FDR and Fear Itself: the First Inaugural Address.

• Author: Jensen, Robin E.
• Position: Book Review

FDR and Fear Itself: The First Inaugural Address. By Davis W. Houck. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2002; pp. xii + 166. $29.95; paper $14.95.

FDR and Fear Itself: The First Inaugural Address begins and ends with a scene that has long been held up as a defining moment in American history and rhetorical studies. On March 4, 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as the 32nd president of the United States and convincingly assured a dejected, unemployed, and poverty-stricken nation that "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (3). While many scholars have documented and celebrated FDR's rhetorical efforts on this notable day, Davis W. Houck's account illustrates with great detail the complex of events, personal relationships, and political decisions that came together to produce this legendary speech. No longer can the myth survive that FDR simply sat down one evening and, using his own strong, burly hands, scratched out the address by himself. Relying exclusively on primary documents, Houck provides readers with the rare opportunity to experience FDR's speech as it came to be. Just as he does in both Rhetoric as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression (2001) and FDR's Body Politics: The Rhetoric of Disability (2003), Houck showcases his exacting dedication to research, flowing prose style, and critical insights into the multifaceted world of presidential rhetoric.

After describing the delivery of this famous speech in Chapter One, Houck begins his second chapter approximately seven months before the delivery of FDR's First Inaugural Address. At this point, FDR had yet to gain the Democratic presidential nomination but, according to Houck, was already beginning to think about an inauguration speech. Surprisingly, much of this book focuses not on FDR, but on the experiences of Raymond Moley. Houck explains that Moley, a Columbia University professor, was recruited to serve as a ghostwriter for the candidate by FDR advisor and friend Louis Howe. Houck is able to guide readers through the often-overlooked process of speech writing by titling each chapter with a date and highlighting the details of Moley's day-to-day struggle to draft FDR's First Inaugural Address. He references a variety of primary historical materials such as "published anthologies, documentary histories, oral histories, and autobiographies" to invalidate the myth that this address was written by a single author, namely FDR (xi). Along...