Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
32nd President of the United States
In office March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945
Vice President	John N. Garner Henry A. Wallace Harry S. Truman
Preceded by	Herbert Hoover
Succeeded by	Harry S. Truman
Born	January 30, 1882 Hyde Park, New York
Died	April 12, 1945 Warm Springs, Georgia
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Eleanor Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945) was a governor of New York and the 32nd President of the United States.

Family

His father, James Roosevelt, and his mother, Sara, were each from rich old New York families, of Dutch and French ancestry respectively. Franklin was their only child. His paternal grandmother, Mary Rebecca Aspinwall, was a first cousin of Elizabeth Monroe, wife of the fifth U.S. President, James Monroe. One of his ancestors was John Lothropp, also an ancestor of Benedict Arnold and Joseph Smith, Jr. One of his distant relatives from his mother's side is the author Laura Ingalls Wilder. His maternal grandfather Warren Delano II, a descendant of Mayflower passengers Richard Warren, Isaac Allerton, Degory Priest, and Francis Cooke, during a period of twelve years in China made more than a million dollars in the tea trade in Macau, Canton, and Hong Kong, but upon coming back to the United States, he lost it all in the Panic of 1857. In 1860, he came back to China and made a fortune in the notorious but highly profitable opium trade supplying opium-based medication to the U. S. War Department during the American Civil War.

Early life

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in the Hudson Valley town of Hyde Park, New York.

Early political career

Roosevelt was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson. He was nominated the vice presidential candidate under James M. Cox in 1920. Cox and Roosevelt lost to Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge.

In 1921, Roosevelt got sick with polio, a disease that paralyzes people. He never walked again, but Roosevelt remained physically fit, becoming an avid swimmer. Roosevelt became a champion of medical research and treatment for crippling illnesses, but kept his illness as hidden as possible from the public, fearing discrimination. His disability did not limit his political career; Roosevelt was elected the Governor of New York in 1928. His wife, Eleanor Roosevelt helped his career by traveling and meeting people when Roosevelt could not. She became famous as his eyes and ears, meeting thousands of ordinary people and bringing their concerns to Roosevelt.

Presidency

Roosevelt won the election against the unpopular incumbent (president at the time) Herbert Hoover and became president in early 1933.

He started a series of popular programs known as the New Deal to fight against the Great Depression. The New Deal gave people jobs building roads, bridges, dams, parks, schools, and other public services. Also, it created Social Security, made banks insure their customers, gave direct aid to the needy, and made many regulations to the economy. Because of this, he was re-elected in a large victory in 1936 and continued the New Deal. The United States did not fully recover from the Great Depression until it entered World War II.

Roosevelt was elected a third term in 1940. He gave weapons and money to the Allies fighting in World War II as a part of the Lend-Lease program at this time, but the United States was still technically neutral in the war. During December 7th 1941, Japan launched a strong attack on the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii. Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan and entered the United States into World War II. Roosevelt also signed an order allowing Japanese Americans to be sent to internment camps against their will. While still president, he died on April 12, 1945. Vice President Harry Truman became president. World War II continued for almost four more months, but American victory was already assured.

For overcoming the difficult challenges of a depression and a world war, historians generally consider him to be one of the best U.S. presidents.

Other websites

English Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

• FDR's White House biography