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- [00:00]
Don Wildman
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- [00:32]
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- [01:03]
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- [01:43]
Don Wildman
It's March 4, 1933. A cold wind sweeps across the steps of the U.S. capitol as Franklin Delano Roosevelt raises his right hand to swear the oath of office. Five months earlier, a nation rife with unemployment and losing faith in its government had elected Roosevelt over incumbent Herbert Hoover. Now, as millions hunch over their radios, listening for the assurance that change is finally at hand, FDR begins to speak
- [02:14]
Professor Jeremy Suri
President Hoover Mr. Chief justice, my friends, this is a day of national consecration, and I am certain that on this day, my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the presidency, I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impels.
- [02:46]
Don Wildman
His first inaugural words will join a long American tradition of presidential speechifying. Less than a century earlier, Abraham Lincoln stood on a Pennsylvania battlefield, soaked in the blood of its dead, calling on a fractured nation to fulfill the ideals for which they'd fought before him. George Washington famously bade farewell to public life with words of warning to future Americans. Across the centuries, these moments reveal the extraordinary power of presidential oratory to steady the nation, rally the people, and rechart the course of American history. I'm Don Wildman, and you're listening to American History Hit. Thanks for joining us today. We welcome a guest who's joined us several times. Professor Jeremy Suri is an historian who teaches at the University of Texas at Austin. His works include Civil War by Other Means, America's Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy. He's an expert in American presidencies. So we figured the ideal guest to discuss the best presidential speeches ever. JEREMY Today we're looking at three presidential speeches considered to be the most enduring chief executive eloquence across the ages. But first, I'm curious your opinion. What do you think makes for a great and memorable presidential address?
- [04:17]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I think there are three necessary ingredients. First of all, you have to have something to say. You have to have a message, you have to have a vision, you have to have a story so the content matters. People sometimes think you can wordsmith your way to eloquence. There's no eloquence without content, so that's the first thing. Second, you have to find language that resonates with your audience. And most speeches, very good speeches, resonate with an audience in its particular moment, in its particular place. The workers in the factory in Michigan, the people at the July 4th celebration on the lawn, the truly great speeches resonate with an audience across time. That's what we're going to be talking about with Washington and Lincoln and Roosevelt. They use language, and that resonates across periods of time, across context. And then the third thing is finding some memorable phrases, some ways of saying things that endure. Poetry. Some would say something beyond prose, something that becomes embedded in one's memory and one's thinking, kind of like a music lyric. That's the sort of symphonic element of a speech.
- [05:25]
Don Wildman
I think what's so interesting about presidents is that some of them are really bad speakers. And yet, you know, in their case, as you say, the message is what matters. So they get remembered that way, more so than how they move the audience. It's nice when it comes to, as a, as a whole package. Let's begin with the man who really set the standard for these kinds of addresses, largely because he was the first. In 1796, George Washington stood on the precipice of a new life. It had been 20 years of revolution, constitutional debate, eight years as president. Finally, when he decides to leave office, he does so, leaving stern words in his wake. What was Washington reacting to in his famous Farewell address.
- [06:07]
Professor Jeremy Suri
So Washington's Farewell Address in the fall of 1796 is really designed to be a testament. He's reacting to what he sees as rising partisanship, what he calls factionalism, and a real dispute that threatens to tear the country apart over whether the country should ally with Britain or with France during this war, the Napoleonic wars that the British and the French are fighting. It affects American trade, it affects American commerce, it affects American politics. And Washington's real concern is that after 20 years, as you say, of life, toil and blood for the Union, that the Union will survive. He's very concerned. We have to remember that this was a truly radical experiment, what the Americans were undertaking at this time. And many of them, including Washington, were not sure it would endure.
- [06:58]
Don Wildman
So this nation, at the end of Washington's presidency, was independent, but that didn't mean it was smooth sailing from here on out. Some of the things that he would be speaking of in this farewell address would have been addressed in State of the Unions. Right. It's odd that he's remembered for his farewell.
- [07:13]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Well, the State of the Union address, which is actually in the Constitution as a required annual report from the President, was generally at that time, distributed to Congress as an annual report. The President would send a written document over to Congress on the State of the Union, kind of the way a CEO would report on the state of your corporation to your board. There really wasn't a moment where the President stood up before the country, as we think of a State of the Union today, and spoke to the nation. The first president to deliver the State of the Union in Congress as a live speech was Thomas Jefferson. And then after that, it didn't happen again until Woodrow Wilson. Abraham Lincoln, for example, just sent the State of the Union over, and a clerk in Congress read it to members of Congress. So Washington needed a moment, as your question implies, when he could speak to the country. And the State of the Union itself was not that moment. Washington's farewell address was not spoken as a speech either. It was published in the Philadelphia Advertiser and then other newspapers. So it was a document written for the public, not for members of Congress. It was not a report to Congress. It was, in a sense, the great man George Washington's statement, testament to the American people. He was trying to persuade the American people of a number of things. Most important of all, that it was not smooth sailing and that this Union had to endure. And it could only endure if Americans found a way to get beyond what he called faction, what we would call partisanship. Today that they had to work together despite their regional, religious and political differences.
