All we have to fear is fear itself essays

All we have to fear is fear itself essays All we have to fear is fear itself In his inaugural speech as President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt remarked, The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Indeed these words very accurately describe the problems faced by the people of America from that time till December 1941. How deeply had this man, destined to become one of the most remembered of our presidents, thought before speaking these everlasting words on March 4, 1933? Roosevelt had in fact spoken what was actually realized eight years later when the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and brought the United States into the Second World War. Before expressing my views in favor of my convictions let me recall the exact words that I am going to talk about. 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. (FDR March 4 1933.) The cause of the fear that Franklin D. Roosevelt was referring to was the economic depression America was in when he took office. Roosevelt was warning America not to let their economy be paralyzed by the fears, which had overcome their reason and had made them over cautious about their actions. This might not have been completely understood at that time but FDR's warning was, no doubt, valid. The great depression had its roots in an era of prosperity. The nineteen twenties, were the years of genuine prosperity and real economic growth. Consumer economy was a new thing, and so was the confidence in growth. If we carefully examine the history of American economy, we find that it is characterized by crests and troughs: - that is alternating booms and slumps. But the people during the third decade of the twentieth century perhaps thought that the magic formula had been found and the good times of growth will last forever. The econom...