Product Description

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." These are some of the most famous, most quoted, and best remembered words in American political history. They seem to be a natural idiomatic expression of American democratic will, yet these words from Franklin Roosevelt's first inaugural address had an actual author who struggled with how best to express that thought_and it was not the new president. In this innovative book on the crafting of FDR's crucial speech, Davis W. Houck leads the reader from its negative, mechanical, and Hooverian first draft through its final revision, its delivery, and the responses of those who were inspired by it during those troubled times. Houck's analysis, dramatic and at points riveting, focuses on three themes: how the speech came to be written, an explication of the text itself, and its reception. Drawing on the writings and memories of several people who were present in the crowd at the inauguration, Houck shows how powerfully the new president's speech affected those who were there or who heard it on the radio. Some were so moved by Roosevelt's delivery that they would have been willing to make him a dictator, and many believed such inspired words could have come only from a divine source. Houck then flashes back to the final year of the 1932 presidential campaign to show how Raymond Moley, the principal architect of the address, came to be trusted by Roosevelt to craft this important speech. Houck traces the relationships of Moley with Roosevelt and Roosevelt's influential confidante, Louis Howe, who was responsible for important changes in the speech's later drafts, including the famous aphorism. Although the book focuses primarily on the speech and its drafting, Houck also offers telling glimpses of Roosevelt's complex relationship with his wife, who dreaded her new duties as First Lady, and his deep, personal dislike of Herbert Hoover, all the while conveying a strong sense of the urgency of the times. The text of this compelling address is provided in its entirety so that students and others may experience for themselves the full power of the rhetoric.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1398827 in Books
• Published on: 2002-06-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 184 pages

From Library Journal
With his first inaugural address, which was fewer than 2000 words, Franklin Roosevelt won the confidence of the American public something his predecessor, Herbert Hoover, failed to do in four years as president. In this worthy inaugural volume in a new series about presidential rhetoric, Houck (Rhetoric as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression) investigates the crafting of Roosevelt's speech and the inspiration it gave to a Depression-demoralized nation. The story is mostly that of Raymond Moley, a member of Roosevelt's "brain trust," who struggled with jealous aides and Roosevelt himself as he drafted what is arguably the most memorable presidential speech of the 20th century. Other important themes discussed here are the bitter relationship between Roosevelt and Hoover and the loneliness of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, made worse following her husband's election. Ultimately, the speech proclaiming that we had "nothing to fear but fear itself" (a phrase coined by neither Roosevelt nor Moley but by presidential aide Louis Howe) projected the goals of a self-assured leader who through four terms became the most enduring presidential communicator. Recommended for public and academic libraries. Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., PA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
�In FDR and Fear Itself, Davis W. Houck presents the most searching analysis and the most detailed historical investigation of FDR�s first inaugural address that has ever been published. To this considerable accomplishment Houck adds a fascinating and imaginative reconstruction of the composition and the reception of the address as seen through the eyes of speechwriter Raymond Moley, rendered in novelistic detail. A grand performance-psychologically compelling, frankly controversial, zestfully attentive to historical detail.�--Thomas W. Benson, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric, Penn State University (Thomas W. Benson, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Rhetoric, Penn State University )

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Absolutely fascinating
While researching a book about the 1936 murder of the writer Carl Taylor, I came across "FDR and Fear Itself," a book that talks quite a bit about Raymond Moley, FDR's speechwriter who would later become Carl Taylor's editor. I was interested in reading it, and I was not disappointed. In fact, of all the books I've read in my research, this was certainly one of the best.
This book tells the amazing story of FDR's famous 1932 presidential address -- the one in which he declared to America, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." It tells how Raymond Moley, Roosevelt's primary speechwriter crafted the speech, how Roosevelt and a handful of others helped shape and polish it, and the unbelievable effect the speech had on the then-desperate American public. Many wanted Roosevelt to take charge of America as a dictator after hearing him speak, and the letters this book presents to that effect are absolutely fascinating.
The book is cleanly, concisely, understandably written, and would almost certainly be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in American history. It portrays Roosevelt, his wife Eleanor, and Raymond Moley as fascinating and intriguing individuals, and -- for being a scholarly account of the writing of a speech -- is surprisingly page-turning. I couldn't put it down.
I do wish that the book had told a little more about what happened after the speech -- about how Raymond Moley eventually became one of the biggest opponents of the New Deal he had helped to introduce, about Moley's founding of "Today" magazine (now a part of "Newsweek"), and about how Roosevelt DID become somewhat dictatorial later on, with four terms in office and the cruel internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II. That all that was only touched upon can be forgiven though, because the book's focus is primarily the famous speech itself, and that focus gives it a dynamic drive.
It's a great book, and one I'll probably read again someday.