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PROPAGANDA and DEMOCRACY: a STUDY of FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT's FIRESIDE CHATS a Master's Thesis by YAĞMUR FAKIOĞLU Depar

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PROPAGANDA and DEMOCRACY: a STUDY of FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT's FIRESIDE CHATS a Master's Thesis by YAĞMUR FAKIOĞLU Depar YAĞMUR FAKIOĞLU PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY Bilkent University 2020 Bilkent University DEMOCRACY AND PROPAGANDA FAKIOĞLU YAĞMUR PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY: A STUDY OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT’S FIRESIDE CHATS A Master’s Thesis by YAĞMUR FAKIOĞLU Department of History ........................................................ İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University Ankara June 2020 To my family PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY: A STUDY OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT’S FIRESIDE CHATS The Graduate School of Economic and Social Sciences of İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University by YAĞMUR FAKIOĞLU In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA June 2020 ABSTRACT PROPAGANDA AND DEMOCRACY: A STUDY OF FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT’S FIRESIDE CHATS Fakıoğlu, Yağmur M.A., Department of History Supervisor: Asst. Prof. Dr. Owen Miller June 2020 Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as the 32nd President of the United States of America during one of the most tumultuous periods of the country’s history between March 4, 1933 and April 12, 1945. Throughout this time he was a very popular president and was noted for his skillful use of the radio to circumvent his critics, most of whom were writing in the newspapers, by reaching out directly to the public. One of the most famous examples of his mastery of the radio was his Fireside Chats through which he addressed his constituents in an informal manner to rally support for his policies. This thesis argues that President Roosevelt’s radio propaganda, when examined alongside the arguments of some of his critics, indicates that Roosevelt aimed to use his policies and propaganda to preserve the public’s faith in democracy in times of crisis even though he did not always uphold democratic principles. vi Keywords: Democracy, Fireside Chats, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Propaganda, United States vii ÖZET PROPAGANDA VE DEMOKRASİ: FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT’İN RADYO KONUŞMALARI ÜZERİNE BİR ÇALIŞMA Fakıoğlu, Yağmur Yüksek Lisans, Tarih Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Dr. Öğr. Üyesi Owen Miller Haziran 2020 Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 4 Mart 1933 ve 12 Nisan 1945 tarihleri arasında ülkenin tarihinin en çalkantılı dönemlerinden birinde 32. Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Başkanı olarak görev yaptı. Bu süre zarfında oldukça popüler bir başkandı ve çoğu gazetelerde yazan eleştirmenlerini atlatarak doğrudan kamuya ulaşmak için radyoyu ustaca kullanımı ile dikkat çekti. Radyodaki ustalığının en ünlü örneklerinden biri, politikalarına destek toplamak için seçmenlerine gayri resmi bir şekilde hitap ettiği Şömine Sohbetleri idi. Bu tez, Başkan Roosevelt'in radyo propagandasını bazı eleştirmenlerinin argümanlarıyla birlikte inceleyior, ve bunlara dayanarak Roosevelt'in politikaları ve propagandası ile her zaman demokratik ilkeleri desteklemese de toplumun demokrasiye olan inancını korumayı hedeflediğini savunuyor. Anahtar Kelimeler: Amerika Birleşik Devletleri, Demokrasi, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Propaganda, Şömine Sohbetleri viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor Asst. Prof. Dr. Owen Miller for his support and guidance in writing this thesis. His continuous encouragement and feedback throughout the process of writing this thesis has been crucial. I would also like to thank my examining committee members Asst. Prof. Dr. Kenneth Weisbrode and Asst. Prof. Dr. Bahar Gürsel. I am grateful for Asst. Prof. Dr. Kenneth Weisbrode’s highly detailed feedback to my thesis as well as his guidance throughout my time as his student. Asst. Prof. Dr. Bahar Gürsel’s thorough comments and feedback on my thesis are also greatly appreciated. The Department of History in Bilkent University granted me an enjoyable, challenging, and educational experience as a postgraduate student. I would like to thank Asst. Prof. Dr. Paul Latimer, Asst. Prof. Dr. David E. Thornton, Prof. Dr. Özer Ergenç, Asst. Prof. Dr. Luca Zavagno, Ece Türk, and Yeliz Çevik. I would also like to thank former faculty members Asst. Prof. Dr. Oktay Özel and Prof. Dr. Edward Kohn. I would like to thank my friends and colleagues for all their help throughout the duration of my master’s program. Many thanks go to Burak Yemenici, Cihad Kubat, Widy Novantyo Susanto, Mert Deniz, Dilara Erçelik, Marium Soomro, Hamdi Karakal, Ogün Can Çetiner, Harun Çelik, and Egemen Gürgen. I am also grateful to my longtime friends Anıl Biçer, Sergey Emelyanov, Duygu Soysanlı, and Seher Emelyanova for all their support throughout the years. ix Above all, I cannot overstate how grateful I am to my family. My parents’ never-ending love, support, encouragement and faith in me made completing this thesis possible. I could not have done it without them. x TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi ÖZET ........................................................