Today in History: FDR's first Fireside Chat

March 12, 1933 marks the first of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats. The Fireside Chats were an evening radio address given by the president between 1933 and 1944 on various topics from the economy, the New Deal initiatives and later the progress of WWII. Remembered as a great communicator, FDR’s Fireside Chats kept him in high regard with the American people throughout his presidency and he used radio to quickly spread word about his policies and actions of government. Each chat lasted between 13-44 minutes and allowed him to directly speak to the American people as a friend speaks to another friend.

Radio was fast overtaking newspapers as a major source of information. In 1932, 42% of Americans had radios in their homes (Biser, 2016). President Roosevelt wasn’t the first president to utilize the radio, President Calvin Coolidge used the radio to deliver President Warren G. Harding’s eulogy and President Herbert Hoover used the radio to as a campaign tool (Biser, 2016). Roosevelt felt the newspapers were controlled by his opponents; therefore, couldn’t trust them to provide the public with the correct information. Eight days after his inauguration, he gave the first Fireside Chat as president. In the first chat, he discussed how and why the banking crisis occurred and the resulting bill, the Emergency Banking Act. As a result of this first chat, there was a great turnaround in the public’s confidence. Within 2 weeks of the chat, people took the money they were hoarding and deposited back in the banks. In future chats, he appeals to listeners for help in getting the initiatives passed and the audience responded. Letters would pour into legislators, urging their support for all measures that the president proposed. There are many different theories about who coined the term, “fireside chat,” some sources cite Stephen Early, the president’s press secretary (Higgins, 2018), while others cite CBS station manager Harold Butcher (Biser, 2016).

Many historians agree that President Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats were different from other presidential radio speeches before for many reasons. First, Roosevelt kept the speech of each chat informal. He would address the audience as “My friends” or “My fellow Americans.” He liked to use common analogies and informal conversational speech. 80% of the words he used were the thousand most used in English; so that even the uneducated listening could understand and follow his plan. Second, the chats allowed a level of intimacy and importance to the people that they were truly a part of the governmental process than ever before. One listener wrote to the White House stating, “It made me feels as though you were really one of use” (Biser, 2016). As a result, the American people trusted Roosevelt like no other president before. Lastly, for many Americans, chats were a source of comfort. A reassurance that the president had a steady hand on the wheel during the crises of the Great Depression and, later, World War II (Biser, 2016). He would often urge the American people to face the difficult times with patience, understanding and faith.

Roosevelt’s Fireside Chats began a presidential precedence that every president after him would utilize. With periodic speeches, addressing the American people, first by radio, then television and later the internet. On October 5, 1947, President Harry S. Truman would be the first president to address the American people by television (History.com Editors, 2019) as well as other presidential firsts. The practice of a regularly schedule address began in 1983 with President Ronald Regan who would deliver a radio broadcast every Saturday. Roosevelt was one of the first presidents to appeal to the American people as a friend and fellow American a tactic that many politicians today are trying to recreate. Today, politicians hold town hall meetings, an intimate setting, for the public to voice their concerns, hear the politicians take on upcoming legislation or regulation or other various topics concerning their communities or the nation. If they connect with their audience, the way Roosevelt did is often a matter of opinion.

In conclusion, today marks an important day in history as President Roosevelt held the first of his Fireside Chats. The utilization of a new media and the skills of a great communicator, Roosevelt was able to gather support for his policies from the American people who saw him as the great leader to help pull the country out of the Great Depression and later victory in WWII. He spoke as a friend, a neighbor and fellow American. By using the radio, Roosevelt avoided being misquoted or misrepresented as the newspapers often do. Today, politicians try to appeal to the American people as Roosevelt did, some are successful, and others are not.

References

Biser, Margaret (August 19, 2016). The Fireside Chats: Roosevelt's Radio Talks

the White House speaks to America. The White House Historical Association. https://www.whitehousehistory.org/the-fireside-chats-roosevelts-radio-talks. Retrieved March 10, 2020.

Higgins, Chris (March 12, 2018). On This Day in 1933, FDR Gave His First Fireside Chat. Mental Floss. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/93076/day-1933-fdr-gave-his-first-fireside-chat. Retrieved March 10, 2020.

