Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Biography

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often called FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until he passed away in 1945. Born into the well-known Delano and Roosevelt families in Hyde Park, New York, he became the longest-serving president in U.S. history and was the only one to serve more than two terms. As a Democrat, Roosevelt led the country through two major crises: the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the early 1940s.

Roosevelt went to the Groton School, then attended Harvard College and Columbia Law School. He got into politics early, winning a seat in the New York State Senate in 1910. He later served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1920, where he gained important federal administrative experience. In 1920, he was selected as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate with James M. Cox, but they lost to Republican Warren G. Harding. In 1921, Roosevelt became paralyzed in his legs due to an illness, often thought to be polio. Despite this challenge, with the strong support of his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, he continued his political work. He was elected governor of New York in 1928 and used that role to create relief programs as the economic crisis grew.

In 1932, Roosevelt decisively beat the incumbent President Herbert Hoover, promising a New Deal for the American people. His first hundred days saw a rush of federal legislation aimed at economic recovery and relief. He started the New Deal, a wide-ranging series of programs and reforms providing help to the unemployed and farmers, restructuring financial systems, reforming labor, and ending Prohibition. His landslide re-election in 1936 showed strong public backing for his policies. Although his 1937 plan to expand the Supreme Court failed, he kept working to change the federal government's role in the economy and society.

As war spread through Europe and Asia, Roosevelt slowly moved the U.S. from neutrality to support for the Allies, notably through the Lend-Lease Act of 1941. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. entered the war. Roosevelt worked closely with Allied leaders like Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, attending important meetings at Tehran, Yalta, and Casablanca. He was elected for a fourth term in 1944, despite his declining health. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, just weeks before Germany surrendered. He received many honors in his life, such as the Albert Medal in 1941 and the Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour, and was named Time magazine's Person of the Year in 1932, 1934, and 1941.