After a landslide victory over Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first inaugural speech on March 4th, 1933. At the time the nation was in the midst of the worst depression America had ever faced. Within the first couple opening lines Roosevelt declares his now famous line that "the only thing we have to fear, is fear itself". He continued on the topic of the depression stating that the cause of the depression were due to greed as well as the shortsightedness of the nations rich businessmen. But now that these men are removed from their positions the nation can work its way back to normal. He explained that he planned on not only changing ideas of ethics, but instead that he wanted to bring change through actions. He then began to talk about the massive unemployment of the times, and how it was his top goal to get people jobs. Roosevelt then turned to foreign policy briefly saying how he planned on having a "good neighbor policy". He finished off his speech promising the American people that he was going to act quickly and do everything he can to get Americans out of the Great Depression.
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