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Inauguration of FDR
Date
1933
Artist
Miguel Covarrubias, 22 Nov 1904 - 4 Feb 1957
Sitter
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 30 Jan 1882 - 12 Apr 1945
Charles Evans Hughes, 11 Apr 1862 - 27 Aug 1948
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, 11 Oct 1884 - 7 Nov 1962
John Nance Garner, 22 Nov 1868 - 7 Nov 1967
Herbert Clark Hoover, 10 Aug 1874 - 20 Oct 1964
Lou Henry Hoover, 29 Mar 1874 - 7 Jan 1944
Charles Curtis, 25 Jan 1860 - 8 Feb 1936
Alfred Emanuel Smith, 30 Dec 1873 - 4 Oct 1944
James Aloysius Farley, 30 May 1888 - 9 Jun 1976
Raymond Charles Moley, 27 Sep 1886 - 18 Feb 1975
Louis McHenry Howe, 1871 - 1936
Joseph Taylor Robinson, 26 Aug 1872 - 14 Jul 1937
Bernard Mannes Baruch, 19 Aug 1870 - 20 Jun 1965
Owen D. Young, 1874 - 1962
William Gibbs McAdoo, 31 Oct 1863 - 1 Feb 1941
Albert Cabell Ritchie, 1876 - 1936
Claude Augustus Swanson, 31 Mar 1862 - 07 Jul 1939
Byron Patton Harrison, 29 Aug 1881 - 22 Jun 1941
Herbert Henry Lerman, 1878 - 1963
Thomas James Walsh, 12 Jun 1849 - 2 Mar 1933
John William Davis, 13 Apr 1873 - 25 Mar 1955
Carter Glass, 4 Jan 1858 - 28 May 1946
Norman H. Davis, 1878 - 1944
Newton Diehl Baker, 3 Dec 1871 - 25 Dec 1937
Henry Lewis Stimson, 21 Sep 1867 - 20 Oct 1950
Andrew William Mellon, 24 Mar 1855 - 26 Aug 1937
Ogden Livingston Mills, 23 Aug 1884 - 11 Oct 1937
John Pierpont Morgan, Jr., 7 Sep 1867 - 13 Mar 1943
Paul Claudel, 1868 - 1955
Sir Ronald Lindsay, 1875 - 1975?
Mark Sullivan, 1874 - 1952
Walter Lippmann, 23 Sep 1889 - Dec 1974
John Joseph Pershing, 13 Sep 1860 - 15 Jul 1948
Exhibition Label
With the exception of Abraham Lincoln, no president has ever taken office against a darker backdrop than Franklin D. Roosevelt did on March 4, 1933. With banks failing and unemployment at 28 percent, a total national collapse seemed possible, and the day’s gray weather only reinforced the bleak mood. The carefully chosen words of Roosevelt’s inaugural speech, however, briefly lifted the gloom, and when he broke into a confident smile at the close, the crowd cheered in relief. The optimism of that moment grew in the coming months as Roosevelt’s New Dealers launched a series of innovative measures to end the Great Depression.
Mexican caricaturist Miguel Covarrubias produced this rendering of Roosevelt’s inauguration for Vanity Fair, which billed it as a panorama of “magnificos, diplomats, and military commanders.” In the lower right is the doleful “Forgotten Man,” wearing a sandwich board—a grim reminder of the country’s dire straits.
Excepto Abraham Lincoln, ningún presidente había asumido el cargo con un país en condiciones tan nefastas como las que enfrentó Franklin D. Roosevelt el 4 de marzo de 1933. Con los bancos en quiebra y una tasa de desempleo del 28 por ciento, la posibilidad de un derrumbe nacional era real, y el día nublado contribuía a ensombrecer los ánimos. Sin embargo, el cuidadoso fraseo del discurso inaugural logró mitigar la pesadumbre brevemente. Al final del mensaje, el presidente desplegó una sonrisa llena de confianza y el público lo vitoreó con alivio. El optimismo de ese momento creció en los meses siguientes con la implantación de las medidas innovadoras del New Deal, dirigidas a poner fin a la Gran Depresión.
El caricaturista mexicano Miguel Covarrubias produjo esta imagen de la toma de posesión de Roosevelt para la revista Vanity Fair, que describió el evento como un panorama de “magníficos, diplomáticos y líderes militares”. En la parte inferior derecha se ve al afligido “hombre olvidado” con un panel-sándwich, un triste recordatorio de la terrible situación del país.
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National Portrait Gallery Collection
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Data Source
National Portrait Gallery
Object number
NPG.82.43
Type
Print
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Copyright
© Condé Nast
Medium
Color halftone on paper
Dimensions
Image: 34.2 × 48.3 cm (13 7/16 × 19")
Sheet: 54.5 × 61.3 cm (21 7/16 × 24 1/8")
Mat (Verified): 72.4 × 76.2 cm (28 1/2 × 30")