Hear Roosevelt's first 'Fireside Chat'

Franklin D. Roosevelt used radio to connect directly with Americans through his 'Fireside Chats'

Beginning in 1933, FDR harnessed the new medium of radio to explain policies and reassure the public during the Great Depression and World War II. His conversational fireside chats revolutionized presidential communication.

Calvin Coolidge brought the State of the Union to the radio age

On Dec. 6, 1923, President Coolidge delivered his Annual Message from the US House chamber as millions listened by radio—crowds gathered outside with amplifiers—making it the first nationally broadcast address and the only in-person State of the Union of his presidency.

Read an analysis of Roosevelt’s famous Congressional address by a speech writer

Former White House speechwriter Bob Lehrman breaks down why Roosevelt’s 520-word “Infamy” speech endures—showing how FDR used structure, urgency, radio-era reach and careful omissions to rally the nation and win near-unanimous support for war.

FDR inspired Rockwell's 'Four Freedoms'

In his 1941 State of the Union speech, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt defined "Four Freedoms" that democratic societies provided: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. Rockwell conceived of a series of paintings based on those values, using his small-town examples of the principles in action. Below is "Freedom From Want."

FDR stayed composed as he absorbed the news of Pearl Harbor

This video reconstructs Roosevelt’s steady, methodical response on Dec. 7, 1941, from his first briefing to drafting his speech to Congress. It demonstrates how FDR maintained composure and moved rapidly to prepare the nation for war.

Radio quiz shows took off in the '40s

The concept took hold during the Great Depression, with 50 shows on the air by 1940, because they allowed families to imagine a financial windfall was just a few questions away. Although the genre had a slight downturn during World War II, it experienced a resurgence by the end of the decade, with 200 shows on the air.

As first lady, Roosevelt held 348 press conferences open only to female reporters

Starting just two days after FDR's inauguration in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt began holding White House press conferences that admitted only female journalists. She continued to hold these events throughout her 12 years as first lady.

Theodore Roosevelt is considered by many to be the "first modern president"

Roosevelt transformed the presidency by expanding executive power beyond conventional norms, arguing that the president could act in the national interest unless expressly forbidden to do so. His energetic leadership, media use, and policy activism expanded the office's role and prestige.

The opposition party to the president first delivered a televised response in 1966

Television networks first granted airtime to the out-of-power party in 1966, with Republicans Everett Dirksen and then-Representative Gerald R. Ford delivering the inaugural response. See a list of each opposition response to the State of the Union since then.

Many scholars consider the first commercial radio broadcast to be during the 1920 presidential election

On Nov. 2, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, station KDKA broadcast the results of the presidential election. Leo Rosenberg delivered the news that Warren Harding had won in a landslide to an audience of around 100 people.

Roosevelt wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column 6 days a week for 27 years

Roosevelt's My Day column was launched in late 1935 and ran nearly every day until shortly before her death in 1962. It began as an account of her daily life but grew into one of the most widely read opinion columns in the country, with 4 million readers at its peak.

What was it like to live through the Great Depression?

Hear the personal accounts of four people who lived through the Great Depression, as told by NPR's Throughline. Listen to this 47-minute podcast episode to get a bit more insight into the countrywide economic crisis and what it meant it for everyday people.

On the role of 'Citizenship In A Republic'

After finishing a Smithsonian-sponsored expedition to East Africa, US President Theodore Roosevelt stopped by Paris and gave a speech about the responsibilities an ordinary citizen has to their republic. Citizens must know there is no effort without error, knowing they "fail while daring greatly" in pursuit of a truly democratic republic. This podcast series on powerful speeches across history is written and narrated by historian and author Jon Meacham.

Hear about James Madison's presidency with The Washington Post's 'Presidential' podcast

As president, Madison governed during periods of constitutional uncertainty, foreign policy crises, and the War of 1812, making him the first American president to serve during a declared war. This podcast analyzes how his constitutional ideas translated into effective presidential leadership.

FDR's Good Neighbor policy reversed the interventionism that had grown from the Monroe Doctrine

Franklin Roosevelt pledged in his 1933 inaugural address to be a "good neighbor" to Latin America and to oppose armed intervention by American forces. His administration withdrew troops from previous occupations and signed a multilateral agreement stating that no state has the right to interfere in another's affairs.

Teddy Roosevelt was given a daily dose of saccharin

America's 26th president was prescribed a sugar-free diet by his clinician, so when the chief chemist for the US Department of Agriculture approached him with concerns about the product's safety in the early 1900s, the duo clashed over how to regulate it.

