FDR and the Fireside Chat: Learning about the Great Depression and World War II

Harris & Ewing, photographer. FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt FIRESIDE CHAT. Washington D.C. District of Columbia Washington D.C. United States, 1936. September 6. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2016883684/.

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By Paul E. Binford

Franklin D. Roosevelt had a rare political genius, which allowed him to secure the trust and good will of the American people during two profound crises—one primarily domestic and the other international. As the nation struggled through a Great Depression and later World War Two, Roosevelt’s ability to connect with the public was essential.

FDR was a skilled communicator especially in his use of the airwaves. In his twelve years as the nation’s chief executive, he used the radio broadcast to great aplomb. Roosevelt made over 300 radio addresses during his presidency, but it was the 27 or so Fireside Chats that are singularly associated with his time in office.

Initially, the term “Fireside Chat” was not applied by anyone in the Roosevelt White House. In May of 1933, Stephen T. Early, the White House Press Secretary, offered this description of FDR’s broadcasting style, "The President likes to think of the audience as being a few people around his fireside." Based on this description, the manager of the CBS Washington bureau, Harry Butcher, coined the term, "fireside chat." Scholars still debate the actual number of Fireside Chats (ranging from 25 to 31 addresses) in part because the term was only belatedly applied to these special radio broadcasts.

As the war years approached, radio was in ascendancy. The average radio receiver was just $38, less than half the average cost ($83) during the mid-Twenties. In 1942, there were 887 AM radio stations broadcasting to 30,600,000 radio households (or 84% of the nation’s households). Not only did most homes—and increasingly automobiles—regularly tune into the airwaves, but radio was beginning to supplant newspapers as the main source for news and family entertainment.

Roosevelt had a gift for radio. His voice was pleasant, reassuring, and confidence inspiring. Although these Chats seemed conversational, they were carefully crafted speeches. Roosevelt usually dictated an initial draft of the speech before ghostwriters, such as Harry Hopkins and Samuel Rosenman, took their turn at refining the prose. Before the final version was completed, there were often several drafts (typically ranging from three to ten). Roosevelt read the various versions aloud so frequently that he had most of the speeches memorized prior to the broadcast. The microphone did pose one problem for President Roosevelt, a space between his lower two teeth caused a whistle during radio broadcasts. To prevent this distracting noise, Roosevelt used a special bridge during his speeches, which was stored in a silver case next to his bed.

With the cooperation of the four major networks (CBS, NBC Blue, NBC Red, and Mutual), the White House regularly scheduled Fireside Chats in the 10 pm Eastern timeslot. On the East Coast, listeners were still awake while western listeners had finished supper and were ready to relax for the evening. Until the war years, Roosevelt delivered most of these speeches on Sunday nights—almost guaranteeing a peak audience, but he altered this practice after clergymen complained that his broadcasts were reducing attendance at evening services.

Classroom Application:

Inviting students to explore FDR’s “Fireside Chats” (either the text of his speeches or the audio files) provides them with an opportunity to learn about the techniques of a skilled communicator, the medium of radio, and the array of domestic and international issues Roosevelt confronted during his administration. Students can access these radio broadcasts (i.e., primary sources) through the University of Virginia’s Miller Center website.

One idea for a culminating project is to involve student groups in crafting and broadcasting their own Fireside Chat, either live to the class or have it digitally recorded. To make the project historically grounded, be sure to require the broadcast script to address a specific issue occurring during Roosevelt’s presidency, while also including (a teacher-determined number of) related historical facts and relevant terms.

A Final Note About Content:

Sources used in this blog post include:

Elvin T. Lim, “The Lion and the Lamb: De-mythologizing Franklin Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats,” Rhetoric and Public Affairs 6, no. 3 (Fall 2003): 438.

Samuel I. Rosenman, Working with Roosevelt (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952), 329.

Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate Portrait (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1948), 490.

Christopher H. Sterling and John Michael Kittross, Stay Tuned: A History of American Broadcasting, 3rd ed. (Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002), 830 & 862.

Betty Houchin Winfield, FDR and the News Media (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), 104.

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