A pioneer of the modern United States and a leader who brought the nation through some of its darkest times, FDR was a revolutionary leader for the United States in his 12 years at the Oval Office, before his untimely death on April 12th, 1945, due to a cerebral hemorrhage. His life was full of challenges and trials, and this biography will help bring to light how he overcame them to become one of the most popular and longest-reigning presidents in the nation's history.

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EARLY LIFE

     Born in the small town of Hyde Park, New York, as an only child to the very wealthy and affluent family of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt, the future president spent his early years at both his family home in upstate New York and a luxury resort across the Atlantic in Europe. As for his education, his formative years were at home, being taught the ropes of life by his parents and personal tutors hired by his family. At the age of 14, he stopped his at-home learning and began to attend Groton Preparatory School, located in the Massachusetts town of the same name. Throughout his years in Groton, he was regarded as a fine young man, often giving up free hours of his to help give and serve those in poverty and putting Christian Stewardship into his life through his services to the public. After this time at Groton, in 1900, he was accepted and started to learn at the famous Harvard University, and while his academic record at Harvard was average, with him ending up undistinguished, he kept up with his social work in Boston and had a very busy social life. During his time at the college, he met his future wife and future first lady whom was also involved in socialwork, Eleanor Roosevelt, though they were related due to her being Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin's cousin's, niece. They married on March 17, 1905 after being engaged the year before, during Franklin's last year at Harvard. After exiting Harvard, a young Franklin moved on to learn at the Columbia University Law School, but was indifferent on his studies, leaving to become a clerk at Wall Street firm Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn, where he also did not particularly enjoy his time.

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ENTRY INTO POLITICS

      In 1910, Roosevelt officially entered the world of politics. He was elected to the senate of the state of New York as a Democrat, which was unusual as his home district was typically populated with Republican voters. In 1912, Roosevelt was elected again into the same position that he held before, supporting the presidency of Woodrow Wilson at the Democratic National Convention (NDC). Due to this vocal support of Wilson, he was appointed as the assistant secretary of the U.S. Navy in 1913, lasting there for seven years until 1920.

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MAKING A NAME

     In this role, Roosevelt excelled, particularly concerning the business side of naval operations. This role as assistant secretary helped him later on in his career when he was the leader of the whole armed forces during World War Two. Returning to before his presidency, his successful time helping to administer the navy helped him gain popularity and support from politicians and regular Americans to the point where he was nominated to be the running mate for Ohioan James M. Cox for the Democratic Party. However, Woodrow Wilson's stance on the United States in the League of Nations, a predecessor to the modern United Nations, made the Democrats lose the election, instead having Republican Warren G. Harding lead the nation.

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THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND YEARS BEFORE PRESIDENCY

     Shortly after his loss in the national election, Roosevelt was diagnosed with Poliomyelitis, or Polio for short. This is a crippling motor disease that often immobilizes and kills people, and while Roosevelt tried to fight this illness through physical activity such as swimming, he eventually was paralyzed from the waist down by the time his first term as president began. Harding died halfway through his first term in 1923 and was succeeded by his running mate, Calvin Coolidge. A quiet and reserved man, Coolidge ran the nation smoothly through a relatively uneventful presidency, and in the 1928 national election, he promoted and advocated for the democratic candidate, Alfred E. Smith, also of New York. However, Roosevelt's party lost another election and Herbert Hoover of Iowa assumed the presidency as the 31st president.

 

FIRST TERM (1933-1937)

​     It is safe to say that FDR's first term was riddled with issues inherited to him. Hoover's gross mismanagement of the nation's government and funds led to the Great Depression, kicked off by the​ Stock Market Crash of 1929. This event was worldwide but was most prevalently seen in the U.S. where the unemployment rate increased drastically to around 24.9 percent, equating to an estimate of 12,830,000 U.S. citizens left without a job. This massive number of unemployed people in the nation led to a crisis within the U.S. Government. To reduce the number of jobless and to get the nation back on its feet, shortly after Roosevelt was inaugurated, he enacted the New Deal programs. While the New Deal was being established, however, Roosevelt closed banks temporarily, to make sure that people would not lose their money in case the bank that they deposited money into collapsed. Back to the New Deal, it was a project in which Roosevelt, with the help of the government, established many new agencies, such as the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the most popular, being the Tennesee Valley Authority, to employ young men so that they were able to work and provide their family with money and other necessities that were expensive to many at the time, such as food and water. Later, other agencies, such as the Works Projects Administration, took advantage of people who had talents in the arts, employing people such as authors, artists, and musicians.

