As many of you probably already know, Pres. Franklin Delano Roosevelt told the American people, the only thing they had to fear was fear itself. These were powerful words, and at a pivotal time in U.S. history.
The only thing is, a while back, I heard a commentator on tv say Roosevelt wasn’t the first person to say this. Then who was the first? And why?
Thank you in advance to all who reply:)
A Tom Burnam, who put together a book called “The Dictionary of Misinformation,” mentioned this. Now, whether or not FDR’s speechwriters cribbed the earlier version(s) for their own purposes or came up with it independently is another question.
As with 99% of all quotes, precise origin is impossible to determine, since the same sentiment is likely to have been expressed often in recorded history.
In this case, Wikiquotes says: