March 4, 1933
FDR's First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1933
FDR’s First Inaugural Address
As we near the end of our exploration of FDR’s First Inaugural, I wanted to focus on his words about our system of government and our Constitution.
All emphasis mine.
Our Constitution is so simple and practical that it is possible always to meet extraordinary needs by changes in emphasis and arrangement without loss of essential form.
That is why our constitutional system has proved itself the most superbly enduring political mechanism the modern world has ever seen. It has met every stress of vast expansion of territory, of foreign wars, of bitter internal strife, of world relations.
The elastic document, our Constitution. That’s what I learned at school.
It seems that these “strict constructionists” had gutting the New Deal in mind when they came up with their judicial philosophy.
Because that’s what it means: unless the government function is actually there in a 250 year old document, it shouldn’t exist.
Bye bye modern regulations that keep our water clean to drink, our air fit to breathe, and our food safe to eat.
Not to mention the banking regulations that keep the little people’s money safe from charlatans and con men.
We have to fight to keep this vision of the Constitution, and FDR’s vision of an America that cares for its citizens and is a good neighbor to its friends.
Every day I will endeavor to be as courageous as Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Here’s the video:
Some historic context —with his New Deal programs, FDR was changing the nature of the relationship between the American people and their government.
He was saying that the government should be used to solve big problems for its citizens that only the government could solve — with a higher motive than profit.
The Hoover response to the Depression was to funnel money to big business and the stock market to create “confidence” in the economy, while leaving relief for the poor to the states.
FDR decided to use the force of the federal government to put people to work and protect working people from exploitation.
In doing so, he created public works projects like the Tennessee Valley Authority, bringing electricity to the South.
From Wikipedia: The TVA was created by Congress in 1933 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Its initial purpose was to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, regional planning, and economic development to the Tennessee Valley, a region that had suffered from lack of infrastructure and even more extensive poverty during the Great Depression than other regions of the nation. TVA was envisioned both as a power supplier and a regional economic development agency that would work to help modernize the region's economy and society.”
And when did Inauguration Day change from March to January? From the White House Historical Association:
The Twentieth Amendment, also known as the “lame duck” amendment, was proposed and authored by progressive Nebraska Senator George Norris in 1922. While communications and travel during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were more difficult, necessitating a nearly four-month gap between winning election and taking the Oath of Office, by the twentieth century much had improved in terms of travel and technology, allowing for an earlier Inauguration date. Norris also sought to tackle a larger problem. Previously, a president that lost reelection could govern during the lengthy lame duck session without having to be responsible to voters. Shortening this lame duck period was meant to strengthen democracy and avoid a future Constitutional crisis.
After introducing this legislation five times, Norris was finally successful on his sixth try in March 1932. The Amendment passed Congress and was ratified by the States in January 1933.
Today, presidents serve a four-year term, beginning on January 20 at noon, and ending four years from that date and time exactly.
Tomorrow is the last day I will be posting from FDR’s mission statement — his First inaugural address.
On Monday, we move on to his first Fireside Chat with the American people.
I’m enjoying getting to know our 32nd President alongside you, readers.
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