Bad News Banks

After suffering widespread devastation, people searched for a culprit to blame for the crisis. A lot of the blame fell on the banking industry, the people dealing with the money firsthand. And while there was a fair amount of shady deals being made, they were far from the only cause of the stock market crash.

But FDR latches on to the bankers as the perpetrators of the disaster, saying:

[…] practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. (19)

So even if no one is punished directly for causing the financial crisis, bankers have been found guilty in the only place that matters: public opinion.

He doubles down on the inherent moral failings of bankers, at times even getting biblical with his criticisms:

The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. (25)

Here, he's coloring the financial flops as perhaps a sign from God. Pinning the blame squarely on the bankers gave the public something to get behind, and it made news of his game-changing financial reforms more palatable to those whispering about executive overreach.

But, hey: it really, really resonated with people at the time. And you can't say that FDR didn't fix the whole Great Depression mess.