Since 1938 was a Mid-Term election year, President Roosevelt embarked on a 28 day tour of the U.S., bringing his message of the accomplishments of his second term and a few words about The New Deal and the Recovery taking place in the country. The NRA had undergone a challenge in the Supreme Court and many of the programs initiated during FDR's first term were in jeopardy. So in an effort to bolster support and to campaign for incumbents, FDR did a series of whistle-stop appearances.

This one, on July 7, 1938 was from an appearance in Covington, Kentucky and was broadcast nationwide to a capacity audience.

Here is the complete address.

(FDR - answering the well-upholstered whiners)
Note: A repost from 2009 but . . .timely as ever!

During the last few days of the 1936 Presidential campaign, FDR spoke at a rally in Worcester Massachusetts on October 21, 1936, answering Republican charges he mishandled the recovery that pulled the country out of depression. It was a familiar complaint:

FDR:

“Three and a half years ago we declared war on the Depression. And you and I know today that war is being won. But now comes that familiar figure, the well-upholstered hindsight critic. He tells us that out strategy was wrong, that the cost was too great, that something else won the war. That is an argument as old as the remorse of those who had their chance and muffed it.”

You'd think, 73 years later there would be a different story. But no.

I guess the upholstery just doesn't change.

On this day of September in 1934, Presidental Roosevelt was delivering one of his soon-to-become trademark Fireside Chats, a semi-regular report to the people on matters which affected them.

This Chat was about the unemployment situation and what possible role the Government would play in helping jump-start the economy and stimulating jobs.

Then as now, there seemed to be a vocal minority who screamed Socialism, Dictatorship and Government meddling in Private Enterprise. FDR heard it all before.

FDR: “Nearly all Americans are sensible and calm people. We do not get greatly excited nor is our peace of mind disturbed, whether we be businessmen or workers or farmers, by awesome pronouncements concerning the unconstitutionality of some of our measures of recovery and relief and reform. We are not frightened by reactionary lawyers or political editors. All of these cries have been heard before. More than twenty years ago, when Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson were attempting to correct abuses in our national life, the great Chief Justice White said:

"There is great danger it seems to me to arise from the constant habit which prevails where anything is opposed or objected to, of referring without rhyme or reason to the Constitution as a means of preventing its accomplishment, thus creating the general impression that the Constitution is but a barrier to progress instead of being the broad highway through which alone true progress may be enjoyed."

In our efforts for recovery we have avoided on the one hand the theory that business should and must be taken over into an all-embracing Government. We have avoided on the other hand the equally untenable theory that it is an interference with liberty to offer reasonable help when private enterprise is in need of help. The course we have followed fits the American practice of Government - a practice of taking action step by step, of regulating only to meet concrete needs - a practice of courageous recognition of change. I believe with Abraham Lincoln, that "The legitimate object of Government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done but cannot do at all or cannot do so well for themselves in their separate and individual capacities."

Further evidence nothing much has changed.

Here is the complete Fireside Chat of September 30, 1934.

(The Casa Loma Orchestra - known as a "Sweet Band")

As much as you'd like to think the majority of America was listening to Fletcher Henderson, King Oliver, Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong in the early days of recorded popular music, you'd be extremely wrong.

As I said last night, the majority of America really wasn't aware that "hot Jazz" (as it was later known) actually existed aside from a small group of people, cognoscenti who spread the word.

No, the majority of America in the 1920's and early 30's went out for "sweet bands", big bands which were good, proficient but not "edgy". The Casa Loma Orchestra were one of the more popular examples of that genre. Although they did transition over to Swing in the later 1930's, this recording, made in December 1930 had all the earmarks of light, breezy and uncomplicated. No improvised solos, a tight ensemble (usually with strings) and always a vocal chorus that was neutral, bland and over-annunciated.

Little Did I Know was the norm for popular music of the early 1930's. The diet was rather plain for Depression-era America.

(Hartzell Strathdene "Tiny" Parham - one of the most overlooked and neglected figures in early Chicago Jazz)

Back to Jazz tonight - this time it's Tiny Parham, one of the most innovative and obscure figures in the "South Side Chicago Jazz" scene of the 1920s, who has sadly and strangely been almost totally overlooked by critics and neglected even by early Jazz enthusiasts. Why? I couldn't possibly tell you. Parham recorded several sides for a number of record companies between 1926 and 1940 with his biggest popularity during the 1920s. After the depression hit, and dates became scarce, Parham's popularity began to slide into obscurity. Parham died on April 4, 1943.

This track, The Head Hunter's Dream comes from his 1928-1929 period recording for Victor Records and this session comes from July 2, 1928.

I guess it goes to prove you can still be great and nobody knows you.

Leo T. Crowley (1889-1972) was the second Chairman of the FDR formed Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)). Prior to FDR there was no FDIC - you and your bank were on tenuous ground, and if the bank failed well . . . . .best of luck/don't forget to write if you get work/shut the door on your way out - simple as that.

But Wall Street, the collapse of the banking system and the Depression managed to change all that. And the FDIC came into existence within the first hundred days of the Roosevelt Administration.

As part of a "Meet Your Government" radio series, Crowley gives a little talk/interview in 1939.

Now to be fair, history is not always exciting and cliff-hanging and explosive. It is sometimes, well . . . dull as dirt. BUT it's important to get an idea who some of the players were in the events that more or less changed the course of history. Crowley wasn't a dynamic or emotional speaker. One could say that his vocal approach could be a good cure for insomnia. But it's the words and the ideas that count. And I promise I'll do something a little more high-voltage shortly!

"Creation of the National Banking System, establishment of the Federal Reserve System and similar measures, were all enacted in the interest of safety and stability.

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