Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered his first inaugural address on 4 March 1933 as the United States faced severe economic distress during the Great Depression. He argues that fear itself can deepen a crisis by paralysing action and presents unemployment, failing banks, falling agricultural prices and weakened public confidence as urgent national problems.

Roosevelt calls for direct government action to create employment, assist agriculture and homeowners, coordinate relief and strengthen oversight of banking, credit and investment. He presents economic recovery as requiring both practical measures and changes in financial conduct, while placing domestic recovery ahead of restoring international trade.

The address also outlines a Good Neighbor approach to foreign relations and stresses national cooperation and shared responsibility. Roosevelt states that he will work with Congress but, if the emergency demands it, will seek broad executive authority to confront the crisis. The speech anticipates the activist federal policies associated with the New Deal.