"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."--BOOK JACKET.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Pt. I. The Domestic Fireside Chats The Crisis at Home March 12, 1933 : The Banking Crisis May 7, 1933 : Progress Made During the New Deal's First Two Months July 24, 1933 : Praising the First Hundred Days and Boosting the NRA October 22, 1933 : Assessing the New Deal and Manipulating the Currency June 28, 1934 : Answering the Critics September 30, 1934 : Government and Modern Capitalism April 28, 1935 : Defending the WPA and Pressing for Social Security September 6, 1936 : A Pre-election Appeal to Farmers and Laborers March 9, 1937 : Defending the Plan to "Pack" the Supreme Court October 12, 1937 : New Proposals at Home, Frightening Storm Clouds Abroad November 14, 1937 : Supporting the Unemployment Census April 14, 1938 : Combatting the 1937-1938 Recession June 24, 1938 : Purging the Democratic Party Pt. II. The Foreign Policy Fireside Chats The Crisis Abroad September 3, 1939 : Reaction to War in Europe: Preparing for Cash-and-Carry

May 26, 1940 : Deepening Crisis in Europe and American Military Readiness December 29, 1940 : The Arsenal of Democracy: Introducing Lend-Lease May 27, 1941 : Proclaiming National Emergency September 11, 1941 : The Greer Incident: Quasi-War in the Atlantic December 9, 1941 : War with Japan February 23, 1942 : Fighting Defeatism April 28, 1942 : A Call for Sacrifice September 7, 1942 : Stabilization of the Price of Food October 12, 1942 : Report on a Trip Across the Country May 2, 1943 : Dealing with Striking Coal Miners July 28, 1943 : The First Crack in the Axis: The Fall of Mussolini September 8, 1943 : Armistice in Italy and the Third War Loan Drive December 24, 1943 : Report on the Cairo and Teheran Conferences January 11, 1944 : A National Service Law and an Economic Bill of Rights June 5, 1944 : Report on the Capture of Rome June 12, 1944 : Launching the Fifth War Loan Drive January 6, 1945 : Work or Fight.