1I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our Nation impels.
2This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly.
3Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper.
4So, 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.
5In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things.
6Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income;
7the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.
8More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.
9The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths.
10This Nation asks for action, and action now. Our greatest primary task is to put people to work.
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