The National Housing Act established the Federal Housing Administration

During the Great Depression, 1,000 homes were foreclosed on per day, and half of the mortgages across the country defaulted. To address this crisis, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Housing Act. It established the Federal Housing Administration, which is still around today and helps protect lenders and buyers.

The Kennedy-Nixon debates marked the presidency's entry into the television era

In 1960, John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon faced off in the first televised presidential debates. Kennedy's calm, telegenic presence contrasted with Nixon's uneasy appearance, showing how the new medium could shape voter perceptions and modern campaign strategy.

Read former Fed chair Ben Bernanke's 2002 speech about preventing deflation

Very low inflation rates in the early 2000s in the United States and a worsening recession in Japan sparked some domestic concern over the threat of deflation. While Bernanke wasn't Chair at the time of the speech, he emphasized the Fed's role in preventing deflation.

Listen to the official weekly podcast of Davos

Produced by the World Economic Forum, "Radio Davos" is the forum's weekly podcast, featuring interviews with global leaders, policymakers, executives, and thinkers on issues ranging from climate change and inequality to technology, work, and geopolitics.

Hear the story of the daring Doolittle Raid, America’s first strike back at Japan

This podcast recounts the 1942 Doolittle Raid, when US airmen launched a risky bombing mission over Japan just months after Pearl Harbor. The episode also highlights Jimmy Doolittle’s leadership, piloting skills, and his lifelong impact on aviation.

Will Rogers' political humor was an early predecessor to stand-up

Rogers got his start spinning ropes for circus shows and broke through his association with Florence Zeigfeld's Follies and Frolic. It was his humorous political commentary, though, that would solidify his celebrity status. His goodhearted ribbing of society's "big men" predated the common notion of stand-up comedians as truth-telling jesters.

Read the first (and only) issue of the magazine started by Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and others

"Fire!!" was founded in New York in 1926 by Wallace Thurman, Zora Neale Hurston, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, and several other artists involved in the Harlem Renaissance. The publication was intended to flout the respectability of the middle-class Black tradition and instead engage with sometimes controversial ideas in a contemporary vernacular. The magazine's offices were, ironically, burned to the ground shortly after the first issue.

Maya Angelou's 1993 recitation of 'On the Pulse of Morning' at President Bill Clinton's inauguration was a historic event

After Robert Frost in 1961, Angelou became the second poet in history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration. She was also the first African American and woman. The poem includes themes of change, inclusion, and the responsibility of both the President and citizens to create success in a country.

Learn about the history of soapbox speeches in the United States

From the 1890s to the 1960s, soapbox oratory was common across the US, with speakers gathering crowds in public spaces to share political, religious, and philosophical views.

Watch a 1934 short film starring jazz legend Cab Calloway, a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance's music scene

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Hear about the 250-year history of the United States Postal Service, complete with some of its strangest deliveries, important innovations, and the figures that made it an American institution.

A researcher recently discovered an interview from 1967 between groundbreaking journalist Joan Didion and the Grateful Dead, years before the band became an institution.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

Before writing 'Walden,' transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau nearly burned down his hometown with a campfire that grew out of control.

20,000 letters to the advice columnist 'Dear Abby' provide insight into prevailing sex, religion, and LGBTQ fears, anxieties, and concerns from the 1950s onward.

See the most iconic photos from four decades of LIFE magazine

Jimmy Carter signed a 1978 bill that legalized home brewing, a move credited with kick-starting the craft beer industry.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

Famed poet TS Eliot rejected the manuscript for George Orwell's political fable 'Animal Farm,' writing that its criticism of authoritarianism was not 'the right point of view.'

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

Sears sold DIY house kits starting at $600 in its famous catalog from 1908 through the 1940s, resulting in roughly 10,000 'Sears and Roebuck houses' being built.

After NASA's Voyager 1 captured Earth as a single pixel as it left the solar system in 1990, astronomer Carl Sagan used the image to reflect on humanity's fragility and the responsibility to protect 'the only world we've ever known.'

This site reaches millions of visitors who are tired of AI chatbots and seeking human connection. Pretend to be an AI chatbot and ask questions, provide answers, and draw for people in real time.

While the first exchange-traded fund (a 'basket' of different assets that can be bought and sold on a stock exchange) in the US only launched in 1993, the global ETF market has grown to more than $10T in the short time since.

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The US first hosted the World Cup in 1994, a tournament that lives in soccer infamy for its poor planning and the murder of Colombian player Andres Escobar, who'd accidentally scored on his own net.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.