Pop History Moment: FDR's First Inauguration

On this day in 1933 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first sworn in as US President*, in the midst of the most unprecedented economic and social catastrophe since the previous one; despite reports too numerous to Google to the contrary, though, his was a much worse catastrophe than any faced by his successors, since it took place almost entirely in black and white. At least these days we can still afford to pay our colour bills...

Words cannot express how much I enjoyed this newsreel clip as it rattled off a list of the rather quaint innovations in mass media attendant upon the day; as I sit here blogging I can try to imagine a world whose media was comprised of movies, radio, records, newspapers, magazines, and books - and nothing else! - but then again, why would I want to?

*In fact, the 32nd to be inaugurated on March 4th; his second, third, and fourth inaugurations, as well as all of those since, were held on January 20th under the terms of the Twentieth Amendment to the US Constitution.
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