Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death on April 12, 1945. Born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York, he came from the wealthy Delano and Roosevelt families and grew up at Springwood, a large estate south of Hyde Park’s historic center. He became the longest-serving U.S. president and the only one to serve more than two terms. His years in office covered two vast national tests: the Great Depression and World War II.

Roosevelt’s public career began before the presidency. A Democrat, he was elected to the New York State Senate in 1910 and served from 1911 to 1913. He then became assistant secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1920. In 1920, he ran as James M. Cox’s vice-presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket, which lost to Republican Warren G. Harding. In 1921, an illness permanently paralyzed his legs. With encouragement from his wife, Eleanor, he returned to public office and was elected the 44th governor of New York in 1928, serving from 1929 to 1932. As governor, he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression.

Several forces shaped Roosevelt’s mind and habits. His mother, Sara Ann Delano, was the dominant influence in his early years. As a child, he learned to ride, shoot, sail, and play polo, tennis, and golf, and frequent trips to Europe helped him become conversant in German and French. He attended Groton School, where headmaster Endicott Peabody preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged students toward public service. At Harvard, Roosevelt was not especially distinguished as a student or athlete, but he became editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson, a role that called for ambition, energy, and the ability to manage others. His fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt, whose vigorous leadership and reforming zeal he admired, also became a model for him.

Roosevelt defeated President Herbert Hoover in a landslide in the 1932 election. During his first 100 days, he spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation, began the New Deal, built the New Deal coalition, and helped realign American politics into the Fifth Party System. His administration created programs to provide relief to unemployed people and farmers while seeking recovery through the National Recovery Administration and other efforts. He also instituted major regulatory reforms in finance, communications, and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition. Programs and laws from his presidency that survived include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Social Security.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt obtained a declaration of war on Japan and then on Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He worked with other national leaders in leading the Allies against the Axis powers, supervised the mobilization of the American economy for war, followed a Europe first strategy, initiated development of the first atomic bomb, and helped lay the groundwork for the United Nations. He won reelection in 1944 but died in 1945. Some of his actions have been criticized, including his order for the internment of Japanese Americans. Still, historical rankings consistently place him among the three greatest American presidents. His words still carry weight because they came from a leader who spoke to fear, work, and national strain: “The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”