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No modern president has had as much influence on American national politics as Franklin D. Roosevelt. During FDR's administration, power shifted from states and localities to the federal government; within the federal government it shifted from Congress to the president; and internationally, it moved from Europe to the United States. All of these changes required significant effort on the part of the president, who triumphed over fierce opposition and succeeded in remaking the American political system in ways that continue to shape our politics today. Using the metaphor of the good neighbor, Mary E. Stuckey examines the persuasive work that took place to authorize these changes. Through the metaphor, FDR's administration can be better understood: his emphasis on communal values; the importance of national mobilization in domestic as well as foreign affairs in defense of those values; his use of what he considered a particularly democratic approach to public communication; his treatment of friends and his delineation of enemies; and finally, the ways in which he used this rhetoric to broaden his neighborhood from the limits of the United States to encompass the entire world, laying the groundwork for American ideological dominance in the post-World War II era.

\"I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States.\" Thus began not only the first of Franklin Roosevelt's celebrated radio addresses, collectively called Fireside Chats, but also the birth of the media era of the rhetorical presidency. Humorist Will Rogers later said that the president took such a dry subject as banking and made everyone understand it, even the bankers. Roosevelt also took a giant step toward restoring confidence in the nations banks and, eventually, in its economy. Amos Kiewe tells the story of the First Fireside Chat, the context in which it was constructed, the events leading to the radio address, and the impact it had on the American people and the nation's economy. Roosevelt told America, The success of our whole national program depends, of course, on the cooperation of the public - on its intelligent support and its use of a reliable system. Kiewe succinctly demonstrates how the rhetoric of the soon-to-be-famous First Fireside Chat laid the groundwork for that support and the recovery of American capitalism. Summary reprinted by permission of Texas A&M University Press

Intro -- Contents -- Preface -- Address of President Roosevelt by Radio, Delivered from the White House at 10 p.m., March 12, 1933 -- Introduction -- Radio Roosevelt -- The Winter of Discontent -- The Run on the Banks -- A Banking Holiday -- Crafting the Emergency Banking Act -- The First Fireside Chat -- The Citizens' Letters -- Saving Capitalism -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.