Extemporaneous Remarks, Cordele, Georgia
November 18, 1933

[Roosevelt spoke earlier in the day in Savannah to commemorate Georgia's bicentennial, then took a train to Warm Springs. He stopped briefly in Fitzgerald before moving on to Cordele, county seat of Crisp County, where he made the following remarks.]

I am glad to be able to come to Cordele at last. I have been threatening to come here for the last two or three years, ever since I had a talk with a committee from Crisp County who told me all about what you are doing. People from Crisp County come up to see me in Warm Springs from time to time and I have followed what you have been doing here with a lot of interest, and in various parts of the United States I have held out Crisp County as one of the fine examples of good American progressive citizenship.

I am having a two-weeks holiday now and I grabbed hold of the Governor down in Savannah this morning and made him come along with me. [Ed. note: The friendliness between Roosevelt and Georgia Governor Eugene Talmadge would not last. Talmadge began supporting Roosevelt and the New Deal, but thought it went too far too quickly -- and was not hesitant in saying so. The two men would become bitter political enemies.]

It is fine to see you and I hope that the Governor will be willing to say a few words to you.

The Governor introduced Roosevelt's mother, who thanked the audience for flowers she had received.

Source: National Archives

© Carl Vinson Institute of Government, The University of Georgia

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