# Did FDR Ever appear on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969 "2007-01-22T17:04:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/1 "2007-01-22T17:04:29Z")
I belive that commercial TV broadcasts (in the USA) began in 1939 or so…in cities like NY, Boston, and Chicago. Did President Roosevelt ever appear on TV? he died in 1945, and I believe that the demands of WWII kept TV rare during the war…but was there ever a presidential TV broadcast? Incidentally, the White House had TV-connected telephones, back in the 1950’s-were these used by the presidents? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/2 "2007-01-22T17:57:28Z")
[QUOTE=ralph124c] I belive that commercial TV broadcasts (in the USA) began in 1939 or so..in cities like NY, Boston, and Chicago. Did President Roosevelt ever appear on TV? he died in 1945, and I believe that the demands of WWII kept TV rare during the war..but was there ever a presidential TV broadcast? Incidentally, the White House had TV-connected telephones, back in the 1950’s-were these used by the presidents? [/QUOTE] According to [this site,](http://www.mztv.com/newframe.asp?content=http://www.mztv.com/worldhome.html) yes. First sentence. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/3 "2007-01-22T18:29:35Z")
And what about color movies? They had them by war’s end. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/4 "2007-01-22T19:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=According to Pliny] And what about color movies? They had them by war’s end. [/QUOTE] They had them before the war started. 3 strip Technicolor was first used in 1935, and there had been other methods of film coloring used as far back as 1917. ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/5 "2007-01-22T19:25:29Z")
[QUOTE=Captain Amazing] They had them before the war started. 3 strip Technicolor was first used in 1935, and there had been other methods of film coloring used as far back as 1917. [/QUOTE] In fact, the US Navy used mostly color film for footage they shot during the Pacific campaign in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2007, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/6 "2007-01-22T22:53:35Z")
Franklin Roosevelt’s speech on April 30, 1939 from the New York World’s Fair was indeed broadcast live on television by NBC to the New York City area. Separate newsreel footage of the speech exists. Roosevelt made one other live television appearance, but I’m trying to find more information about it. There is 16mm Kodachrome color footage of FDR; I’ve seen it. Because the State of the Union address is tomorrow, I’ll add that on January 6, 1947, President Truman gave the first live televised broadcast of the State of the Union Address. Truman was also the first president to make a television broadcast from the White House, on Oct. 5, 1947. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/7 "2007-01-23T03:42:54Z")
[More on television from the 1939 New York World’s Fair](http://www.earlytelevision.org/worlds_fair.html). ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/8 "2007-03-01T12:54:33Z")
Off-the-screen photograph of [President Roosevelt on television](http://www.davidsarnoff.org/gallery-tv-bw/FDR_TV-WF_39.htm), New York World’s Fair, April 30, 1939. [Direct photograph](http://www.davidsarnoff.org/gallery-tv-bw/FDR_WF-39.htm) of the same event. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_McVoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Steve\_McVoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_McVoy)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/9 "2007-03-02T00:06:24Z")
Actually, the first president to be televised was Herbert Hoover: > **[Bell Labs Mechanical Sets](http://www.earlytelevision.org/bell_labs.html)** > > early television Mechanical televsion broadcasting began in the U.S. and England in 1928, and continued until about 1933. > **[Early Television Foundation](http://www.earlytelevision.org)** > > early television ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2007, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-fdr-ever-appear-on-tv/388969/10 "2007-03-02T00:11:41Z")
Except that Herbert Hoover was Secretary of Commerce at that time, not President.