President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave his first "fireside chat"
on this day in history, March 12, 1933, to reassure and inform
a nation reeling from the effects of the Great Depression.

This was the first in a series of broadcasts in which FDR
spoke plainly and directly to every American within the
sound of his voice.

According to Britannica, the term "fireside chat" was coined
by Harry Butcher of the CBS radio network.  

Bronze sculpture of a man listening to the 1930s valve radio. This sculpture by George Segal at the Franklin D Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, DC, commemorates the famous
fireside radio chats during the Great Depression.