FDR's First Inaugural Address

Among 19th-century inaugural addresses, Lincoln's second is the most revered, honored in no less a place than the inside wall of the Lincoln Memorial, where it's carved in toto (see yesterday). Among 20th-century inaugurals, Franklin Roosevelt's first (the last March 4 swearing in) has been highly praised and, unlike Lincoln's, was recorded for the ages by motion picture cameras.

"This great nation will endure, as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself -- nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."