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS……………………………………………………………………………………………………..xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................................... xii INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1: THE RADIO PRESIDENT ................................................................................ 19 CHAPTER 2: THE MANDATE OF THE BALLOT AND DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS ........................................................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 3: FIGHTING TO STAY OUT OF THE FIGHT AND BECOMING THE ARSENAL OF DEMOCRACY ................................................................................................ 104 CHAPTER 4: DISPELLING DESPAIR AND DEFEATISM BY MONOPOLIZING THE LEGITIMACY OF INFORMATION ...................................................................................... 141 CHAPTER 5: WINNING THE PEACE AND THE RETURN OF THE NEW DEAL ...... 212 CONCLUSION .......................................................................................................................... 275 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 280 xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS NRA National Recovery Administration WPA Work Progress Administration TNEC Temporary National Economic Committee xii INTRODUCTION When Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the President of the United States of America, he took the helm of a ship with its sails shredded, its hull damaged, and its crew despairing. The Great Depression had not only caused great financial calamity the likes of which had never been seen before, but it had also driven the American public to uncharacteristically doubt the social and economic system that they had previously held a strong belief in.1 The public’s faith in the system of private enterprise and democracy was what Roosevelt felt that he had to restore. He would often express a desire in his speeches to prove that democracy could be “efficient” starting with his first use of the theme in 1935,2 and would continue to call the public to help prove that democratic American “government is stronger than the forces of business depression”3 until the advent of the war made the struggle for Democracy more literal. Many Americans had held the prior president, Herbert Hoover responsible for the disastrous state of the nation, and they had voted for the opposing candidate who could not have seemed more unlike the incumbent President. Indeed, this was deliberate on the part of Roosevelt, who had personally accepted the Democratic nomination in a break 1 Russel D. Buhite and David W. Levy, eds. FDR’s Fireside Chats, (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 3-8. 2 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Defending the WPA and Pressing for Social Security – April 28, 1935," in Buhite and Levy, eds., 69. 3 Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Combatting the 1937-1938 Recession – April 14, 1938," in Buhite and Levy, eds., 118. 1 from long-standing tradition, specifically in an effort to set a contrast to the reputation Hoover had developed as a hesitant, irresolute man.4 Not all perceived differences between the two opposing candidates were results of deliberate election strategies, though. Hoover’s reputation had developed as a result of his limited visible intervention against the Great Depression. His stance prior to the Wall Street Crash of 1929 had been, as elucidated in his penultimate campaign speech on October 22, 1928, that free enterprise and commerce were essential to maintaining freedom of speech and all other freedoms that depended on it, and that the prosperity, freedom and social progress enjoyed throughout the 1920s was the government’s withdrawal from the active role it had played in the American economy throughout the war.5 On the other hand, Roosevelt, who would begin his administration carrying out the same policies Hoover had hoped to put into practice, would instead come to adopt the belief, as explained in a speech delivered almost a full decade after Hoover’s on April 18, 1938, that dictatorships grew not “out of strong and successful governments, but out of weak and helpless governments,” that a democratic government needed to be able to protect its people from “fear and starvation”
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