Roosevelt proceeded to deliver his 1,883-word, 20 minute-long inaugural address, best known for his famously pointed reference to "fear itself" (paraphrasing
Thoreau) in one of its first lines (emphasis added):So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that
the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. Roosevelt used his First Inaugural Speech to outline his plan for the Great Depression. This plan was one he had referred to as a '
new deal' when he accepted the Democratic Party nomination in 1932. America, at the time that Roosevelt was inaugurated, was facing an unemployment rate of over twenty-five percent, which put more than twelve million Americans out of work. Roosevelt used his speech to highlight different parts of his proposed plan. One part of Roosevelt's plan was to find work for the American people. He stated, "Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously". Roosevelt would later execute this plan by forming different programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) which provided jobs for 300,000 men and the Civil Works Administration (CWA) which provided work by creating "public work projects". To put this plan into action Roosevelt created the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) in May 1933. This program helped farmers by giving them incentives to cut production which increased the income of farmers. The last element that Roosevelt outlined in his speech was his plan for the bank crisis facing America during the Great Depression. He stated, "Finally, in our progress toward a resumption of work we require two safeguards against a return of the evils of the old order: there must be a strict supervision of all banking and credits and investments so that there will be an end to speculation with other people's money, and there must be provision for an adequate but sound currency". To do so he first compared the Great Depression to a war. Roosevelt stated, "It can be accomplished in part by direct recruiting by the Government itself, treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war, but at the same time, through this employment, accomplishing greatly needed projects to stimulate and reorganize the use of our natural resources." This served to both impart on Americans how serious the situation was, but it also helped him justify his plan to Congress because wartime responsibilities fell to the President, not Congress. The second thing he did in his speech was to state that the Executive Branch may need to have heightened responsibilities, compared to the Legislative Branch, to face the crisis at hand. Roosevelt stated, "It is to be hoped that the normal balance of executive and legislative authority may be wholly adequate to meet the unprecedented task before us. But it may be that an unprecedented demand and need for undelayed action may call for temporary departure from that normal balance of public procedure" This served to justify Roosevelt's plan and the actions that he may need to take in order to accomplish that plan. Addressing himself to the causes of the economic crisis and its moral dimensions, Roosevelt placed the blame squarely on the greed and shortsightedness of bankers and businessmen, as seen in the following excerpts: Roosevelt then turned, in the following excerpts, to the daunting issue of
unemployment, which had reached a staggering 25 percent when he assumed office: After touching briefly on
foreign relations — "the
policy of the good neighbor — the neighbor who resolutely respects himself and, because he does so, respects the rights of others" — Roosevelt turned again to the economic crisis, assuring his countrymen that he would act swiftly and with determination: ==Rhetorical aspects==