Fireside chat
A fireside chat is an informal meeting in a small group on a specific topic. The design should ensure a personal atmosphere and enable a fruitful dialogue .
The term is derived from “ Fireside chats ”, the 30 radio addresses given by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944.
Function in public relations
In public relations (PR) fireside chats are used to discuss complex topics in detail with selected journalists or to give editors the opportunity to get to know the conversation partner better. The reporters should be equal in the hierarchy and match in type so that there is no uncomfortable atmosphere for discussion. The conversation usually takes place over dinner with three to four journalists.
Radio speeches
In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression in the USA, the then President Franklin D. Roosevelt commented on the radio on the banking crisis of the time. 29 more speeches followed, dealing with the most important topics - including the declaration of war on Japan after the Pearl Harbor bombing .
Roosevelt called the speeches “ fireside chats ”, that is, more informal and casual. Since the conversations were mostly broadcast at ten p.m. Eastern time, most Americans had the opportunity to hear the conversations live. The people in the east were still awake and those in the west were already back home from their daily activities. They were also very simply spoken and easy to understand (80% of the words were part of the 1,000 most used words in America).
Chronological list of the speeches
- On the Bank Crisis , Sunday March 12, 1933
- Outlining the New Deal Program , Sunday May 7, 1933
- On the Purposes and Foundations of the Recovery Program , Monday, July 24, 1933
- On the Currency Situation , Sunday, October 22, 1933
- Review of the Achievements of the Seventy-third Congress , Thursday June 28, 1934
- On Moving Forward to Greater Freedom and Greater Security , Sunday September 30, 1934
- On the Works Relief Program , Sunday April 28, 1935
- On Drought Conditions , Sunday, September 6, 1936
- On the Reorganization of the Judiciary , Tuesday, March 9, 1937
- On Legislation to be Recommended to the Extraordinary Session of the Congress , Tuesday, October 12, 1937
- On the Unemployment Census , Sunday November 14, 1937
- On Economic Conditions , Thursday April 14, 1938
- On Party Primaries , Friday June 24, 1938
- On the European War , Sunday September 3, 1939
- On National Defense , Sunday May 26, 1940
- On National Security , Sunday December 29, 1940
- Announcing Unlimited National Emergency , Tuesday, May 27, 1941 (longest of these fireside chats)
- On Maintaining Freedom of the Seas , Thursday, September 11, 1941
- On the Declaration of War with Japan , Tuesday December 9, 1941
- On Progress of the War , Monday February 23, 1942
- On Our National Economic Policy , Tuesday April 28, 1942
- On Inflation and Progress of the War , Monday September 7, 1942
- Report on the Home Front , Monday October 12, 1942
- On the Coal Crisis , Sunday May 2, 1943
- On Progress of War and Plans for Peace , Wednesday July 28, 1943
- Opening Third War Loan Drive , Wednesday, September 8, 1943
- On Tehran and Cairo Conferences , Friday, December 24, 1943
- State of the Union Message to Congress , Tuesday, January 11, 1944
- On the Fall of Rome , Monday June 5, 1944
- Opening Fifth War Loan Drive , Monday June 12, 1944