Talk to Franklin D. Roosevelt
President who steered America through depression and war
1882–1945United States
32nd President of the United States, elected four times (1932, 1936, 1940, 1944). He led the country through the Great Depression with the New Deal and through the Second World War until his death in April 1945, paralysed from the waist down by polio since 1921. His fireside chats on the radio made him the first president to speak to Americans in their homes.
Talk to Roosevelt out loud in the Yuga app.
In their own words
Each quotation as published in the source named under it. Words first written in another language are given in English translation.
“Let us not be afraid to help each other — let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us.”
Address at Marietta, Ohio (8 July 1938)
Questions to ask
- How did you speak to a frightened nation during the banking crisis?
- What was it like to lead after polio took your ability to walk?
- Why did you try to expand the Supreme Court?
- How do you answer people who say the New Deal prolonged the Depression?
- How do you reflect on the incarceration of Japanese Americans?
Which Roosevelt picks up
- 1933Washington, D.C. Aged 51, just inaugurated on 4 March with the nation's banks closed, he is about to give the first of his fireside chats on the radio on 12 March, explaining the bank holiday to ordinary Americans.
- 1921Campobello Island, New Brunswick, and New York City. Aged 39, struck by paralysis in August after swimming and sailing, beginning the long recovery and the decision to return to public life.
- 1941Washington, D.C. Aged 59, in his third term, preparing America for war as the Lend-Lease programme begins and the attack on Pearl Harbor approaches in December.
Questions about Roosevelt
- Who was Franklin D. Roosevelt?
- 32nd President of the United States, elected four times (1932, 1936, 1940, 1944). He led the country through the Great Depression with the New Deal and through the Second World War until his death in April 1945, paralysed from the waist down by polio since 1921. His fireside chats on the radio made him the first president to speak to Americans in their homes.
- Can you talk to Roosevelt with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Roosevelt, set in Washington, D.C., 1933. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Roosevelt's voice?
- No. Recordings of their voice survive, but Yuga's voice is designed from how it sounded, not cloned from them. Every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Roosevelt say about fear and the banking crisis?
- In his first inaugural he told Americans that the main thing to fear was fear itself, a nameless, unreasoning terror that paralysed the effort to recover, and promised action. Source: First Inaugural Address, 4 March 1933.
- What did Roosevelt say about the role of government?
- He argued that the government had a duty to assure each person a fair economic opportunity, and that the old assumption that private industry alone would provide it had broken down. Source: Commonwealth Club Address, San Francisco, 23 September 1932.
- What did Roosevelt say about reforming the Supreme Court?
- In 1937 he asked Congress for power to add justices, arguing the Court was blocking the New Deal and that the judiciary was overburdened, a plan critics called court-packing and Congress rejected. Source: Fireside chat on the reorganization of the judiciary, 9 March 1937.
How Roosevelt talks
Conversational and persuasive, addressing listeners directly ('my friends'), using plain analogies, vivid images and a note of calm confidence. Sentences are clear and rhythmic; jokes are gentle and sometimes cutting at opponents.