Franklin D. Roosevelt, known as FDR, served as President of the United States from 1933-1945. He was the only President to be elected four times. He is most noted for leading the United States through the Depression and World War II.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. He was born into a wealthy family, with privilege and prominence. He attended a prestigious prep school but did not fit in with other students. However, he appreciated how the school urged students to help the less fortunate. After graduating, he entered Harvard University, studied law at Columbia University Law School, and ultimately passed the bar exam.
Franklin married Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin, in 1905. The couple had six children, one of whom died of heart disease as an infant. Their marriage was strained by Franklin’s frequent infidelity, but they remained married.
Roosevelt began his political career in 1911 as a State Senator in New York. Although he was a Democrat, he was elected in a largely Republican county due to an effective campaign strategy as well as the association with his Republican cousin, former President Theodore Roosevelt. He was re-elected for a second term, but only served for a year before he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. In 1914 he ran for the U.S. Senate and was soundly defeated.
Franklin was stricken with polio in 1921 and returned to his private law practice. He was permanently paralyzed, but would not allow his disability to become part of his public image. He taught himself to walk with a cane and leg braces, and refused to be seen in public using his wheelchair.
Roosevelt was elected Senator of New York in 1928 and again in 1930, as the U.S. began its economic struggle with the Great Depression. In 1932, he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for President. He promised the country a “New Deal” to overcome its economic struggles and won the election. With banks failing, over 2 million homeless, and 25% unemployment, Roosevelt embarked on a program of “relief, recovery, and reform.”
Roosevelt’s New Deal initiatives established many of the social and economic reforms still in effect today, including
- federal minimum wage regulations
- Social Security
- the FDIC
- the SEC
He created the Reconstruction Finance Commission and Tennessee Valley Authority, which stimulated the economy and provided employment for thousands. Gross National Product was up and unemployment was down.
In 1936 Roosevelt was re-elected by a landslide and continued his efforts to restore the struggling U.S. economy. World War II became the focus of his efforts in 1939, as he sought to provide support for Britain even though U.S. participation in the war was not widely supported. When it came time for the 1940 election, Roosevelt was nominated by an overwhelming majority, in spite of the traditionally accepted two-term limit on the Presidency. Again winning the election by a substantial margin, Roosevelt’s third term was dominated by U.S. involvement in the War after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941. In 1944 he was elected to a fourth term with Vice President Harry Truman. His health had been declining for several years, and he passed away in April of 1945, only a month before the War finally ended.
Roosevelt set a precedent for the expansion of presidential power. His twelve years in the White House reinvented the role of government and established the U.S. as a world leader. He is viewed as one of the three greatest Presidents.