![]() The focus is on one radio station, General Electric’s WGY in Schenectady. This paper will examine the relationship between a burgeoning broadcasting industry and New York State politics during the early years of the Great Depression. Though many scholars have acknowledged Roosevelt’s mastery of the medium and the significance of his judicious use of the airwaves during his presidency, his early employment of radio as a political forum has been largely overlooked. He also came to see such reaction as a means of weighing popular opinion. During his two gubernatorial terms, Roosevelt found that the reaction elicited by his radio addresses was useful as leverage to skirt an obstructionist Republican legislature. A similar continuity between the two periods is evident in his use of radio as a means of advancing his ideas and mustering public support for his initiatives. Many historians have established a connection between Roosevelt’s initiatives during the New York years and the New Deal he later offered Americans during his presidency. As a woman in Oneonta, New York, wrote in response to the presidential fireside chat of March 12, 1933: “My husband and I are happy because you have decided to continue the policy you adopted while at Albany of speaking to the people over the air.” Roosevelt had actually spent the previous four years, while serving as governor of New York, refining his broadcasting skills. Roosevelt’s ability to clarify issues and connect with his constituents over the radio was not a sudden, propitious addition to his political war chest on becoming president. Roosevelt placed great value on such correspondence he used it as a tool for gauging public opinion and for countering political and press opponents who disapproved of his actions. ![]() The people responded by mail in overwhelming numbers and continued to do so with each successive fireside chat. Roosevelt took his place behind national radio network microphones to deliver what is commonly considered the first of his celebrated “fireside chats.” His paternal, colloquial broadcasting style helped soothe a troubled nation’s fears. From the Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics.On March 12, 1933, eight days after taking the oath of office, President Franklin D. ![]() “Squatter Camp” in Sacramento, California.Roosevelt Library Photographs Franklin D. From the Collection FDR-Photos: Franklin D. ![]() Roosevelt Broadcasting his First Fireside Chat Regarding the Banking Crisis, from the White House, Washington, DC. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs Franklin D. From the Collection FDR-PHOCO: Franklin D. “Farmer and sons walking in the face of a dust storm” Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 4/1936.Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs. Farm Security Administration-Resettlement Administration: Vernon Evans family leaving South Dakota drought area for west, 1935.From the Records of the Office of Government Reports. Hold on to Your Social Security Card, 1941 – 1945.Soup Kitchen During the Depression, 6/1936.From the Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Migratory Cotton Picker with Her Baby, 11/1940.In the map-based activity Where Was the New Deal?, students identify three New Deal programs – the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and Works Progress Administration (WPA), locate where projects associated with each took place, and analyze their impact on each region. In another new activity, Analyzing FDR’s First Fireside Chat, students analyze the tone, mood, and rhetorical devices of the first of FDR’s famous radio addresses, this time about the banking crisis. “Squatter Camp” in Sacramento, California.
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