In 1929, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then the governor of New York, began employing RADIO to advocate political reforms in his state. Throughout his first term in office, he faced entrenched opposition from a largely Republican legislature, so Roosevelt frequently took to the airwaves on behalf of his programs and appealed directly for public support. This typically resulted in thousands of letters written to legislators on behalf of the governor’s agenda, which then usually passed. Roosevelt entered the White House in 1933 determined to utilize mass media on behalf of his programs, although this time on a national level. The president first sat before the microphone on Sunday, March 12, 1933, only eight days after his inauguration, and in his chatty and unpretentious manner, he reassured the American people that the banks would be reopened shortly and that their savings were safe. His efforts yielded the appropriate calming effect, for when the banks opened on Monday there were no runs on banking institutions and, in fact, deposits outnumbered withdrawals. However, it was not until an address delivered on June 24, 1933, that the term fireside chats was coined.
Roosevelt was the first chief executive to effectively exploit the broadcast milieu for political advantage. Here he was assisted by his sonorous, friendly delivery and a team of skilled speechwriters, including celebrated writers Robert Sherwood and Archibald MacLeish, who carefully composed and redrafted each “chat” to the president’s specifications. Roosevelt spoke as though he was talking not to a mass audience but rather to individual listeners, and he did so in the soothing manner of a good and trusted friend. He also delivered his chats in front of a small audience gathered in the White House basement, which enabled him to gesticulate realistically to them, yet give listeners the distinct impression that he was speaking directly to them in their living rooms. Given their deliberate emphasis on informality, firesides chats were never intended as formal speeches or addresses, and their folksy demeanor helped cement the president’s close relationship with the American public. The broadcasts, moreover, were kept brief and to the point; the majority were only 30 minutes in length and usually delivered on Sunday evenings between 9 and 11 p. M. to ensure the largest radio audience. At their height, fireside chats were carried by 800 radio stations. Significantly, an estimated 17 million families tuned in to hear the first of 28 fireside chats, which gradually averaged 24.4 percent of the adult population—around 100 million people. This constituted the largest listening audience of any program aired throughout radio’s “golden age.”
As in New York, the fireside chats were carefully calculated to generate popular support for his New Deal programs, and they frequently resulted in thousands of letters sent to congressmen of both parties to that effect. However, after the outbreak of World War II in 1939, Roosevelt shifted the focus of his talks from domestic politics to international affairs, whereby he frequently reassured listeners of his determination to embrace neutrality. When this became impossible in the wake of Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack of December 7, 1941, the fireside chats served as a rallying point for the nation. Roosevelt delivered his last fireside chat on June 12, 1944, to promote the Fifth War Loan Drive. In terms of style and effect the president made mass media into an effective ally and a conduit for national policy. In doing so, Roosevelt helped usher in the age of modern media politics.
Further reading: Lawrence W Levine and Cornelia R. Levine, The People and the President: America's Conversations with FDR (Boston: Beacon Press, 2002); Jason Lovi-glio, Radio's Intimate Public: Network Broadcasting and Mass-mediated Democracy (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005).
—John C. Fredriksen
World History
