After all, there is an element in the readjustment of our financial
system more important than currency, more important than gold, and
that is the confidence of the people. Confidence and courage are
the essentials of success in carrying out our plan. You people must
have faith; you must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us
unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore
our financial system; it is up to you to support and make it work.
It is your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot
fail.
May 7, 1933.
On a Sunday night a week after my inauguration I used the radio to
tell you about the banking crisis and the measures we were taking
to meet it. I think that in that way I made clear to the country
various facts that might otherwise have been misunderstood and in
general provided a means of understanding which did much to restore
confidence.
Tonight, eight weeks later, I come for the second time to give you
my report; in the same spirit and by the same means to tell you
about what we have been doing and what we are planning to do.
Two months ago we were facing serious problems. The country was
dying by inches. It was dying because trade and commerce had
declined to dangerously low levels; prices for basic commodities
were such as to destroy the value of the assets of national
institutions such as banks, savings banks, insurance companies, and
others.
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