Listen to the first Fireside Chat
3/12/1933
On March 12, 1933, thousands of banks were failing, and millions of Americans feared losing their savings. Faced with a crisis in public confidence, President Franklin D. Roosevelt used his first fireside chat to explain why he had proclaimed a bank “holiday” and when the Federal Government would allow the banks to reopen. The broadcast reached an estimated 60 million people.
National Archives, Records of the U.S. Information Agency
