Lesson 5

Turn Your Radio On

Objectives1. Explain why improved confidence was

important to the U.S. recovery from the Great Depression.

2. Analyze the effect of direct communication with U.S. citizens in restoring confidence in the economy during the Great Depression.

Reflection1. How would your life be different?2. What would be a likely substitute for

entertainment, such as iPod, iPad, iPhone, and television?

3. What would be a likely substitute for receiving news and information?

Notes1. The radio was invented in the late 1800s.2. Radio broadcasting began on a large

scale in the 1920s. 3. The broadcast of the 1920 presidential

election results is generally considered the beginning of professional broadcasting.

4. The golden age of broadcasting began around 1925.

5. In 1926, the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) made plan for radio to be in 26 million American homes.

6. Families gathered in the evening to listen to music, comedies and drama.

7. The radio not only supplied the major sources of entertainment but connected people with the world through newscasts.

8. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) became president of the United States in 1933 at the most severe point in the Great Depression.

9. Banks were failing10.At least one-fourth of the labor force was

unemployed11.Families were losing their homes and

many were going hungry.

12.Roosevelt promised a “New Deal” to the American people.

13.The goal of the New Deal was to restore confidence in the U.S. economy.

14.During his first hundred days, FDR made changes in federal government spending and rushed an unprecedented number of measures through congress, including the fiscal expansion focusing on three areas: relief, recovery, and reform.

15.FDR’s greatest challenge was to restore confidence in the economy.

16.The technology to deliver his message was available.

17.The radio was his tool to restore confidence and hope by directly communicating with the American people.

18.FDR began a series of evening radio talk immediately after his inauguration.

19.In these “fireside chat” FDR appealed to the people with words of encouragement and explanation.

20.Referring to listeners as “my friends” he explained his strategies and New Deal programs and attempted to make the average citizen part of his team.

21.He became “the man of the hour.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt Fireside Chat on the Banking Crisis, March 12, 1933

Group Assignment1. On the board you see the following labels: “Unemployment,”

“Banking Crisis,” and “Federal Spending.”2. You and your partner are given a half-sheet of paper with an excerpt

from one of FDR’s fireside chat. 3. You and your partner should read the half-sheet provided and

decided which problem is being addressed (unemployment, banking crisis or federal spending).

4. Discuss with you partner and explain the information on the handout by identifying the information as a data table or an excerpt from a fireside chat, by reading the excerpt aloud, or by summarizing the data and by explaining how the information related to the problem.

5. You and your partner will answer the question on handout 5.3.