“The New Dealer”

                                                                                       

….Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. He was home-schooled by private tutors until his parents (James and Sara Delano Roosevelt) decided to enroll their son in Groton preparatory school in Massachussetts (at age 14)  from 1896-1900. Then he moved on to Harvard law school and left with a Bachelor’s Degree in history after only three years (1900-1903). In 1905 he married his sixth cousin, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (Theodore Roosevelt’s niece) and had six children but only 5 survived infancy. Anna (1906) was the oldest then came James (1907), Elliot (1910), Franklin Jr. (1914), and John (1916).         

                                                                    

   

 ….In 1907, Roosevelt attended Columbia University (in New York). He passed the bar examination and left school without taking a degree, then Roosevelt studied with a New York City law firm for three years. He then decided to enter the world of politics and was elected the Senator of New York as a Democrat. He was reelected to the New York Senate in 1912, and supported the next presidential candidate Woodrow Wilson at the Democratic National Convention. To show his gratitude for the support Wilson appointed FDR the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. He held this position for 7 years (until 1920).

….Being the Assistant Secretary of the Navy gave him the experience he needed to become the Commander-in-Chief during World War II. Roosevelt’s success and growing popularity resulted in him being nominated for vice-president in 1920 by the Democratic Party. However, when Woodrow Wilson lost reelection to Warren G. Harding (because most people were against his plan for the U.S. participating in the League of Nations) Franklin D. Roosevelt decided to take a break from politics. Roosevelt and his family vacationed in Campobello Island, New Brunswick in the summer of 1921. There he was infected with poliomyelitis (polio), and never regained the use of his legs. He established a foundation in Warm Springs, Georgia to help other people suffering of polo, and also directed the March of Dimes program which founded an effective vaccine.

….With encouragement and support from his family and friends, Roosevelt decided to continue his political career. In 1924 after Governor Alfred E. Smith (of New York) was nominated as a presidential candidate, Rosevelt was elected Governor, but Smith lost to Herbert Hoover. After being reelected as Governor of New York, he began campaigning for presidency. The Great Depression ruined Hoover’s political career and in 1932, Roosevelt was nominated as the Democratic candidate for president. Months before FDR’s inauguration on March 4, 1933 the economic depression worsened. Businesses closed, bank failures increased, amd many Americans were unemployed. This was the greatest American crisis since the Civil War. He immediately began working on his New Deal.

….FDR closed banks temporarily and worked with Congress during the first “100 days” to pass a recovery plan to set up agencies such as the AAA (Agriculture Adjustment Administration) to support farm prices, and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) to employ young men. This also assisted businesses, insured bank deposits, regulated the stock market, and helped lower home and farm mortgage payments, and aided the unemployed. His plan got the economy back to the way it was before the Depression. Another New Deal legislation followed in 1935 which established the WPA ( Works Projects Administration), it provided jobs for laborers and also many artists, writers, authors, and musicians. His plan also started Social Security which provides money for the elderly.

….Roosevelt defeated Alfred M. Landonin 1936, followed by Wendell Willkie in 1940, and Thomas E. Dewey in 1944. He was the only president to serve more than two terms. In 1937, FDR decided to add new judges to the Supreme Court, but his proposal was defeated. The Supreme Court then began to decide in favor of the New Deal. A recession that occured during the middle of FDR’s 2nd term was considered the low-point of his political career.

….A war started in Europe and forced Roosevelt to concentrate on foreign affairs. He focused mainly on making American aid available to Britain, France, and China to obtain an amendment of the Neutrality Acts. Following the fall of France in 1940, Roosevelt’s policy began to change. Congress began to draft for the military and Roosevelt signed a “lend lease” bill in March 1941.This plan made America able to “lend” help to nations at war with Germany and Italy.

….On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.(Four days before Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.) Roosevelt was Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He worked with military advisers, and made desicions regarding war strategy. On January 1, 1942 he created a “grand alliance” in which all nations fighting the Axis pledged to a peacekeeping organization (it is now known as the United Nations.)

….A medical exam in 1944 showed that Roosevelt had serious heart and circulatory problems. His doctors put him on medication, but the war had put some extra stress on him. During a vacation at Warm Springs, Georgia on April 12, 1945 Roosevelt suffered a stroke and died 2 and a half hours later (at the age of 63.) FDR was buried in the Rose Gardens of his estate (property) in Hyde Park, New York.