Wouldn't it feel good as a nation if we could all be comforted in the same manner? I am sure you have heard old relatives, or read about these in school. Well, I had relatives who actually lived the Depression and spoke of it and the impact on the nation it had. One of the few comforts was the sense of community, the sense of belonging to something bigger... Please read below:
Fireside Chats:
Roosevelt’s way of communicating with the masses for lack of a better term. He was probably the first “media savvy” President with a new mass technology. He was the first to realize that "radio" was everywhere, and everyone listened. Radio, not TV, black and white, internet, Blackberry IPhone or movies... NOPE, Radio folks. So, in the dark days of the Great Depression, people like my Great Aunt and her family on the farm in Corinth KY, and my Grandfather in Pineville KY and his would either set up the radio, or go to the neighbor’s house as a family, and sit and listen to FDR talk about how things were going to get better for all of them in short order. They wanted to hear about The New Deal and trusting banks again and their land wasn’t going to be taken from them. Then as we moved toward the 40’s, and WW2, they listened to get updates on Japan, Communist Russia and the greatest scare of Nazi Germany. He was the first to actually sit in what may be considered an intimate setting and “talk to the American people” as a whole nation. Even though during his Presidency there were only between 30 and 45 of these “chats”, but from listening to my relatives talk you would think he had them weekly. They hung on every word. The man was a powerful speaker.
Here is one on the HEALTH of the nation... maybe we need this again because history has repeated itself:
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