- [08:52]
Don Wildman
Right. And for those who don't remember, we're in the early republic years. The Federalists are running the show at this point and will be for almost a generation. They will be faced down by the Democratic Republicans, which are Jefferson's view of things and his, his. His division and all that had begin. Begun to, to fracture more officially. And Washington was, was seeing that in real time. Right. He wasn't speculating about the future.
- [09:17]
Professor Jeremy Suri
No, no, he was witnessing that he as a figure had held the country together. He's an extraordinary man, as all of your listeners should know. He wins the Revolutionary War in a sense, and then resigns command, does not make himself the king or military generalissimo, and then he comes back at the Constitutional Convention and serves as president, and then in this farewell address, announces that after two terms, after eight years, he's going to peacefully, voluntarily retire, which is really quite extraordinary. These are moves on his part designed to reinforce the message which is that this government, this union, this experiment is larger than any one man. We are not held together because of Washington or Napoleon. We are held together because of a system, because of a common set of beliefs, because of a creed and a set of democratic procedures that we believe in. And that's the argument he's making. And he's trying to live that as well as articulate that.
- [10:16]
Don Wildman
Yeah, there's a reason there's a monument to this guy. I mean, the whole thing could have fallen apart if he had made really the pragmatic decision to say, you know what, I'm going to stick around. Let's get this thing together. We're going to build this a little more, make our international presence more solid. All those reasonable things he could have said, but he knew that that was the moment that this nation needed to find its own feet. And had he not done that, it probably wouldn't have. It would have gone the way of France or any number of places that would have flipped right back.
- [10:43]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I think that's exactly right. I mean, the most anti monarchical thing is not simply the argument of the revolutionaries. It's that the first person in a position to make himself monarch steps away and leaves it to the country and our procedures and institutions to find unity. Not to find unity in a charismatic figure. That's such an important lesson for us. The power of resignation and letting an institution get on its own feet.
- [11:08]
Don Wildman
Yes, his, his line is benign influence of good laws under a free government. That's what he wants to leave this to. And he's going to go to Mount Verdon. The full text is over 7,000 words long, much of it written by Alexander Hamilton. Both Hamilton and Jefferson were. Were loud voices for him to stick around longer. But in the end, Hamilton writes this speech with him. What are the key points of the farewell address? We've already gone through them. National unity. I'm going to read a few of these quotes for reference. He says, the name of American which belongs to you in your national capacity must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discrimination. So federal government, bigger than the states, we're going to be all Americans together instead of Virginians and Marylanders.
- [11:55]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I think he's saying something even deeper than that. That's absolutely correct, but he's making the case that union is something sacred, that it's something profound, and that it has some deeper meaning beyond simply the institutions and the place you're in. This is something he's selling throughout his presidency, that there's something larger than being just a citizen from Georgia or Massachusetts. It's not just about the federal government. It's about a commitment. It's about a cause. There's almost a religious quality to it, a sacredness. And this is something Abraham Lincoln, who we'll talk about later, really, really picks up upon. Washington is saying that union is not temporary compromise. It's something deeper that has redefined us. It's sort of what, on a deeper level, a coach is telling a set of teammates that you're not just on this team today because you happen to be here. Right. There's a deeper spiritual connection between you. And that's. That's the argument Washington's making.
- [12:54]
Don Wildman
That's fascinating. I mean, one can get into a lot of conversations these days about American exceptionalism, but for me, it can stop with. With Washington. You know, it's just a remarkable, exceptional moment in human history to have an individual see the playing field as much as he does and make the choices he does to let this nation stand.
- [13:13]
Professor Jeremy Suri
And if I could say, it's also radical. It seems obvious to us now, but it's radical because people were subjects. They weren't citizens before this. Right. The French, of course, defined citizenship in the French Revolution, but with those exceptions, most English subjects had thought of themselves as subjects of the king. And we know as historians, if you go back and you talk to people who, let's say, lived in Manchester or lived in London, they would say they were residents of Manchester under the purview of this great king. They would not say that they were great Englishmen in the way that Shakespeare describes that. That's a kind of mythological definition. What Washington is saying is that we are not Americans because the president tells you you're an American. We are Americans. And everything else comes around that it comes from the people, that citizenship, it doesn't come from the king. Wow.
- [14:06]
Don Wildman
We need a lot of that these days. He argues that political parties are, and here's the quote, likely in the course of time and things to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government. Hmm. Wow. Does that resonate through the ages? Huh?
- [14:28]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I can't imagine that we would never see anything like that.
- [14:31]
Don Wildman
How would that ever happen in America? No way. Oh, my God.
