In a major address on the economy, President-Elect Barack Obama warned yesterday that the nation is sliding into the a deep economic crisis and called on Congress to pass a stimulus package quickly.

The current economic crisis has often been cited as the worst the country has seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. At the time, over 10,000 banks had collapsed, one-quarter of American workers were unemployed, and people were fighting over scraps of food. At the height of the Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt took his oath of office, pledging to reverse the crisis. On March 4th, 1933, Roosevelt delivered his inaugural address that contained one of the most famous quotes ever made by an American president.

An excerpt of FDR’s first speech, as he took over the reins of the White House and laid out his plan for change in the midst of an unprecedented crisis. We"re joined now by Adam Cohen. He’s an assistant editorial page editor for the New York Times and author of a new book called “Nothing to Fear: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days that Created Modern America.”

Adam Cohen, assistant editorial page editor of the New York Times. His latest book is, “Nothing to Fear: FDR’s Inner Circle and the Hundred Days That Created Modern America.”

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• FDR in 1933: “There Must Be a Strict Supervision of All Banking and Credits and Investments. There Must Be an End to Speculation with Other People’s Money.” (9/29/2008)

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