"Fear Itself"

(noun)

Roosevelt's inauguration on March 4, 1933, occurred in the middle of a bank panic, providing the context for his famous words: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. "

Related Terms

  • Twentieth Amendment

Examples of "Fear Itself" in the following topics:

  • The Inauguration

    • Near the beginning of the speech, Roosevelt made his famous warning about "fear itself":
    • So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear... is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.
  • Introduction to Anxiety Disorders

    • Anxiety disorders involve extreme reactions to anxiety-inducing situations, including excessive worry, uneasiness, apprehension, or fear.
    • Anxiety disorders are defined by excessive worry, apprehension, and fear about future events or situations, either real or imagined.
    • Anxiety in and of itself is not a bad thing.
    • Neurologically speaking, increased amygdala reactivity is correlated with increased fear and anxiety responses.
  • Terrorism

    • Terrorism is an act of violence intended to create fear, which is then leveraged in order to achieve goals.
    • Although the term lacks a universal definition, common definitions of terrorism refer to violent acts intended to create fear (terror).
    • Therefore, the power of terrorism comes from its ability to leverage human fear to help achieve these goals.
    • Religious terrorism does not in itself necessarily define a specific religious standpoint or view, but instead usually defines an individual or group interpretation of that belief system's teachings.
  • Danish Intervention

    • After the Bohemian Revolt was suppressed by Ferdinand II, the Danish King Christian IV, fearing that recent Catholic successes threatened his sovereignty as a Protestant nation, led troops against Ferdinand.
    • Denmark had feared that the recent Catholic successes threatened its sovereignty as a Protestant nation.
    • Wallenstein's army marched north, occupying Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Jutland itself, but proved unable to take the Danish capital Copenhagen on the island of Zealand.
    • Wallenstein feared losing his northern German gains to a Danish-Swedish alliance, while Christian IV had suffered another defeat in the Battle of Wolgast (1628); both were ready to negotiate.
  • Hoover and the Limits of Individualism

    • It refers to the idea that individuals should be able to help themselves, and that the government does not need to involve itself in people's economic affairs or in national economics in general.
    • Providing large-scale humanitarian efforts, Hoover feared, would injure "the initiative and enterprise of the American people. " Unfortunately, this approach had little effect, and the economy continued to suffer for years.
  • Congress of the Confederation

    • As the immediate successor to the Second Continental Congress, it referred to itself as the Continental Congress throughout its 8-year history.
    • The Americans were so fearful of a strong, centralized government that they refused to grant their Congress the power of taxation.
  • James–Lange Theory of Emotion

    • According to the James–Lange theory of emotion, you would experience a feeling of fear only after this physiological arousal had taken place.
    • One limitation of this theory is that it is not known exactly what causes the changes in the body, so it is unclear whether those changes should be considered part of the emotion itself.
  • Specific Phobia

    • Specific phobias involve excessive, distressing, and persistent fear or anxiety about a specific object or situation.
    • Typically, the fear and anxiety a phobic stimulus elicits is disruptive to the person’s life.
    • Blood-injury phobias, (e.g., fear of getting a shot, fear of the sight of blood)
    • At a low level, fear and anxiety are not bad things.
    • Thus, there may be a genetic predisposition to learn to fear certain things more easily than others.
  • The Ostend Manifesto and Cuba

    • President John Quincy Adams described Cuba and Puerto Rico as, “natural appendages to the North American continent,” and Cuba's annexation as, “indispensable to the continuance and integrity of the Union itself.”
    • Prominent among the reasons for annexation outlined in the Ostend Manifesto were fears of a possible slave revolt in Cuba, the likes of which had already occurred in Haiti, in the absence of U.S. intervention.
    • Racial fears raised tension and anxiety over a potential black uprising on the island that could "spread like wildfire" to the United States.
    • In the increasingly volatile political climate of 1854, the Franklin Pierce administration feared the political repercussions of making the negotiations known, but pressure from journalists and politicians alike to publish what was agreed to in Ostend continued to mount.
  • The Postwar Economy: 1945-1960

    • Many Americans feared that the end of World War II and the subsequent drop in military spending might bring back the hard times of the Great Depression.
    • As the Iron Curtain descended across Europe and the United States found itself embroiled in a cold war with the Soviet Union, the government maintained substantial fighting capacity and invested in sophisticated weapons such as the hydrogen bomb.
    • And the government itself recognized its central role in economic affairs.
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