Excerpts from Franklin D. Roosevelt's fireside chat on the banking crisis (1933) [6:21]
"My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people of the United States about banking, to talk with the comparatively few who understand the mechanics of banking, but more particularly with the overwhelming majority of you who use banks for the making of deposits and the drawing of a check. I want to tell you what has been done in the last few days and why it was done and what the next steps are going to be. I recognize that the many proclamations from state capitals and from Washington, the legislation, the Treasury regulations and so forth, called for the most part in banking and legal terms ought to be explained for the benefit of the average citizen.
"I owe this in particular because of the fortitude of the good temper which everybody has, with which everybody has accepted the inconvenience and the hardships of the banking holiday. And I know that when you understand what we in Washington have been about, I shall continue to have your cooperation as fully as I have had your sympathy and your help during the past week.
"First of all, let me state the simple fact that when you deposit money in a bank, the bank does not put the money into a safe deposit vault. It invests your money in many different forms of credit, in bonds and commercial paper and mortgages and in many other kinds of loans. In other words, the bank puts your money to work to keep the wheels of industry and of agriculture turning round. A comparatively small part of the money that you put into the bank is kept in currency, an amount, which in normal times, is wholly sufficient to cover the cash needs of the average citizen. In other words, the total amount of all the currency in the country is only a comparatively small proportion of the total deposits in all the banks of the country.
"What then happened during the last few days of February and the first few days of March? Because of undermined confidence on the part of the public, there was a general rush by a large portion of our population to turn bank deposits into currency or gold. A rush so great that the soundest banks couldn't get enough currency to meet the demand. The reason for this was that on the spur of the moment it was, of course, impossible to sell a perfectly sound assets of a bank and convert them into cash, except at panic prices far below their real value.
"By the afternoon of March third, a week ago last Friday, scarcely a bank in the country was open to do business. Proclamations closing them in whole or in part had been issued by the governors in almost all of the states. It was then that I issued the proclamation providing for the national bank holiday, and this was the first step in the government's reconstruction of our financial and economic fabric.
"It is possible that when the banks resume, a very few people who have not recovered from their fear may again begin withdrawals. Let me make it clear to you that the banks will take care of all needs except, of course, the hysterical demands of hoarders. And it is my belief that hoarding during the past week has become an exceedingly unfashionable pastime in every part of our nation. It needs no prophet to tell you that when the people find that they can get their money, that they can get it when they want it for all legitimate purposes. The Phantom of fear will soon be laid. People will again be glad to have their money where it will be safely taken care of and where they can use it conveniently at any time. I can assure you, my friends, that it is safer to keep your money in a reopened bank than it is to keep it under the mattress.
"The success of our whole national program depends, of course, on the cooperation of the public, on its intelligent support, and its use of a reliable system. I do not promise you that every bank will be reopened or that individual losses will not be suffered, but there will be no losses that possibly could be avoided, and there would have been more and greater losses had we continued to drip. I can even promise you promise you salvation for some, at least, of the sorely pressed banks. We shall be engaged not merely in reopening some banks, but in the creation of more sound banks through reorganization.
"It has been wonderful to me to catch the note of confidence from all over the country. I can never be sufficiently grateful to the people for the loyal support that they have given me in their acceptance of the judgment that has dictated our costs, even though all our processes may not have seemed clear to them. After all, there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system, more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people themselves. Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan.
"You people must have faith. You must not be stampeded by rumors or guesses. Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the machinery to restore our financial system and it is up to you to support and make it work. It is your problem, my friends, your problem no less than it is mine. Together we cannot fail."
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MLA Citation
"Excerpts from Franklin D. Roosevelt's Fireside Chat on the Banking Crisis (1933)." American Government, ABC-CLIO, 2025, americangovernment.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/2230231. Accessed 25 June 2025.