FDR’s 1944 State of the Union Address

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception

FDR’s 1944 State of the Union Address

On January 11, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his annual State of the Union Address to the Nation as a Fireside Chat from the White House. 

In previous years, the President delivered the State of the Union Address in person before the Congress. But having just recently returned from a grueling trip to the Cairo and Teheran Conferences, President Roosevelt was ill with the flu and chose instead to send a written message to Congress and to read the message to the American people as a whole from the comfort of the White House.

Prior to Woodrow Wilson, the President’s Annual Message to Congress (now known as the State of the Union speech) customarily had been delivered by presidents to Congress as written reports. By submitting a written message in 1944, Roosevelt was hearkening back to that earlier practice.

In perhaps the most famous part of the speech, President Roosevelt proposed “a second Bill of Rights” to provide a new level of economic security to the American people.  Read More

Photo: Franklin D. Roosevelt gives a radio address regarding his State of the Union message to Congress. Washington, D.C.  1/11/44.

-from the FDR Library