History’s echoes of unity
President Joseph Biden’s inspiring inaugural address drew on history, radiated hope and appealed for unity in meeting the nation’s crises. The speech echoes of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s eloquent 1933 inaugural summoning the nation to unity and purpose during the Great Depression.
Roosevelt, the Democratic governor of New York, had overwhelmingly defeated Republican President Herbert Hoover, widely criticized for his weak response to the Depression. The transition was rocky. Hoover tried to cajole the presidentelect into endorsing his policies and criticized Roosevelt’s proposals as incipient socialism. By the time FDR was sworn in March 4, 1933, the stock market had plunged 85 percent since 1929, thousands of banks had failed, about a quarter of the workforce was unemployed, people were lining up at soup kitchens, agricultural commodity prices had sunk and banks were foreclosing on farms.
The nation was on edge. A crowd of around 100,000 people at the Capitol, and millions listening by radio across the nation, heard Roosevelt’s speech. Millions more read it in newspapers the next day.
It was a rhetorical masterpiece. And when we compare it with Biden’s speech, we find a number of common themes.
A sense of urgency: Roosevelt framed the crisis starkly: “values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income ... the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets...the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.”
Biden took a similar tack, pointing to the COVID -19 pandemic that has taken nearly as many American lives as World War II; the loss of millions of jobs; the closure of thousands of businesses; the demand for racial justice; and “a cry for survival…from the planet itself.” He declared, “We will press forward with speed and urgency, for we have much to do in this winter of peril and possibility.”
Appeal for unity: Roosevelt spoke of how Americans “now realize as we have never realized before our interdependence on each other; that we cannot merely take but we must give as well; that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline...”
Biden referred to “unity” seven times. He spoke of “uniting our nation” to fight the nation’s common threats, including the pandemic, lawlessness, violence, joblessness, and hopelessness. “This is our his
toric moment of crisis and challenge, and unity is the path forward.”
Boost public confidence: FDR’S memorable line — “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself ” — drew on his belief that public confidence was key to the nation’s future.
Biden touched on fear as well, acknowledging people’s apprehension but assuring them,
“This is a day of history and hope, of renewal and resolve. Through a crucible for the ages, America has been tested anew and America has risen to the challenge.”
A call for action: “This nation asks for action, and action now,” said FDR, declaring that if Congress did not act, he would ask it for broad executive power to “wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”
Biden was similarly forceful. “It is a time for boldness,” he said, adding that what we do now must be “the story that tells ages yet to come that we answered the call of history. We met the moment.”
FDR’S inaugural speech struck just the right tone. The new president came across as empathetic, visionary, energetic, trustworthy and determined. He promised vigorous use of presidential power but paid homage to the Constitution. Public reaction was overwhelmingly positive. Thousands wrote to say he had brightened their outlook. “You have accomplished more already than any other man now living has, for you have gained the confidence of all good people,” one wrote. Newspapers unleashed praise. Even the staunchly Republican Chicago Tribune praised the speech’s “dominant note of courageous confidence.”
The address gave the Democratic majorities in Congress the focus and determination they had lacked, and FDR capitalized on the momentum. During the next hundred days, his administration shepherded new laws through Congress to revive industry and agriculture; strengthen, reopen, and regulate banks; and put people to work.
Recovery still took several years. But it began in March
1933 because Roosevelt’s speech had sparked public confidence and his policies had helped shore up the economy.
Public confidence is also a key factor today. Biden has bolstered public confidence in the presidency at a critical time. He got off to a quick start by issuing more than a dozen executive orders his first day. He is preparing a dramatic series of legislative proposals, beginning with a massive economic relief bill.
History suggests Biden is off to good start. Bruce W. Dearstyne of Guilderland is a historian and author of “The Spirit of New York: Defining Events in the Empire State’s History.”