This is a citation from Frenklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address in 1933. The Situation in the US in those days were challenging, mainly because of the Great Depression and its consequences, and because previous presidents did not manage to tackle that problem as well as they should. Unemployment was more than 20% and there was a widespread poverty.
So his words were a sign that he intends to be direct and open with the people in the US. He also wanted to calm the frustrated ones, and to act swiftly in order to show his decisiveness. So the best strategy was to calm the millions of american people who were quite close to the state of panic and distrupt.
