FDR uses Logos because he intellectually and logically explains and teaches to the reader not only his banking plan, but how the banking system works in general to inform the nation on things that they previously were not aware

of.
Lastly, FDR’s Fireside Chats had significant effects. Many primary sources said along the long lines of the same thing saying that it felt like he was almost in people's homes. This gave people a sense of importance in their country and it also made them feel connected and more inclined to follow what he was saying.FDR also received 50,000 fan letters after his first chat from people who supported him. Sources on the internet state from examples where immigrants who couldn't speak or understand English very well, still understood his eloquent tone and his confidence was enough to make the listeners feel emotions and listen to what he was saying. His chats did a very good job at swaying the American people into not causing any more bank runs because his speeches decreased the panic in the U.S. Some newspaper sources even said the next day when the banks reopened there wasn't as big of a crowd compared previously. Since people were not causing bank runs this made it much more efficant for the Federal Reserve to help honests banks get back on their feet and opprate properly. In conclusion, while FDR’s Fireside chats greatly helped restart the banking system.