Franklin Delano Roosevelt

(1882 - 1945 )

Who was Franklin Roosevelt ?

    FDR was born in Hyde Park, New York. In 1903 he graduated from Harvard College, and then attended Columbia Law School. In 1910, he was elected to the New York Senate, and shortly thereafter was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by President Wilson. At age 39, Roosevelt was stricken with polio, but he did not let this stop him. Seven years later, in 1928, he became Governor of New York.

    Roosevelt's first acts as President consisted of programs designed to perform the three acts he saw the nation needed: relief, recovery, and reform. His three 'R's were the basis of his New Deal. The New Deal temporarily put the nation on track, and Roosevelt was elected to his second term under what he felt was a mandate to continue his sweeping reforms. President Roosevelt's foreign policy was called the "good neighbor" policy, which basically stated that the U.S. would support any nations threatened by another nation.

    President Roosevelt continued to run for President until his death during his fourth term of office. He felt that the nation needed a consistent leader during the times of crisis that seemed to follow each other: the Great Depression and then World War II.