Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin D. Roosevelt — biography. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving US president and the only one to have served more than two terms. His first two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth focused on US involvement in World War II. A member of the Democratic Party, Roosevelt served in the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and as the 44th governor of New York from 1929 to 1932. Born into the prominent Delano and Roosevelt families in Hyde Park, New York, Roosevelt graduated from Harvard University. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 1910, before becoming the assistant secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1920. Roosevelt was the running mate of James M. Cox on the Democratic ticket in the 1920 presidential election, which Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Harding. In 1921, an illness permanently paralyzed his legs. However, partly through the encouragement of his wife Eleanor, he returned to public office upon being elected governor of New York in 1928. As governor, he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. Roosevelt defeated President Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory in the 1932 presidential election. During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation, initiated the program to implement the New Deal, build the New Deal coalition, and realign American politics into the Fifth Party System. He created programs to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery with the National Recovery Administration and other programs. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition. He was re-elected in 1936, in one of the largest landslide victories in American history. Roosevelt was unable to expand the Supreme Court in 1937, the same year the conservative coalition was formed to block the implementation of further New Deal programs and reforms. Major surviving programs and legislation implemented under Roosevelt include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Social Security. In 1940, he was reelected, as there were not presidential term limits until 1951. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt obtained a declaration of war on Japan, and subsequently on Japan's Axis partners, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. He worked closely with other national leaders in leading the Allies against the Axis powers. Roosevelt supervised the mobilization of the American economy to support the war effort and implemented a Europe first strategy. He also initiated the development of the first atomic bomb and worked with the other Allied leaders to lay the groundwork for the United Nations. Roosevelt won reelection in 1944, but died in 1945. Since then, some of his actions have been criticized, such as his ordering of the internment of Japanese Americans. Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him among the three greatest American presidents. ### Early life Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York, to businessman James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano. His parents, who were sixth cousins, came from the wealthy Roosevelt and Delano families. They resided at Springwood, a large estate south of Hyde Park's historic center. James was a prominent Bourbon Democrat who once took Franklin to meet President Grover Cleveland. During this meeting, Cleveland said: "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be President of the United States." Franklin's mother Sara, the dominant influence in his early years, once declared, "My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all." James, who was 54 when Franklin was born, was considered by some as a remote father, though biographer James MacGregor Burns indicates James interacted with his son more than was typical at the time. Franklin had a half-brother, James Roosevelt "Rosy" Roosevelt, from his father's previous marriage. As a child, Roosevelt learned to ride, shoot, sail, and play polo, tennis, and golf. Frequent trips to Europe—beginning at age two and from age seven to fifteen—helped Roosevelt become conversant in German and French. Aside from a stint in public school in Germany at age nine, Roosevelt was homeschooled by tutors until age 14. He then attended Groton School, an Episcopal boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts. He was not among the more popular Groton students, who were better athletes and had rebellious streaks. Its headmaster, Endicott Peabody, preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Peabody remained a strong influence throughout Roosevelt's life, officiating at his wedding and visiting him as president. Like most of his Groton classmates, Roosevelt went to Harvard College. He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity and the Fly Club, and was a cheerleader. Roosevelt was relatively undistinguished as a student or athlete, but he became editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson newspaper, which required ambition, energy, and the ability to manage others. He later said, "I took economics courses in college for four years, and everything I was taught was wrong." Roosevelt's father died in 1900, distressing him greatly. The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became US president. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model. He graduated from Harvard in three years in 1903 with an A.B. in history. He took graduate courses for an additional year. Like his cousin Theodore, he was a member of The Explorers Club. Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School in 1904, but dropped out in 1907 after passing the New York bar examination. ### Presidency As president, Roosevelt appointed powerful men to top positions, but made all of his administration's major decisions himself, regardless of any delays, inefficiencies, or resentments this may have caused. Analyzing the president's administrative style, Burns concludes: The president stayed in charge of his administration...by drawing fully on his formal and informal powers as Chief Executive; by raising goals, creating momentum, inspiring a personal loyalty, getting the best out of people...by deliberately fostering among his aides a sense of competition and a clash of wills that led to disarray, heartbreak, and anger but also set off pulses of executive energy and sparks of creativity...by handing out one job to several men and several jobs to one man, thus strengthening his own position as a court of appeals, as a depository of information, and as a tool of co-ordination; by ignoring or bypassing collective decision-making agencies, such as the Cabinet...and always by persuading, flattering, juggling, improvising, reshuffling, harmonizing, conciliating, manipulating. === First and second terms (1933–1941) === When Roosevelt was inaugurated on March 4, 1933, the US was at the nadir of the Great Depression. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed, and farmers were in deep trouble as prices had fallen by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million people were homeless. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states—as well as the District of Columbia—had closed their banks. Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery, and reform": relief for the unemployed, recovery in boosting the economy back to normal, and reform of the financial and banking systems. Roosevelt presented his proposals directly to the American public in 30 radio addresses known as "fireside chats". Inspired by his own victory over paralytic illness, his persistent optimism and activism served to renew the national spirit. ==== First New Deal (1933–1934) ==== On his second day in office, Roosevelt declared a four-day national "bank holiday", to end the runs by depositors seeking to withdraw funds. He called for a special session of Congress on March 9, when Congress passed, almost sight unseen, the Emergency Banking Act. The act, first developed by the Hoover administration and Wall Street bankers, gave the president the power to determine the opening and closing of banks and authorized the Federal Reserve Banks to issue banknotes. The "Hundred Days Congress" saw an unprecedented amount of legislation and set a benchmark against which future presidents have been compared. When the banks reopened on March 15, stock prices rose by 15 percent and in the following weeks over $1 billion was returned to bank vaults, ending the bank panic. On March 22, Roosevelt signed the Cullen–Harrison Act, which ended Prohibition. Roosevelt saw the establishment of a number of agencies and measures designed to provide relief. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, under the leadership of Harry Hopkins, distributed relief to state governments. The Public Works Administration (PWA), under Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, oversaw the construction of large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, and schools. The Rural Electrification Administration (REA) brought electricity for the first time to millions of rural homes. The most popular…