Inaugaral addresses worth revisiting: another occasional series

We shall see whether Mr. Favreau can write Mr. Obama an inaugural address worthy of those delivered at other times of great concern for our country. Meanwhile, below are selections, with some emphases added, from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address:

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. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today.  ... 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. In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunk to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; and 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.

And yet our distress comes from no failure of substance. We are stricken by no plague of locusts. Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered, because they believed and were not afraid, we have still much to be thankful for. Nature still offers her bounty and human efforts have multiplied it. Plenty is at our doorstep, but a generous use of it languishes in the very sight of the supply. Primarily, this is because the 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. True, they have tried. But their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit, they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence. They only know the rules of a generation of self-seekers. They have no vision, and when there is no vision the people perish.

...

These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered unto but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men. Recognition of that 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. Small wonder that confidence languishes, for it thrives only on honesty, on honor, on the sacredness of obligations, on faithful protection, and on unselfish performance; without them it cannot live.

Comments

[TG]

The more things change, the more they . . . etc. A splendid bit of history, Heidi, that should be more widely known.

[Uppity Woman]

Wishing you a Happy New Year, Heidi. Your dedication and revealing information has been an inspiration during this year of pain. Here's hoping 2009 brings you much joy.

[ainnj]

Happy New Year Heidi!

[Equal Rights]

Thank you Heidi.

It's hard, though, to know that the words we hear on Inauguration Day will be those of the drunken, sexist fratboy Favreau who insulted Hillary Clinton, and all women. . . and to remember that Obama was silent after his speechwriter insulted his Secretary of State.

[Mary Lou]

Heidi - You continue to uplift and inspire thoughtful actions with your wonderful posts. Your historical and holistic perspective brings a rootedness and continuity to these pop culture times that is rare indeed. I am deeply grateful for your presence and I wish you and your family an abundant New Year!

[Msakel]

Heidi
Thank you so much for your spirited efforts to promote the interests of the 51% majority whose members often feel, and are treated, as if they were members of a remote leper colony that must be kept medicated and silent to survive....Perhaps too harsh these words may seem, but have we really come a "long way" since the 70s? What happened to HIllary Clinton scares me about the prospects of any women politicians of consequence. And, worse, what didn't happen to that misogynist punk Jon Favreau scares me even more. Obama should dust off and read his own letter fired off to NBC demanding Don Imus be fired for his racist-sexist actions assuring them that he himself would have "fired immediately" the offender, had he worked for Obama!

Anyway, I am facing the New Year with hope that there are people like yourself out there refusing to be silent and devoting your efforts to make this a better world for girls and women everywhere. I, too, have a Dream...
Have a great New Year 2009, Heidi Li, and my very best wishes to you and your family and those who assist you in your efforts! THANKS!

[NewOrleansPuma]

Thank you Heidi Li for a reminder from one of the great ones in our history. I thought perhaps you and others might also like to hear this great man deliver this speech..below is a link to the Miller Center of Public Policy at the University of Virginia where an excellent collection of audio tapes of FDR speeches as well as many others can be found. I have spent many an hour there listening to FDR explain to the people in fire side chats and in other speeches the complexities of the issues of his time. Lest anyone be confused, the bank issues of his day are not even close to those of ours today...no comparison...at all... We are in far more peril and the circumstances now remove our wealth outside of the boundries of our country..not anything of the kind in the time of FDR. In any case, here is the link that I hope everyone will enjoy..
http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/3280