- [14:35]
Professor Jeremy Suri
This is Washington's great failure and the failure of the Founders. They did not envision a republic without parties, but they believed that there could be a space, especially around the presidency, where you would have someone who was nonpartisan, someone who had escaped partisanship. They believed the Supreme Court would represent that, too. They did have this 18th century enlightenment view that at a certain level of knowledge, reason, and experience, you could become a wise man without party. What we all aim to do in sort of, you know, as family leaders, as business leaders, and that's the vision they had that never came to effect. Washington was the closest, in a sense, the first and the last. And even he was not really nonpartisan, as you said. He did lean toward the federalist direction on many things, but Washington and the Founders had this dream of an objective, nonpartisan leadership for the country. And after Washington, we don't have that.
- [15:32]
Don Wildman
He warns finally. Well, not finally, but another important thing is political alliances with foreign powers, limiting them to trade instead of otherwise. His quote is, the great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible. So so far, we have already formed engagements. Let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here, let us stop. There's a voice to this that's so fatherly and so pragmatic to an older child, right? It's like, okay, you're ready for this. Let's go. But you're going to have to follow these rules.
- [16:13]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Absolutely. And I think this part of the Farewell Address is so important. It's been written about by generations of historians and foreign policy experts. I wrote a whole book about this. I mean, what Washington is arguing is that we are an international country, we must trade with the world. We believe in commerce from the very beginning. The United States is about international commerce. Right. Where are all the farmers selling their cotton and tobacco? Right. They're selling it to Europe and elsewhere. Right. So we are a trading nation, but we are not a war making or an occupying nation. Which is to say that we should not have a large standing military. This is the great military leader saying this. Right. Eisenhower will echo this two centuries later. We should not have a large standing military. We should not be a garrison state. We should trade with the world. We should spread our ideas. We should spread the gentle hand of commerce to help civilize other parts of the world. But we should not be an empire in a traditional sense. We should not be a constabulary nation. Our interaction should be in business, commerce and culture, not in military and even traditional political affairs. It's not isolationist. Right. It's about a non militarized approach to international relations. We would come to call this in the late 19th century, early 20th century international liberalism, a world of international connections, the League of Nations, United Nations. That's not quite what he's talking about, but he's going in that direction where it's a marketplace for the world, a kind of model of the United States on an international level scale. That's a very powerful vision. It is, Don. The vision that most Americans have through John Quincy Adams and others until the second half of the 19th century.
- [18:01]
Don Wildman
I'm surprised more presidents aren't remembered for their failural addresses. But honestly, I can only think of Eisenhower. You know, there aren't a lot of them. Right?
- [18:08]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yeah. Truman has a pretty good one, Reagan has one. But yes, you're right. I think it's very hard for a traditional president in the modern era to give a farewell address. That doesn't sound like a partisan state speech. What makes this resonate is it's not partisan. He has a point of view. But you read that and what I just described about foreign policy, you could see elements of each party in that. Right. The problem is most farewell addresses become statements of look at all the things I've accomplished and I hope the next guy doesn't screw it up. Because usually presidents are followed by someone from the other party.
- [18:42]
Don Wildman
Right, Exactly. So this goes down in history as a very pragmatic, very felt moment in the beginnings of this nation. And how appropriate to come through Washington. Why don't we take a break now and let all this George Washington sink in? Because we've got two more genius presidential oratories to examine right after this.
- [19:09]
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- [19:27]
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- [19:41]
Dan Snow
If you love a good story, why aren't you listening to Dan Snow's History Hit Podcast? It's a show where we tell you every amazing, crazy and important thing that's ever happened in human history. From the perilous voyages of the first Polynesians, the discoveries of Captain Cook, the deadly Viking raids on Britain and Ireland, the rise and fall of the great English kings and queens. We'll tell you how Waterloo was won, the Alamo was lost, and all the history in between. So make sure you check it out. Down Snow's History Hit for the best true stories ever told. Wherever you get your podcasts,
- [20:25]
Don Wildman
We are back with Professor Jeremy Suri of the University of Texas Hook em horns surveying the gold standard presidential speeches over time. Next up, that hallowed hallmark of of the ages, Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Yeah, we talk a lot about this. Jeremy, tell me something new. What was going on in 1863 that Lincoln would need to be at this occasion? They had plenty of people there to commemorate at Gettysburg. The famous Edward Everett was there at length.
