Inaugural Address of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Given in Washington, D.C.
March 4th, 1933


President Hoover, Mr. Chief Justice, my friends:


This is a day of national consecration, and I am certain that on this
day my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency
I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present
situation of our people impels. This is preeminently the time to speak
the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from
honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will
endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of
all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear
is fear itself--nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which
paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark
hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has
met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which
is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give
that support to leadership in these critical days.

In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common
difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values
have shrunk to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay
has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of
income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the
withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers
find no markets for their produce; and the savings of many years in