On January 30, 1882, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York to James Roosevelt, the son of a wealthy family, and Sara Delano Roosevelt, the second wife of James Roosevelt.
Franklin Roosevelt spent most of his young life hidden from life. He was educated by a governess, and spent most of the time in his home in rural Duchess County. He enjoyed athletic sports such as swimming and boating, and also had several hobbies enjoyable hobbies.
He then went to the Groton School in Massachusetts before leaving to go to Harvard University. He was an average student there, and upon graduating from Harvard in 1903, Roosevelt left for Columbia Law School.
On March 17, 1905, Franklin Delano Roosevelt married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, a distant cousin. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt would have six children, one of which died in infancy. President Theodore Roosevelt was there to was there to give his niece away. Theodore Roosevelt led to the initial interest in politics, as well as helped to shape his political priorities.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt dropped out of Columbia Law School in 1907 when he was offered a chance to join the New York bar and work for a law firm on Wall Street until 1910.
Roosevelt got his opportunity for a political career in 1910, when the Democrats allowed him to run for a seat in the New York Senate, which he won. Two years later Roosevelt would become the assistant secretary of the navy for his support of Woodrow Wilson in the Presidential election that year.
Franklin Roosevelt was nominated to the vice-presidency in 1920 with Ohio governor James Cox, but didn’t win that year. Instead, Warren Harding won with their 'return to normalcy' campaign.
In 1921, Franklin Delano Roosevelt caught the polio virus while in New Brunswick Canada. He managed to recover partially, although Roosevelt lost all use of his legs from that point on.
At the Democratic convention of 1924, Franklin Delano Roosevelt ran for the New York governorship at the urging of Alfred E. Smith, who was nominated for the presidency, as well as identified with Tammany Hall. Smith hoped that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would appeal to rural voters, which would also win New York for both men. Smith lost the election, but Roosevelt secured the governorship of New York in the elections.
In 1932, Roosevelt was selected to run for presidency, since his name was popular among the voters. He also had an improved chance of victory was also greater because of Herbert Hoover’s lack of action in dealing with the Great Depression. However, Roosevelt was considered unfit for the presidency by his opponents, but he flew to the Democratic National Convention where he not only disproved this theory, but also delivered one of the most powerful speeches of this run for office. In this speech, Roosevelt offered a "New Deal" and went on to win the lections.
Roosevelt's second day of office already brought changes when Roosevelt proposed a solution to the banking crisis as well as the New Deal. He also began to have "fireside chats", and in the first one he told people that they should stop hoarding money. Amazingly, many people listened to him and bank deposits exceeded withdrawals for the first time since the start of the depression. In 1935, many of Roosevelt’s New Deal recovery programs were deemed unconstitutional, leading him to push for six new seats in the Supreme Court. This act allowed some of these programs to remain into effect for a while longer.
Roosevelt didn’t stop after the New Deal and his victory over Herbert Hoover. He went on to defeat Alfred Landon in 1936, Wendell Willkie in 1940, and Thomas Dewie four years later, in 1944.
While at the start of his fisrt term, Adolf Hitler was coming to power in Europe as a response to the depression his country faced. This event would lead to World War II only six years later. At the start of the war, Franklin Delano Roosevelt maintained an isolationistic point of view, insisting that the United States remain neutral. The United States trade shipments indicated that Roosevelt tended to favor the allies more, as did the Coast Guard activities. Several Coast Guard vessels aided the Royal Navy in the hunt for German vessels, with one involved in the hunt for the legendary battleship Bismarck. Roosevelt would join the Allies after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and he entered on the side of the Allies.
Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill would choose the majority of Allied Western strategy, but the war began to take its toll. Later in the war, Roosevelt’s health began to deteriorate, forcing him to take vacations. The war finally caught up with him on April 12, 1945, when Roosevelt dies from a cerebral hemorrhage while on vacation in Warm Springs, Georgia.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is one of America’s legendary presidents. He was the only president to hold 16 years in office, and managed to lead his nation through one of the toughest times in American history. Roosevelt’s ability to relate to all classes of people led to the solution to the Great Depression, and his calming influence helped people throughout World War II. All of this helped to influence his image and make him the president to hold the longest term of office ever.
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