- [20:52]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yes, yes. You know, Lincoln was looking for a moment. He had been drafting notes for this very short address. He was looking for a victory, finally, a battlefield victory in a war that the Union was not winning. He was looking for a battlefield victory to articulate what the war was about and to quite frankly justify how the war had changed the nation. The Abraham Lincoln of 1863, when he gives this speech, is very different from the Abraham Lincoln of 1861 when the Civil War begins. By this point, he has been radicalized. What does that mean? He's come to see that the war now must be about the end of slavery. We've had the Emancipation Proclamation. And he's also come to see that the war must be about not just an agreed end, but but it has to be a fundamental transformation of the south and the Nation as a whole. And that's what he's talking about. He's taking the Declaration of Independence and he's reapplying it to this, this moment. It's something he had been thinking about for months. But he couldn't give this speech after a battlefield victory or after battlefield loss or something that did not look like a victory. It had to be a moment. And he had this extraordinary moment where there's a dedication of the graves of the cemetery at Ben Gettysburg after this incredibly months, after this incredibly bloody battle. 50,000 plus casualties in three days. And so it gives him a moment to articulate what the war has become. Not what it was in 1861, but what it has become in 1863. And that's to rally the public and articulate not just why we're fighting, but what we are fighting for.
- [22:31]
Don Wildman
Exactly. For anyone who's not clear on this. And it came later in my life to understand that the Battle of Gettysburg happens in July of 1863. It's months later that they realize that they have this job to create this national cemetery. There are more than 50,000 casualties over those three days of fighting. A lot of people got buried and then reinterred. And it was after that process that they create this, this commemorative moment in November, November 19, 18, 1863, four and a half months later. And that's what Lincoln is coming to be a part of.
- [23:04]
Professor Jeremy Suri
It was seen as a turning point battle. I mean, in the sense Antietam was, in 1862 was a deadlier battle. But this really broke the back of the Confederacy. The Gettysburg battle did. If the Confederates had won this battle, they might have had a straight shot coming from the north, ironically, to capture Washington D.C. which was their goal. So this really was a turning point, which is why Lee had considered a major speech as well.
- [23:31]
Don Wildman
Yeah. So much happened at Gettysburg, including the advent of war photography. And there is a famous photograph of the speech, of the moment when the. Before the Gettysburg Address happens. And it's just this crowd of people and there is this tiny little head which is Abraham Lincoln in the middle. They always have arrows pointing to him. It always amazes me that oratory happened under those circumstances. And what a different experience that would have been than with microphones.
- [23:58]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Absolutely. And the power of this speech is really not just in the moment. It is true that it moves people in this moment. And there's this irony that Edward Everett, this great orator, speaks for an hour and a half and then Lincoln speaks for a few minutes. And everyone remembers what Lincoln Said, no one remembers what. In fact, I've written about this. I've read the Everett speech. I right now, have forgotten what the speech is about. Right. Lincoln's speech so overshadows this. But what really makes the speech resonate, and there's a lesson in this, is that it is printed and circulated around the country, around the world, for that matter. It's read throughout Europe as well. And it is short and to the point. There is a power in finding the right words and making them short and direct. It's a piece of poetry. It really is. People go to the Lincoln Memorial. I love watching this. Don't. Whenever I'm in Washington, they go to the Lincoln Memorial and they stand and they read it. The whole thing is on one wall of the Lincoln Memorial.
- [24:54]
Don Wildman
It's 271 words. And when read aloud, it takes less than two minutes to get through from start to finish. It was given to an audience of 15,000 people that day. And it starts with famously, four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
- [25:15]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Boom.
- [25:15]
Don Wildman
There you go. That's it. Everything stems from that statement. In fact, the American experience stems from that statement. It roots, as you say, the whole argument of the Civil War in the Declaration of Independence. Do you think that he planned that, or was this scribble on an envelope that just because he was naturally good at this sort of thing, worked out that way?
- [25:37]
Professor Jeremy Suri
He definitely planned that. We know this. It was scribbled, but he was scribbling notes on this for months, and he kept scribbling notes and putting them in his desk. So this is a lesson for us. When you have something important to say, take some time to think about it and keep thinking about it and keep rethinking to find the right words. Lincoln had said to one, I think it was a painter. He explained his writing technique. He said, I listen for the words. I try to find the right words. And I bound them North, I bound them South, I bound them east, I bound them west, until I find the right words. Until I find the right words. And so he was doing that. He intentionally. Don wanted to move out of a constitutional framework. This is really important because the Constitution, although it does not mention the word slavery, the Constitution had legalized slavery, right? Slavery was legal under the Constitution. And so he has to find an argument now that moves beyond the Constitution. So he goes back to the Declaration, which, of course, in this famous phrase, all men are created equal. Would seem to militate against slavery.
- [26:42]
Don Wildman
He obviously is honoring the soldiers who fought and gave their lives. At this point, was it both Union and Confederate that he was talking about or not?
- [26:49]
Dan Snow
Yes.
