Calvin Coolage was the first president to be elected when the radio was used to give the results.
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Yes, he had just completed the term of Warren G. Harding (who died in office in 1923), but in 1924, Coolidge won a full term as president. What was interesting about the 1924 campaign was it was the first to be partially conducted by radio, which was still a new and growing mass medium. A number of candidates (Coolidge among them) spoke over the airwaves, reaching millions of potential voters.
President Ronald Reagan was a radio sport announcer and actor before becoming president. He was an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games in Des Moines in the 1930s.
While other presidents had been on the radio, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt became known as the first "radio president" because of how effectively he used this mass medium. His radio addresses to the public, called "Fireside chats," were meant to reassure Americans that things were getting better and that he understood their fears; they were his way of connecting with the public throughout the Great Depression. The topics varied, but their purpose was to be informative, mainly about what he and his administration were doing, and his plans to help stabilize the economy and get Americans back to work.
It is true that Roosevelt was the first President to communicate directly with the American people, being the first to use this format of 'homely' speeches on the radio. It is also true that these proved to be very effective in explaining the issues of the day and 'selling' his policies to the American public. It is true that the speeches gave an immense boost to the confidence of people that the things that worried them were understood in Washington; and it is also true that the fireside chats contributed much to Roosevelt's high approval ratings.
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