Source: Fireside Chat #1, On the Banking Crisis, from March 12, 1933.
Note: After a month-long run on American banks, Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed a Bank
Holiday, beginning March 6, 1933, that shut down the nation’s banking system for a week. On
March 12, 1933, the president delivered his first fireside chat to the American people.
The fireside chats were a series of 30 evening radio addresses given between 1933 and 1944.Broadcasting nationwide, Roosevelt was able to quell rumors and explain his policies. His toneand demeanor communicated self-assurance during times of despair and uncertainty.
...We had a bad banking situation. Some of our bankers had shown themselves either incompetent or dishonest in their handling of the people's funds. They had used the money entrusted to them in speculations and unwise loans. This was of course not true in the vast majority of our banks, but it was true in enough of them to shock the people for a time into a sense of insecurity...
It was the Government's job to straighten out this situation and do it as quickly as possible -- and the job is being performed. I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided; and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drift. It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country.
...After all there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail.