- [26:50]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I mean, this is the brilliance of Lincoln. It's also in his second inaugural. You know, this man who had two years of education probably wrote three of the 10 best speeches. If we were doing 10. Right. We'd have to do the first inaugural, Gettysburg Address, the second inaugural. Right. I mean, he outperforms everyone. Right. He's the Michael Jordan of presidential speeches. And in all of these speeches, he is the president for everyone. He is the president for Confederacy because that is a rebellion. That is not secession for him. It is a rebellion. And so he is back to your metaphor from Washington of the father figure. He's the father of the wayward children as well as the good children. He's the father for all of them. And what he does in these speeches is he gives them, purchase them connection on this vision. It's not that they're going to lose and be put in the corner and denied supper. Everyone gets to come back to the table, but they have to come back to the table under the rules that define what a democracy is of all men being created equal, they don't get to live at their separate slavery table.
- [27:55]
Don Wildman
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. That we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. That this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. The key phrase is buried there. A new birth of freedom.
- [28:25]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yes.
- [28:25]
Don Wildman
That is both linked to the ideas of slavery, but also to everyone else. Right. This is a new nation.
- [28:33]
Professor Jeremy Suri
He's making actually a very fundamental argument that he had thought a lot about. Right. Which is that the Constitution as framed in 1787, 1788, was actually just the first step and that it's a constantly evolving document. It's a new birth of freedom. Because the Declaration of Independence articulates our principles. It's our ten Commandments.
- [28:53]
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- [28:53]
Professor Jeremy Suri
And then from those ten commandments, we have built different Jerusalems. And the Jerusalem that we're in must constantly evolve. And so the new birth of freedom is taking the Constitution to a new level to achieve or better achieve those principles.
- [29:10]
Don Wildman
What was the reaction to the speech? And did it immediately land as far as the big Message goes.
- [29:16]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I don't think everyone took what we've just said from it, but I think what it did do, even on the other side, was it articulated some higher purpose in this conflict and that helped people to see why they were in this war. Let's just make a historical point that's obvious but important. Right. Americans, when they are in wars, they fight far better and it's easier to get them to support a war when they know what it's about. We are not a society that supports going to war for the sake of going to war. Our entire DNA is, is to believe that a free world is a world of commerce without war. That's what we seek. We don't seek permanent war. And so if you're going to ask, as Lincoln is, families to send their young sons to go and fight and die, in many cases they have to know what it's about. And this articulated to people what it's about. Not everyone agreed, but they knew what this was about. And you could not say this was Abraham Lincoln's war. No, this was the war for the Union now.
- [30:14]
Don Wildman
Yeah. It was about expanding the United States understanding of equality.
- [30:18]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yes.
- [30:18]
Don Wildman
And that would go a long way, you know, towards everything. I read those. I hear those words and read them now. And it excites me in a way that surprises me every time because I think what Abraham Lincoln was aware of is that this is a hard road, and so is so was Washington. This is a hard road we're on. It will require many such passages. Maybe not civil wars, but it's going to be tough to relearn the lessons over and over again. And they have to be rearticulated and heard by different gen by every generation. And we kind of take that for granted because we lived in this sort of luxurious passivity about this for so long, thanks to these founding fathers. But it's still with us. That's still really the message, isn't it?
- [31:01]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I agree. I think it's a message of struggle. These were both men who had lived through very difficult circumstances. They were idealists and realists at the same time. And I also think another part of this is they wanted to articulate how we were a constantly evolving society. You've never figured it out. It's never done. You can't say we have perfection. Here is the formula. You know, economists always like this. They want the perfect equation. Right. There's no perfect equation. It's a constant evolution. Again, the family metaphor is right. I mean, your family is never done evolving.
- [31:34]
Don Wildman
Yeah.
- [31:34]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Right. Maybe you have A moment of thanksgiving where everyone gets along. Then the next year, you got to work at it. Right. You have to keep working. And notice that both of these speeches are about us, not about them. Which is to say that the solutions, the way we fix things, is by looking inside. They're internalized. They're not blaming enemies. They're not using fear. It's astonishing how much Lincoln avoids using fear fear to justify war. He doesn't say, look how bad the Confederates are. Look at all these things they're going to do to you. He doesn't say that. Right. He instead asks us to look within to who we want to be and to fight for what we want. And Washington is saying the same thing. That's how you win wars. You win the war by fighting for who you are, not fighting against who they are.
- [32:21]
Don Wildman
Exactly. All right, thank you, Abraham Lincoln. Let's think on that and come back with another. Jeremy and I are going to discuss FDR and his first inaugural address coming in the midst of the Great Depression.
- [32:40]
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- [32:59]
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- [33:10]
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- [33:48]
Don Wildman
Welcome back, Jeremy. We're time traveling forward once again to 1933 as the nation stares down economic collapse and in response elects new leadership in the person of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Before we get into this, I want to make a point that I meant in the previous section. How interesting that these fundamental words are not recorded in ways that we're used to them. This is the first time we'll get this. You Know when, when Coolidge and that period of time comes along, we got radio. And so suddenly these words will be recorded for all time and we can hear them over and over again. Not true of Washington and Lincoln. And yet they somehow resonate even more. It's an interesting dilemma there.
- [34:29]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Well, because we have to read them.
