Films on FDR: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/search/label/Franklin%20D.%20Roosevelt
The first inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 32nd President of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1933. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President and John Nance Garner as Vice President. It was the last inauguration to be held on the prescribed date of March 4; under the terms of the Twentieth Amendment, all subsequent inaugurations have taken place on January 20. After being sworn-in, Roosevelt became the thirty-second President of the United States.
The inauguration took place in the wake of Democrat Roosevelt’s landslide victory over Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election. With the nation in the grips of the Great Depression, the new president’s inaugural speech was awaited with great anticipation. Broadcast nationwide on several radio networks, the speech was heard by tens of millions of Americans, and set the stage for Roosevelt’s urgent efforts to respond to the crisis.
Inauguration day was mostly cloudy with a few peaks of sun, and the estimated temperature at midday was 42 degrees Fahrenheit. That morning, Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor attended a 10:15 a.m. worship service at Washington’s St. John’s Episcopal Church, near the White House.
The swearing-in ceremony took place on the East Portico of the United States Capitol, with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes administering the oath of office. Roosevelt wore a morning coat and striped trousers for the inauguration, and took the oath with his hand on his family Bible, open to I Corinthians 13. Published in 1686 in Dutch, it remains the oldest Bible ever used in an inaugural ceremony, as well as the only one not in English, and was used by Roosevelt for his 1929 and 1931 inaugurations as Governor of New York as well as for his subsequent presidential inaugurations.
After taking the oath of office, Roosevelt proceeded to deliver his 1,880-word, 7 minute-long inaugural address, best known for his famously pointed reference to “fear itself” in one of its first lines:
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 vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
Addressing himself to the causes of the economic crisis and its moral dimensions, Roosevelt placed blame squarely on the greed and shortsightedness of bankers and businessmen, as seen in the following excerpts:
…rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men.
The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit.
Recognition of the falsity of material wealth as the standard of success goes hand in hand with the abandonment of the false belief that public office and high political position are to be valued only by the standards of pride of place and personal profit; and there must be an end to a conduct in banking and in business which too often has given to a sacred trust the likeness of callous and selfish wrongdoing.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone. This Nation asks for action, and action now.
Roosevelt then turned, in the following excerpts, to the daunting issue of unemployment, which had reached a staggering 25 percent when he assumed office:
…the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously.
There are many ways in which it can be helped, but it can never be helped merely by talking about it. We must act and act quickly.
Duration : 0:7:5
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I took the full video live on 1/18/2009 at the Martin Luther King Awards Ceremony in DC.
June 13 (Bloomberg) — Al Hunt , executive editor at Bloomberg News, previews tonight’s debate among Republican presidential candidates in New Hampshire.
Countdown with Keith Olbermann, www.globaldiscussions.net Forum of discussions on international relations & institutions, international trade, Bretton Woods, unions, NGOs, governance, poverty, development studies, sciences & technologies, ethics & morality, religions, tribe, ethnic and identity issues, war, arms smuggling/proliferation, WMD, global affairs, politics & policies, technologies of communication, media, free speech, democracy, freedom, history & geography, commerce, global economy & globalization, health, arts, cultures & acculturation, race, immigration, women, gender & equality issues, sports.
Beyonce performs “At Last” for Obama, at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball in 2009 (HD 720p)
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FREE AT LAST Martin Luther King Jr. (for scrapper) MUSIC VIDEO “WE SHALL OVERCOME” traditional spiritual. Larry Goldings – piano / John “Scrapper” Sneider – cornet© Larry Goldings CD – Quartet rephotpgraphed/edited/directed by owen plotkin ©2009 public domain footage.
His Majesty was welcomed upon arrival at the Gedung Nusantara, Jakarta, by His Excellency Rahimullah, Secretary General of the The People’s Consultative Assembly, MPR.

