Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt
President Hoover, Mister 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 in 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 the conditions facing 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 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.
Happiness lies not in the mere possession of money
it lies in the joy of achievement,
in the thrill of creative efforts,
the joy and moral stimulation of work
no longer must be forgotten
in the mad chase of evanescent profits.
These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us,
if they teach us
that our true destiny is not to be ministered on to,
but to minister to ourselves, to our fellow men.
Restoration calls, however, not for changes in ethics alone.
This nation is asking for action, and action now.
Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.
This is no unsolvable problem
if we take it wisely and courageously.
It can be accomplished in part
by direct recruiting by the government itself,
treating the task as we would treat the emergency of a war,
but at the same time, through this employment,
accomplishing great, greatly needed projects
to stimulate and reorganize
the use of our great natural resources.
Hand in hand with that,
we must frankly recognize the overbalance of population
in our industrial centers
and by engaging on a national scale in a redistribution,
endeavor to provide a better use of the land
for those best fitted for the land.