- [34:31]
Don Wildman
Yes.
- [34:32]
Professor Jeremy Suri
The beauty of the Gettysburg Address is that when a teacher reads it to students. For example, as you read it kind of as a teacher a few minutes ago, you're hearing it in a modern voice. You're not hearing it in an archaic voice. It's kind of cool to hear FDR's voice, but it's actually more powerful. Right. When someone takes those words and puts it to rap or puts it to, you know, puts it to song. Right. I mean, that's the point. Right. And so every time you hear the Gettysburg Address, you're hearing it articulated and it should be read to people. You're hearing it in a modern voice. And it works again. It's like playing the Beatles. If you get a good band, good cover band. It's not the Beatles, but it works. Right, but it works.
- [35:10]
Don Wildman
Interesting. Yeah. All right, let's paint a picture of the national present FDR must address. Talk about high stakes. Near collapse of the banking system. Savings of Americans, many of them wiped out. Mass unemployment. One in four Americans unemployed. Breadlines, Hoovervilles, the defining images of American life. Public confidence, most importantly in the government and the economy is at an all time low. We now know what that means when consumer confidence goes through the to the cellar. We were in trouble. Along comes Roosevelt, a Democrat who'd beaten the incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in a landslide. It was the time. It was a mandate for a genuine reboot, right?
- [35:49]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yes, absolutely. There was such a sense of fear and anger at where the country was, across parties, across perspectives. Not everyone had confidence. And Franklin Roosevelt, in fact, most people probably didn't. But he did have a mandate to try to address this problem. Everyone agreed that the economy was not only in the garbage can, but that it was at the risk of reaching a point of no return and that our society could collapse. I mean, people have to articulate and understand, you know, when you say one in four Americans didn't have a job, almost all families had a single breadwinner. That person didn't have a job. And there was no federal at all, no federal support. And very few states offered unemployment and support. People were going from being lawyers one day and accountants one day to being in a breadline the next day. We cannot imagine that in our world. And so Roosevelt did have a mandate, both as president and then with a new Congress to address the issue. And that's what his. His inaugural address is, the opening move in that.
- [36:54]
Don Wildman
Yeah, I gotta do my own study about the campaign leading up to this, which I have never really studied as far as how did he articulate these brand new ideas to a country that was. They weren't brand new. Obviously, they've been tried in other ways. But it was an astonishing thing to try to train the country into this idea. After so many years of laissez faire operations, suddenly the government's gonna be really present in your lives.
- [37:19]
Professor Jeremy Suri
And that's where he came up with the phrase New Deal. Just as you said in the campaign. That's a campaign speech. It's around the time of the Democratic con summer of 1932, which is almost a year before he actually takes office. We have to remember that at that time, presidents took office in March, not in January. So the New Deal, as he described it, was just that this, how he explained it to Americans, was not that the government was going to come save you. He never said that. And that's not what happened. He said, we're going to have a New Deal where the government will not just be out there doing things. The government will come and work with with you. The government will be your partner, and you must partner with the government. So if you do certain things, the government will be able to help you. Jobs being the fundamental thing. The government will come and create new jobs, but you have to be willing to work in those jobs. It's a big myth that Roosevelt was giving handouts to people. There was no handout at all. The New Deal was a new way of thinking about partnership and work for pay with government. Yeah. Wow.
- [38:18]
Don Wildman
And it's all done. This articulation in this inaugural address is done in 2,000 words, delivered under 20 minutes. What a relief to everybody. As opposed to the speeches we get these days. And right at the top, he gives one of his most famous lines. Attributed to him right away, I just want to say it's a more casual cadence. It's a much friendlier kind of tone than any kind of oratory per se, which is important because obviously he's talking. He's very aware of the fact that people are hunched over their radios listening to this in their own homes. He gets it. He knows this is a whole different game now. So he's using that. So I'll read it. 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, 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. You're right. It's a coach. I know you have it within yourselves, kids. You're gonna whip it up into shape. Let's go. You know, it's that feeling of rally cry. It's. It's all that together. But at the same time, he has to identify why that fear must be met with innovation.
