Saturday, July 16, 2011

Did President Franklin Delano Roosevelt express each of the following ideas in his first inaugural address? 1) We have nothing to fear but fear...

In his First Inaugural Address, Franklin D. Roosevelt definitely said that there was nothing to fear but fear itself.  This is, in fact, the most famous line in the speech.  As you can see in the link below, FDR says in the fourth sentence of the speech,



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.



What FDR is saying here is that the US had shied away from doing things that were necessary to combat the Great Depression.  He is saying that the country has been afraid to act.  Therefore, he says, we need to stop being afraid.  We need to realize that the only really bad thing out there is our fear.


In this speech, however, FDR does not say that money is the key to happiness.  In fact, he says quite the opposite.  He argues that



Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.



Here, he is saying that people need to work and achieve.  They will not be happy if they just have money given to them.  He is also saying that we need to stop focusing on getting rich and start valuing other things more than we value profit.


So, the first of these statements is in the speech, but the second is not.

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