Popular Culture Review 29.2
stances . FDR had spoken “ from the forecastle deck of the Cummings , which was moored inside a flooded dry dock at the navy yard .” FDR had decided to speak standing , and this required him to use his uncomfortable braces , which he had not used “ in many months . They were painful , and he was never sure of himself while standing .” The speech was long�35 minutes�the deck was curved , and perhaps most important , “ there were numerous loudspeakers . Echoes and reverberations blurred FDR ’ s words and , as we were to learn , the radio pickup was terrible . In addition , he did not follow the text of the draft , which he had approved and which we had distributed to the press .” Rigdon cites the book , My Boss , by a close FDR aide , his secretary Grace Tully , who had written that the speech had been dictated to Bill Rigdon , the Navy lieutenant stenographer on shipboard ( Rigdon by then had been promoted ). FDR had shown her the draft , and said it was to be merely a “ homey report ” on his journey . It was , she thought , one of the “ poorest speeches he ever made , both in form and delivery .” Rigdon points out , though , that FDR originally had wanted to give the speech in a baseball park in Seattle , but the Secret Service had vetoed the idea . The location would have had to be announced in advance if there were to be a crowd , and that would have caused a security nightmare . When the location was shifted to the navy yard , with a small audience , Ridgon says , FDR lost interest in the talk . It was perhaps his poorest effort , and had been delivered under the most adverse circumstances , thus making it seem worse than it really had been ( Rigdon 1962 129-131 ).
Regardless , FDR masterfully turned the entire incident , and especially the Fala calumny , greatly to his advantage ; perhaps even to have saved the 1944 election . “ Like an old fire horse responding to the station ’ s alarm bell , Roosevelt rallied for the campaign . This was America ’ s first wartime election since
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