- [39:41]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Right, Right. And he's. What he's arguing for, is that just what you said, that we are holding ourselves back in part, and his job is not to correct the mistakes, but to empower us to save ourselves. That's really what he's saying. I will help you to save yourself. I will help you to win the game, but you have to win the game. And he says after that wonderful opening, that sort of very father figure. And he, he embodies this. He speaks with a confidence, a wisdom. Right. He's. He's the father speaking to the kids. Right. It looks really bad, but if we hold together, we can do things. And then he says, I am going to do things to help you to help yourself. I need that power. So one of the things he says in this speech is that we need a more powerful president. He is the beginnings of what we come to call the imperial presidency, that the president must have powers. He says, we are going to treat the economic difficulties, this depression, as the equivalent of war, and I need war powers to deal with this emergency. He doesn't say Congress doesn't matter. He says, I'm going to ask Congress to do things, and I expect Congress to do them. And don't worry, citizens, because I am, in doing that, going to help you to help yourselves. Right. I'm not the solution. Nowhere in the inaugural does he explain what he thinks the future will be, but he explains what he can do to help people to help themselves to do better and overcome fear. That's his argument. His insight, Don, is that you don't solve a big problem by offering a solution on day one. You offer people some steps to make it better. That's what he's promising. That's all he's promising. I'm going to make it better. Right. Again, it's the. In this Case the father figure to the sick child. I can't promise you perfect health tomorrow, but if we take our medicine and we eat our vegetables, we can get a little better. A little better. Slowly but surely. Slowly but surely. And as you say, people are listening to this, and it's extraordinary. We see this in the oral histories, Don. It resonates with people. They didn't think he was a hero overnight, but it spoke to people. That's what they wanted to hear. They didn't want a big solution that seemed abstract. They wanted someone to say, you know what? We can do something to make this a little better.
- [42:00]
Don Wildman
Yeah. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work. This is no unsolvable problem if we face it wisely and courageously. And then he follows with exactly what you're talking about. I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis. Broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency. As great as the power that would be given to me if we, in fact, invaded by a foreign foe. How is that revolutionary? I mean, that's scary to a lot of people who are worried about, you know, fascists over in Italy and all kinds of things are going on in the world that you're like, oh, boy, here we go. And he must have heard it from all sides.
- [42:37]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yeah, yeah. And there is a lot of opposition to him. We shouldn't pretend there isn't the Liberty League and others or groups of business leaders and Herbert Hoover himself, who does not go away. Herbert Hoover will outlive Franklin Roosevelt and continue to condemn Roosevelt. And they do legitimately criticize the fact that Roosevelt is taking on powers, quite frankly, that no president has had since Abraham Lincoln during a time of war. And they're worried about this, and we should be worried about this. But what Roosevelt conveys is that he is not doing this for himself or for a party. He's doing this to try to deal with this emergency, to try to help the country. And he's compelling on that. He's compelling. It's not about him. It's about the country. That's a big, big difference from the way people often articulate emergency powers.
- [43:26]
Don Wildman
There are great inaugural addresses. I think this one stands at the top, don't you?
- [43:31]
Professor Jeremy Suri
I think for the immediate impact it has. This turns the country, this. And the first fireside chat which he gives, I think, about a week later, these two speeches give Americans a newfound confidence they didn't have before. And we know this because, as you said at the top of the section, you know, the banking System is literally collapsing around us. Roosevelt creates a bank holiday, which is a Roosevelt way of closing the bank. So people can't. Can't take them. Can't take their money out is also constitutionally questionable. But then people start putting their money back into banks. They start believing in the system again. It's extraordinary how much people will believe in a system when someone articulates to them how it works and tells them that they're doing something to help them work within the system.
- [44:13]
Don Wildman
Was there anything laced in this speech that said, hey, guys, this is just temporary, you know, like a war has to be won. We have to win this battle for the economy. And after that, we're going to dismantle this thing and get back to life as it usually was. That wasn't in there, was it?
- [44:26]
Professor Jeremy Suri
No, because I think Roosevelt recognizes we're in a new world now. He doesn't claim that these emergency powers are powers he's going to use forever. He doesn't claim that the President should be supreme and everyone should listen to the President. It is very much key to these circumstances. But his brilliance is in not offering a simple solution and saying it will end. You know, here's the date when this will. When this will end. It's very much keyed to a set of deeper problems. And what he's doing resonates with people because he explains the problem. I think what we learn with Roosevelt, why this is the best inaugural, I would agree with you, is that it explains and educates to people what the problem is. It doesn't offer a solution. People want to hear leaders explain what's happening. If they can understand what's happening, they feel they have some control over what to do. The Great Depression hit people like a tidal wave. They couldn't understand what was happening. You know, one day they were at work as an accountant, and the next day the business went under and there was no source of income for them. Right. Roosevelt articulates this to them. He explains that's what the fireside chats are all about. And then he says, now that we're on the same page, we understand what's happened, and it's not because of one party or another. Now here are some things we can start to do together. That's what a fucking figure does here, child, is why you're not feeling well. I can't promise you perfect health. But here are some things now that we understand that we can do to make ourselves feel better. He's healing the nation.
- [45:55]
Don Wildman
And so much of the dynamic in those days certainly through the 19th century into the 20th was about panic. Like, that was a normal part of life. They made movies about all this. You know, It's a Wonderful Life, all those people crowding into banks to get their money out. It was like a normal thing for Americans to do this. Well, he was saying that's actually the problem. You can't have that panic feeling we have to build. We're giving you mechanisms to protect that, the economy from that, but you, too, cannot have that feeling. And that's what turns around that bank quality.
