How FDR's 'Fireside Chats' Helped Calm a Nation in Crisis

HISTORY: Writing the Declaration of Independence

Jane Addams, 1906. Artist George de Forest Brush. (Photo by Heritage Art/Heritage Images via Getty Images)

Colonel George E Waring, American engineer and sanitarian who revolutionised street cleaning in New York. Late nineteenth century portrait. (Photo by Culture Club/Getty Images)

America: Our Defining Hours

America: Our Defining Hours Archives | HISTORY

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America’s Founding Fathers decided that one elected civilian—the U.S. president—would lead the executive branch of the federal government, a governmental structure that has remained in place for more than 200 years.

U.S. Presidents

From raising families to leading armies, women such as Catherine the Great, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Amanirenas, Queen Elizabeth I, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks, Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and countless others have played a vital role in history.

Women’s History

The Civil War was America's bloodiest and most divisive conflict, pitting the Union Army against the Confederate States of America. The war resulted in the deaths of more than 620,000 people, with millions more injured and the South left in ruins.

Civil War

The Revolutionary War waged by the American colonies against Britain influenced political ideas and revolutions around the globe, as a small fledgling nation won its freedom from the greatest military force of its time.

American Revolution

World War II was the biggest and deadliest war in history, involving more than 30 countries. Sparked by the 1939 Nazi invasion of Poland, the war dragged on for six bloody years until the Allies defeated the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Japan and Italy in 1945. Explore the battles, leaders and atrocities from the war and its impact on geopolitics and humankind.

World War II

The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. Explore topics on the era, from the stock market crash of 1929, to the Dust Bowl, to FDR’s response to the economic calamity—the New Deal.

America: Our Defining Hours

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Valley Forge

George Waring

Jane Addams

Writing of Declaration of Independence

Stories

How Crude Smallpox Inoculations Helped George Washington Win the War

How Lincoln and Grant’s Partnership Won the Civil War

How FDR’s ‘Fireside Chats’ Helped Calm a Nation in Crisis

How Detroit Factories Retooled During WWII to Defeat Hitler