On Labor Day, September 5, 1938, at 2:00 p.m., President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a critical radio address to the entire nation from Denton. He arrived in a large motorcade led by the local fire company, National Guard unit, and Boy Scout troop, with music by the Chestertown Band. His entourage included 90 journalists, photographers, and radio personnel, numerous dignitaries, and a 46-man security detail. The New York Times reported streets decorated with bunting and flags, colorful courthouse and law building decorations, improvised refreshment stands, and hawkers selling their wares. Roosevelt gave the 27-minute speech from a specially built broadcast stand to a crowd of 8,000 to 10,000 people who applauded loudly and frequently. Nationwide coverage included the CBS, NBC, and Mutual radio networks, along with five newsreel companies and two telegraph companies. The address was intended to unite farmers with factory workers and to purge from Congress members of Roosevelt's own party who opposed his faltering New Deal programs. Roosevelt's Purge of 1938 failed, but he described his visit to Denton as wonderful, and local accounts called it the biggest day the town had ever seen.