<figure class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_99094" style="width: 455px;"><figcaption class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-99094">A Fireside Chat and a word to “complainers”.</figcaption></figure>

On the occasion of his return from a cross-country tour, President Roosevelt gave one of his familiar Fireside Chat’s ahead of a special session of Congress on October 12, 1937.

FDR discusses the progress that had been made as the result of the Recovery steps the Administration had taken during the previous several months, but also what was still needed to happen for the recovery to continue.

FDR also had a word or two for the complainers in Washington who kept talking about “too much Government”.

FDR:

I know that many enemies of democracy will say that it is bad for the tranquillity of the country, to have a special session—even one beginning only six weeks before the regular session. But I have never had sympathy with the point of view that a session of the Congress is an unfortunate intrusion of what they call “politics” into our national affairs. Those who do not like democracy want to keep legislators at home. But the Congress is an essential instrument of democratic government; and democratic government can never ‘be considered an intruder into the affairs of a democratic nation.

I shall ask this special session to consider immediately certain important legislation which my recent trip through the nation convinces me the American people immediately need. This does not mean that other legislation, to which I am not referring tonight, is not important for our national well-being. But other legislation can be more readily discussed at the regular session.

Anyone charged with proposing or judging national policies should have first hand knowledge of the nation as a whole.

That is why again this year I have taken trips to all parts of the country. Last spring I visited the Southwest. This summer I made several trips in the East. Now I am just back from a trip all the way across the continent, and later this autumn I hope to pay my annual visit to the Southeast.

For a President especially it is a duty to think in national terms.

He must think not only of this year but of future years when someone else will be President.

He must look beyond the average of the prosperity and wellbeing of the country, for averages easily cover up danger spots of poverty and instability.

He must not let the country be deceived by a merely temporary prosperity which depends on wasteful exploitation of resources which cannot last.

88 years later . . .still complaining.

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