Biden Was Right About Roosevelt, TV and the Crash--Update

Biden may have just slipped too and said TV instead of radio, because TV is today's preferred medium. He may not have wanted to go into the explanation that back in the day, it was all radio broadcasts.

Either way, he's right, Roosevelt did do that, at least on radio if not TV.

Biden is smarter than most people think

Maybe we should study not so distant history and maybe we would appreciate what FDR did for this country.  Radio, TV whatever, he conneccted with the American people like no president before or since has done and saved this country from financial ruin and worse.

A little less squabbling and a little more studying of history would be in order.  As for Biden,  I would think we all would agree that when that 3am phone call comes we would rather have Obama and Biden answering than McCain and Palin.  That is if all their gaffes are considered.

This is correct.

TV was being regularly broadcast in new York in 1928, and as the Governer of New York it is certain that Roosevelt would have spoken not only on radio but on the new TV channel at the time, on the stock market crash that was going on in the New York stock exchange.

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Farnsworth was not the only person broadcasting television in the late 1920s. The existence of  television in some homes in Schenectady, New York by 1929 is proven by the large numbers of sources, including many on the Internet, that document it.

For instance, the 1928 Timeline at http://din-timelines.com/1928_timeline.shtml states that, on May 11, "General Electric begins first regularly scheduled television broadcasts, three days a weeks for two hours each, at station WGY in Schenectady, N.Y;" while, on July 3, "Television sets, manufactured by the Daven Corp. in the U.S., go on sale for the first time."

http://publicliterature.org/en/wikipedia/1/19/1928_in_television.html has another list, which corroborates that on May 11, 1928, "The first regular schedule of TV programming is begun in Schenectady, New York, United States by the General Electric's station WGY. A half hour program is broadcast on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons."

That site names several 1928 accomplishments by Scottish inventor John Logie Baird (who wikipedia calls the "inventor of the world's first working television system" in an article obviously not read by the Wikipedia author who said the same of Farnsworth):

February 9 - John Logie Baird transmits television pictures across the Atlantic. The pictures are transmitted from Motograph House, London by telephone cable to Bert Clapp's station GK2Z at 40 Warwick Road, Coulsdon, Surrey, and then by radio to Hartsdale, New York, USA.

In fact, they mention that  in 1928, "W2XBS, RCA's first television [station], is established in New York City."

So I am doubly right. Governor Roosevelt could have broadcast his 1929 (possibly fireside) chat not only in Schenectady but in New York City as well. He could even have done it in color.

Hoover had already addressed the nation on TV in 1927. Roosevelt was the Governor of New York...then as president he  shut down the banks for thrree days in 1932.

Stop trying to parse words. FDR did not make that speech, was not President, and was not on TV...

Whether you like it or not, Joe Biden has a long history of gaffs/lies.  I say lies because of the plagiarism he was caught at in 1988 while being the front runner in the democratic primary.  That plagiarism caused his downfall.

Like Joe says "this whole thing can be summed up with 3 words, J O B S "

Excuse Me, I gaffed.

Like Joe says "this whole thing can be summed up with 3 letters, J O B S "

Your defense of Biden's gaffe may be the biggest stretch ever. Did Roosevelt, as Governor of New York, give a TV address about the crash? Is that what Biden meant? Do you really believe that?

Thanks to Bill Clinton for expanding lawyerly weasleness to a whole new generation.

That depends on what the meaning of the word "address" addresses.

Governor Roosevelt acted in response to the crash at least as early as the fall of 1929. At the very least, he did so by pushing along legislation on banking.

My family owns a letter of his dated April 1930 thanking the president of the East River Savings Bank (now, ironically, Citibank) for serving on a committee that amended NY's banking laws. The committee met as early as the fall of 1929.

In the letter, FDR refers to the public and political reception of the new legislation. Although the letter does not mention a direct address, FDR is likely to have addressed the public on the subject of the crash and of his response to it. Whether he used TV, I do not know. But is that all we have to go on to make Biden look like a fool?

I recognize Sondra's point that we should not be hasty on the matter of whether Biden's comment was or was not accurate. I also agree with her that the public reaction to Biden's comment says more about the poverty of the public's historical knowledge than it does about the public's omniscience and astuteness. After all, we reacted in the belief that he was guilty of gross anachronism, and in fact, he was not. Did Biden slip? Perhaps. And perhaps finding TV footage of then Governor Roosevelt would surprise even him. BUT: Was Roosevelt quick to respond to the crash that occurred while he was a political leader? Yes. Was Bush? No. 

The details of Sondra's proposal are interesting and do not merit rebuke, but intelligent debate. Furthermore, the spirit of Biden's Roosevelt/Bush contrast is sound.