“THE ONLY THING WE HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF”: ROOSEVELT’S INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 1933 VERY SCARCE LARGE-PAPER ADVANCE ISSUE, BOLDLY SIGNED BY FDR

ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Delivered at the Capitol in Washington, DC, March 4, 1933. Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1933. Octavo, original printed wrappers. Housed in custom chemise and slipcase. $55,000.

First edition, advance issue, one of an unknown but very small number of large-paper, large-type copies “probably released the day before the inauguration” (Halter T544) signed at the close of the text by Roosevelt.

The 51-year-old Roosevelt assumed the leadership of a desperate nation with this electrifying speech, an eloquent and unequivocal declaration of his determination to lead the country out of its suffering. "This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. 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." Roosevelt called for drastic measures to restore confidence in the economy, particularly the banking system. While extolling the balances provided in the Constitution, he insisted that, should these delay action to meet the current situation, he would "ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis – broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe." Current generations may find these words frighteningly undemocratic, and there was no shortage of contemporary voices condemning them, but like Lincoln over 70 years earlier, Roosevelt faced an unprecedented crisis. The Great Depression had crippled the country's collective psyche; countless families were struggling simply to survive. Roosevelt met citizens' fears for the future with a resolve that gave them the hope and strength that slowly set a foundering country back to work again. Roosevelt's eloquent statement of leadership must be conceded to be one of the high points of 20th-century rhetoric. Halter speculates that these large-paper copies were meant as reading copies for Roosevelt, who, at the last minute, chose to read from an emended typescript. All subsequent editions incorporate that final text.

A few faint creases. An excellent copy. Rare and important.