- [46:23]
Professor Jeremy Suri
And that's why we've had no bank runs, really, since then. I mean, we have some moments, like 2008, where banks go under, but the federal government insures these banks. And so we believe, you and I, that our pennies are safe in the bank, safer there than in the penny jar in our house.
- [46:41]
Don Wildman
But I've had some compelling conversations on this podcast. I hope people remember the interview we did with about Coolidge. You know, and there are people who really reject this. You know, they say this was the beginning of the end as far as the American way of life goes and the idea that we take care of ourselves as individuals instead of letting the government step in all over the place. It's Franklin Roosevelt that sets that in motion.
- [47:03]
Professor Jeremy Suri
And let me just say that one can make that argument, and there certainly are elements of this that are taken too far, particularly after Roosevelt's life. But let's just be clear, right? I mean, it doesn't solve the Depression, but it opens the door to 50 years of unprecedented prosperity.
- [47:18]
Don Wildman
Right?
- [47:18]
Professor Jeremy Suri
That's a pretty hard record to go against.
- [47:20]
Don Wildman
Well, that's true, but the thread conversations are. Yeah, But World War II, you know, that saved us from the Depression. It was the biggest government stimulus ever.
- [47:29]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yeah, I agree. And World War II is what takes us out of the Depression. But we're only able to go to war because of this. Imagine if in 1933, March of 33, we had tried to go to war. Imagine how different the country would be. The oral histories, I've read thousands of them, of soldiers. You've probably read many of these, Don. You've known people who were World War II veterans. They will tell you what prepared them for the war was the New Deal. It was working in the CCC camp. It was. It was getting. Let's take Ronald Reagan's dad, right? Robert's dad lost his job and was then hired as through a New Deal agency. And that kept the family together, Right. We were a better country.
- [48:08]
Don Wildman
Yeah. It all goes to seed for for them in Goldwater's time, you know, that's the early 60s when they say it's all gone too far. We're resetting the clock and we live in that world now.
- [48:18]
Professor Jeremy Suri
And maybe it had, maybe it had, but that's 1964, that's not 1933. We as historians have to nod, be anachronistic and not try to look and define an earlier period by a later period.
- [48:29]
Don Wildman
Wow, what a great conversation. Thank you so much, Jeremy. I want one final bit. Any honorable mentions, what other presidential speeches we might cover in a future episode?
- [48:37]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Yeah, I think John F. Kennedy's inaugural is really important. I don't think it's of these three, but it has a resonance. I think that's a speech where the resonance is greater than the quality of the speech itself. But if we're historians, people remember that speech, Right? I just said it. And you could. You remember the phrase, pay any price, bear any burden. Right. So I think that speech has to be up there. I also think Reagan's speech, when he goes to the Normandy battlefields and articulates what World War II was about in 1984, the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landing, I think those speeches are extraordinary. I listened to them and they, at that moment in the Cold War, they redefined what the Cold War is about, and they redefine U.S. soviet relations. So I think those speeches deserve attention as well.
- [49:33]
Don Wildman
I would put Johnson's Voting Rights act the worst public speaker of all time, in my opinion. It's just impossible to listen to as a kid, I remember. But, boy, he made some important statements in that speech, among others, he shall overcome.
- [49:45]
Professor Jeremy Suri
When he articulates that in that speech, Martin Luther King says it brings tears. Another speech that I would put up there that is actually given by someone before he's president, when he's Secretary of State. John Quincy Adams, July 4 address. I think it's 1821, where he talks about how the United States is the benefactress to the world, but we do not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. If we were to do that, we would become the dictatress of the world. And he articulates just what we were talking about with Washington, Right. How we are of the world, but we don't seek to directly dominate the world. It's a really important statement. It influences foreign policy figures for more than a century.
- [50:22]
Don Wildman
Dr. Jeremy Suri knows of what he speaks. He's an historian and professor at the University of Texas. He has written a number of books, including Civil War by Other Means, America's Long and unfinished Fight for Democracy. Jeremy, is there a favorite book you'd send people to read of yours?
- [50:38]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Well, I wrote a book on the presidency, which is very much about how presidential power has changed and the role of speeches in particular. It's called the Impossible Presidency, the Rise and Fall of America's Highest Office. And it was published in, I don't know, 2017, 2018.
- [50:52]
Don Wildman
Yep. Still on your mind. Great. Thanks, Jeremy. See you soon, I hope.
- [50:55]
Professor Jeremy Suri
Thank you.
- [50:56]
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- [50:59]
Don Wildman
Hey, thanks for listening to American History hit. You know, every week we release new episodes, two new episodes dropping Mondays and Thursdays. All kinds of content from mysterious missing colonies to powerful political movements to some of the biggest battles across the centuries. Don't miss an episode by hitting like and follow. You help us out, which is great, but you'll also be reminded when our shows are on. And while you're at it, share it with a friend. American History hit with me. Don Wildman, so grateful for your support.
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