First Fireside Chat: Resources

Websites

The Impact of Fireside Chats on Pop Culture

As this site describes, nearly every future president modeled their communication with the public after FDR. There are some fun links here to famous presidential speeches given in a similar fashion.

FDR Gives First Fireside Chat

The History Channel has a "this day in history" series, and for March 12th, the winner is FDR's speech.

Articles and Interviews

How FDR's Radio Voice Solved a Banking Crisis

Time Magazine's anniversary shout-out to the beginning of Roosevelt's legacy speeches.

Miller Center's "This Day in History"

From the University of Virginia, an article on the 80th anniversary of FDR's "First Fireside Chat."

FDR's Fireside Chats Went a Long Way Toward Calming Fears During Dire Times

An article on the calming effect of the fireside chats.

Video

FDR's First Fireside Chat

Television didn't exist in 1933, but this video shows an image of FDR and the audio of the speech, to show what a video may have been like.

Audio

Remembering Roosevelt's First "Fireside Chat"

On the 75th anniversary of FDR's chat, NPR looks back at the famous speech.

First Fireside Chat Full Audio

Here is the full audio version of the speech, with a transcript to follow along.

Images

Roosevelt Giving "First Fireside Chat"

Here he is at his desk, reading the speech.

Full Media Coverage

Here's FDR with the multiple radio network microphones as he reads a fireside chat.

Unbreeched Roosevelt

It's hard to believe, but when FDR was a kid many boys wore dresses until they were about eight years old. You have to see the picture to believe it.

NBC's Microphone

From the National Museum of American History, the actual microphone FDR used for the speech.