NBC "Fireside Chat" Microphone
date: label: date used
content: 1930s
label: used date
content: 1930s
name: label: associated person
content: Roosevelt, Franklin Delano
label: depicted
content: National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
label: user
content: Smith, Sr., Carleton
label: user
content: National Broadcasting Company, Inc.
notes: label: Description
content: "I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking." So began on March 12, 1933, the first of about thirty informal "Fireside Chat" addresses that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would deliver over the radio. His ability to communicate over this new medium directly and personally, addressing each listener as a respected friend, gave FDR a powerful tool to shape public opinion.
label: Description
content: On March 4, 1933 Roosevelt became the 32nd president of the United States. No chief executive, with the exception of Abraham Lincoln, entered the White House confronted by such deep and troubling crises. The nation was mired in its longest and worst economic depression. Approximately a quarter of the work force was unemployed, industrial production was down by a third, and the banking system was collapsing. Internationally the economic crisis contributed to the rise of fascist governments in Europe and eventually World War II. A pragmatist and master politician, FDR boldly experimented with the power of the federal government to address the urgent problems facing the nation. Above all else, Roosevelt's greatest accomplishment was his ability to lead, inspire and assure Americans through some of the darkest years in the nation's history.
label: Description
content: President Roosevelt was always rather amused that the name "Fireside Chat" was used to describe all the radio chats he would give during the course of his administration. He used to joke about the Washington weather, saying that it really wasn't proper for a fireside chat.
label: Description
content: On the night of the first "Fireside Chat," the microphones were set up in the Lincoln Study. All subsequent chats were held in the Diplomatic Reception Room on the ground floor of the White House. This first night of the Fireside Chat launched a new era of the Presidency whereby the power of mass communications would be used to engage and reassure the American people.
label: Description
content: The museum acquired this RCA Type 50-A microphone with the National Broadcasting Company logos on the top and sides in 1996. For many years it had been saved by Carleton Smith, who both set up the microphone for NBC and introduced the radio broadcasts.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: referenced
content: United States: District of Columbia, Washington
topic: label: general subject association
content: Radio broadcasts
label: related event
content: Fireside Chats
setName: label: See more items in
content: Political History: Political History, Presidential History Collection
label: See more items in
content: Government, Politics, and Reform
label: See more items in
content: National Treasures exhibit
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0168.01
label: accession number
content: 1996.0168
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0168.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: microphone
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: copper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: painted (logo production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/4 in x 5 7/8 in; 26.035 cm x 14.9225 cm