History.com Editors (October 2, 2019). Harry Truman delivers first-ever presidential speech on TV. History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-presidential-speech-on-tv. Retrieved March 10, 2020.

Today in History: Coca-Cola bottled for the first time!

In 1994, I became an accidental collector of Coca-Cola memorabilia. I bought a Coca-Cola bottle with the Argentinean flag on in during the 1994 World Cup. I have since amassed a large collection. So, when I was research events in history, I learned that March 12 marks the anniversary of Coca-Cola bottled first time in 1894. The famous drink was first sold in soda fountains for 5 cents a glass. It was created by Dr. John S. Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist in 1886. Pemberton created the flavored syrup which was added to carbonated water to create the soda we know today.

John Stith Pemberton was born July 8, 1831 in Knoxville, Georgia. He earned his medical degree from the Reform Medical College of George in Macon, Georgia at the age of 19. His main talent was chemistry. He married Ann Eliza Clifford in 1853 and their only child, Charles, was born in 1854. Pemberton would serve in the Civil War with the Third Cavalry Battalion of the Georgia State Guard, a component of the Confederate Army. He would earn the rank of lieutenant colonel. After becoming addicted to morphine from a battle wound, he began seeking alternative painkillers. His first recipe was called “Dr. Tuggle’s Compound Syrup of Globe Flower” which the main ingredient was derived from the buttonbush, a toxic plant common in Alaska. He began experimenting with coca and coca wines, creating Pemberton’s French Wine Coca which contained the extracts from kola nuts and damiana, an ingredient common in traditional Mexican liqueur.

In response to the Atlanta and Fulton County temperance legislation in 1886, Pemberton set out to create a non-alcoholic alternative to his French Wine Coca. What he created became Coca-Cola as it was derived from coca leaves and kola nuts. Pemberton’s business partner and bookkeeper, Frank M. Robinson, is credited with naming the beverage. Drugstore soda fountains were popular at the time as carbonated water was thought to be good for overall health. Pemberton would claim that his drink would cure several diseases including morphine addiction, indigestion, nerve disorders, headaches and impotence. Pemberton’s recipe called for 5 oz of coca leaf per gallon of syrup (approximately 37 g/l) which means that Coca-Cola once contained an estimated 9mg of cocaine per glass. A typical dose or “line” of cocaine contained 50-75 mg. A later recipe claimed to have one-tenth of Pemberton’s recipe and the coca leaf would be removed completely from the recipe in 1903. Prior to his death in 1888, Pemberton would sell the majority of his business interests to Asa G. Candler, an Atlanta businessman, who expanded the distribution of Coca-Cola beyond Atlanta.

The Biedenham Candy Company in Vicksburg, Mississippi would begin bottling it in 1894. Joseph A. Biedenham oversaw the bottling works. Hutchinson bottles were the original bottles. Coca Cola bottles would go through several redesigns before coming to the later hobble-skirt design, we know today, in 1915. Biedenham would send Candler a case, who thanked him but took no action as he wanted to focus on fountain sales. It wasn’t until two attorneys, Benjamin F. Thomas and Joseph B. Whitehead, obtained the exclusive rights to bottle Coca-Cola and Chattanooga, Tennessee became the site of the first Coca-Cola bottling company in 1899. By 1909, nearly 400 plants were in operation. Most of them were family owned and some were only in operation during hot weather months when the demand was high. By the 1920s, with over 1,000 bottling plants in the US, bottle sales were surpassing fountain sales. During the 1920s and 1930s saw international expansion. By the beginning of World War II, Coca-Cola would be bottled in over 44 countries.

In conclusion, Coca-Cola began as a “cure” for various ailments and became a cultural phenomenon. A product enjoyed around the world. From its humble beginnings with a pharmacist trying to ease his pain, to becoming a product being recognized worldwide, Coca-Cola is an American story of ingenuity and genius marketing. First, being popular at the local pharmacy counter and then bottling it for nationwide distribution. Coca-Cola has remained popular since its creation. It is usually first in many markets with its main competitor, Pepsi, in a close second and second to Pepsi in other markets. Here’s to the first bottling of Coca-Cola!

References

The Coca-Cola Company. www.coca-colacompany.com/our-company/history-of-bottling. Retrieved March 9, 2019

Wikipedia. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Stith_Pemberton. Retrieved March 4, 2019