On March 12, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first national radio address or “fireside chat.” The country was in the depths of the Depression, and FDR explained to Americans why he had temporarily closed the nation’s banks. He also reassured them banks would re-open the next day. (The term “fireside chat” was coined by journalist Robert Trout.) Between this date and June 1944, Roosevelt delivered 30 more of these broadcasts.
