#180 FDR Communicator

http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2023/02/180-blog-post-wednesday-february-8-2023.html 

 

#180 Blog Post – Wednesday, February 8, 2023

 

Posted by Denny Hatch

 

The Greatest Communicator
In the History of the World

 

No One (Before or Since) Reached as Many People on

An Intimate, One-to-one Basis as Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

PHILADELPHIA. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2023.

[The President] “shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.”

—U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 3

 

Last evening Peggy and I spent three-plus hours in front the TV. We had the equivalent of front row seats in the House of Representatives chamber in the U.S. Capitol. We watched the raucous, rude and crude assemblage of 1000+ politicians, stone faced garishly costumed military bigwigs and black-robed Supremes alongside guests, dignitaries, fans and fanatics plus the 535 politicians popping up and down like hoppy toads to applaud, shout encouragement, boo, hiss and heckle.

 

This was followed by the usual free-for-all media circus where wildly overpaid smarty-pants television personalities jostled for attention so they explain to us what we really saw, what the President really meant and what conclusions we should really draw.

 

After a full hour-plus of distractions, disruptions and hysteria I went to bed unable remember a single word that Joe Biden said about anything.

 

The Net Result

Joe Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address last night reached 38.2 million viewers — a pathetic 11.4% of the US population of 332.4 million. Yes, Folks, bloody pathetic!)

 

Contrast this with…

FDR’s March 12, 1933, Fireside Chat No. 1 on network radio (explaining the 1933 Banking Crisis) reached 61.3 million listeners — a whopping 45.5% of the US population of 134.9 million.)

How FDR Quietly Shared His
Vast Knowledge with Millions.

During his 12 years as President, Franklin D. Roosevelt reached a huge swath of the population. His main platform was a series of 30 folksy radio broadcasts running 11 to 44 minutes. CBS newsman Bob Trout dubbed these talks “fireside chats.” This evoked the image of FDR sitting by himself in front of a friendly hearth with cracking flames. Radio is voice only. As a listener you could imagine he was talking directly to you alone almost as though you were on the telephone together.

 

When the president signed off, the listener could sit quietly and ponder his words and ideas. No interruption by a panel of know-it-all TV personalities out-shouting each other for our attention.

 

Was radio an effective way to communicate with voters? Franklin Roosevelt was was elected by Landslides four times.

 

FDR’s Wildly Successful Presidency

• First elected in 1932, he assumed the office amidst the Great Depression — the worst economic disaster in the history of the country. Americans were scared to death.

 

• Roosevelt — in person and on radio — was the ultimate salesman — always ebullient, perpetually positive and believable.

 

Roosevelt was a “Method Marketer.” He was able to get inside the heads of the people he wanted to reach, think how they thought, and intuitively know just how to say what they wanted to hear.

 

Before he went live on the air with a Fireside Chat he would meditate — go into a reverie and envision a small family huddled around the kitchen radio waiting to hear his message.

 

FDR had a magnificent voice — rich, warm and ringing like a loving father.

 

To sell his myriad programs/wares he treated everybody as an adult with respect. He tackled complex ideas and explained them, so they became completely understandable, beneficial — and desirable.

• Under his masterful leadership he came up with the “New Deal” for America. Out of FDR’s extraordinary brain—in cahoots with his brilliant associate, Harry Hopkins —  he launched the dizzying blizzard of “Alphabet Agencies” and relief programs (a number of which are around today). Among them: CCA, CWA, WPA, NRA, TVA, SEC, HOLC, USHA, PWA, NYA, NLRB, 20 new dams. By golly, he pulled it off! The Depression was licked by 1940 and America was back on the road to glorious prosperity!

 

• Oops… Whereupon December 7, 1941, the Japs launched their sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. They sank four battleships, killed 2,403 Americans and wounded another 1,178. Four days later Germany declared war on the U.S.

 

• Suddenly with World War II we were up to our necks in alligators all over again. You betcha Americans wanted to hear what this extraordinary president had to say about how he was going to save the country and the world. (Which he did!)

 

• They didn’t want him orating to a crowd. They wanted to be spoken to personally, intimately and thoughtfully. Throughout his presidency he delivered 30 Fireside Chats.

                  

 

Let Me Share with You Two Fascinating Stories.

  

The View of Three Mile Island Nuclear Facility from
My Seat on Allegheny Airlines in Early April 1977.

 

At four in the morning of March 28, 1979, the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was the scene of the first serious accident in the in the industry history. The overheating problem was followed by a partial core meltdown. The release of radioactive material covered a 20-mile radius causing the Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to advise the evacuation of pre-school age children and pregnant women. In all 140,000 people skedaddled out of the area.  It made national and international headlines and scared the bejesus out of everybody who lived anywhere near nuclear power.

 

Etched in memory was the panicky phone call I received from Joe Eby of Hershey ten miles from the accident. Peggy and I used to run into Joe and Muriel—lovely people—at curling events. We curled against them and socialized, but we never became close friends. Joe, a World War II bomber pilot, who flew 37 missions over Germany, must have felt I was a guy on the East Coast with perspective on the news whom he could talk to. I think I calmed the Ebys down.

 

At the time I was freelancing and during the first week in April I flew to Harrisburg for a meeting with my wonderful magazine client, the late Bob Doscher. On the flight out, I was sitting in the last row of an Allegheny Airlines puddle jumper next to a young woman who was an assistant manager of the nearest bank to the Three-mile Island plant. While we were chatting, I glanced out the window and below me was the notorious Three-mile Island atomic plant. I gawked.

 

The lady banker told me the story about how the

accident caused her bank to run out of cash.

It seems the depositors were country folk did who not understand how banks worked. When queried in the aftermath they said they honestly believed when they deposited money the bank would immediately segregate it and store it the vault under their name, address and account number The bank would keep it separated from all the other money in the bank. When they heard about the meltdown, they were suddenly terrified their money would be made radio-active by the Three Mile Island accident and they would never get it back. Hence the run on cash.

 

No kidding.

 

I was gobsmacked. Harrisburg is a state capital. Weren’t these sophisticated, knowledgeable people who understand the basics of finance?  Uh-uh.

 

This Same Problem Reared Its Head 50 Years Earlier.

On October 24, 1929, New York Stock Market crashed, burned and failed to bounce back. The U.S. economy jerked along for two years. By1933, John and Jane Lunchbox had had it. They lost total confidence in the banking system. Fearful of losing their money, millions of Americans emptied their bank accounts and stashed the cash under the mattress or buried it in the back yard rather than risk it in the bank.

 

Ergo: 9,000 banks failed in the Depression losing $7 billion of deposits (the equivalent of $160 billion today).

 

Whereupon on March 6, 1933, President Roosevelt (a bare six days after he assumed office) issued the surprise Emergency Banking Act (a.k.a. Executive Order these days) declaring a “Bank Holiday.” All banks were ordered closed for business for 7 days. The result was mayhem, but it worked. Banks stopped failing and the country climbed out of the Depression.

 

How Roosevelt Calmly Mansplained This        Complex Problem to the American People.

Franklin Roosevelt took to the radio and delivered a great talk — his first Fireside Chat. He explained how banks work — chapter and verse. He did not patronize his audience. He was an adult speaking to adults. He calmed the waters. The “chat” was so effective that this became the communications medium of choice.

 

On YouTube: FDR’s First Fireside Chat.
Listen and Be Dazzled.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iipnhLTdh-0&t=26s

 

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