What is the issue of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's speech on March 6 1933?

Answer 1

FDR's announcement on March 6, 1933 was a "bank holiday." He decided that to ease the crisis in the banking industry, the banks should be closed. Banks had "failed" -- run out of money -- partly because people had panicked after the Stock Market crash, and fearing that their money would be lost, began withdrawing it. Many banks were under-funded, could not meet the demands, and went out of business. FDR's "bank holiday" was instituted to stop the withdrawals that were leading to bank failures. (That is not the entire story; the rest is about government policies that had put banks in that vulnerable and treacherous position.) On March 12, 1933, FDR gave his first radio "fireside chat," in which he explained the reasons for the bank holiday and asked the people to show confidence in the government by depositing money in banks when they re-opened on the 13th, thus taking the pressure off the banks and helping them to survive. It was on the need to restore order after the economic chaos which had engulfed the US in the Depression. It is best remembered for the words "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". The txt of the speech is available online