  

   SECOND TERM (1937-1941)

 With Franklin Roosevelt's second term came many new problems, both foreign and domestic. During the election, Roosevelt had more support from groups such as farmers, laborers, and the poor of the nation, due to his policies in the New Deal that helped them survive the Great Depression. This helped him overwhelmingly beat the opposition candidate, Alfred Landon of Kansas, by over 10 million votes, with FDR taking every state except for Maine and Vermont. In his inaugural address for his second term, he stated his plans to expand the New Deal policies, with the support of Congress. However, the Supreme Court was in the way when it came to starting these policies, with all of the justices being appointed before Roosevelt's presidency. These justices challenged the constitutionality of the New Deal and fought against other acts such as the Social Security Act and the Wagner Act. To try and overcome this hurdle between the policies being adopted, FDR proposed a new rule, allowing him to replace every current judge who was above the age of 70. This was controversial across the whole nation, even among the then-sitting president's supporters. This hotly contested law ended when Congress voted it down, causing Roosevelt's first major defeat in Congress. This proposal from FDR also led the Supreme Court to uphold the previously mentioned Wagner and Social Security Acts. By 1938, the economy had made a solid recovery from the Great Depression and a recession the year before, causing Republicans and Conservative Democrats of that period to fight against the New Deal's continuation, and together, they blocked any further reform. With the end of the New Deal, a new obstacle arose in World War II, starting in 1939. The outbreak of this war led to Roosevelt having to make a crucial decision: to stay neutral or to pick sides. Eventually, he picked something in the middle, with the U.S. not fighting but providing major aid to allied countries such as Britain and France. However, something was bound to happen to drive the Americans into it, and that happened just as Roosevelt was reelected for a record third consecutive term.
 

THIRD TERM (1941-1945)

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On December 7, 1941, a major American naval base in Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, home to the American Pacific Fleet, was attacked by the Japanese, led by Hideki Tojo and Emperor Hirohito. This attack sunk many ships, crippling the US Navy, and as Japan was allied with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, it also dragged the Americans into the second world war, with them officially declaring war the day after the attack, on December 8, with Germany being declared war on the 11th and Italy declaring war on them. This sudden attack on American forces caused the incumbent president to rapidly mobilize and get ready to fight in the massive conflict that was fought over three continents. Many New Deal programs disappeared in favor of these mobilization efforts, and substantial amounts of money were spent on production for war. Before, he was just orchestrating an alliance of countries to fight against the Axis powers, but now, as they were officially involved, he was one of the leaders of this powerful alliance. However, after the fall of France at the hand of the Nazis, a problem arose. Winston Churchill wanted to postpone an invasion of Nazi Germany until  they had a big enough hold and gap in power between the two of them, and Churchill's thought was respected in regard to France's invasion, which will be touched on in more detail soon, but other allied forces invaded North Africa, Sicily, and finally Italy from 1942-43. Amid these victories, a growing conflict between the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, and the U.S. arose, as while they were allied with the  U.S. against the Axis, they had taken much of Germany's land for themselves, rarely partitioning it or following allied orders. They, through this disagreement, however, fought together as brothers in arms in the massive D-Day invasion of Normandy, one of the biggest battle engagements of all time and the biggest invasion from sea. After this successful operation and with France freed along with most of Europe, in the Yalta conference in Crimea, the two of them and Winston Churchill met to discuss plans after the war, as it was almost over in Europe at that time. During this conference, Roosevelt convinced Stalin to aid the Americans in their Pacific Theatre, as the Soviets had a sizeable border with the then vast Japanese Empire and the Pacific Ocean itself. After Hitler's death and the subsequent fall of the Nazi regime, this plan went into full effect, and a series of intense naval battles occurred, including the Battle of Midway, Guam, and others. Once the U.S. had strongholds close to the main Japanese islands, Roosevelt had a crucial decision to make: to invade Japan using traditional military forces or to use the top-secret atom bomb, a secret project designed for maximum destruction using newly-discovered nuclear fission, releasing massive amounts of energy. Roosevelt chose the second option, saving what could have been hundreds of thousands of lives.

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FOURTH  TERM/DEATH (1945- DEATH)

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Through all of this, however, Roosevelt's health was steadily declining due to a cardiac condition known as arteriosclerosis. This disease was so debilitating to the already handicapped Roosevelt to the point where he could not stand up and address his Congress, which was a first in his presidential career. In the spring of 1945, he went on holiday to his family's cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia, known as the "Little White House". It is here, on April 12 of that same year, that while he was sitting for a portrait, he suffered a severe cerebral hemorrhage, dying several hours later. He was buried at the Franklin Roosevelt Library and Museum in his hometown of Hyde Park, NY.

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FDR'S LEGACY

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Even through some of America's darkest times, Roosevelt stood steadfast at his job, fighting through the Great Depression through the New Deal, getting a nation brought to its knees back upright. When another blow was dealt in the form of the Pearl Harbor attacks, he fought back and united a nation to overcome the forces of the Axis Powers, along with other nations. It is this diligence and resilience from the nations leader that also helped the American citizens that he governed regain faith, both in themselves and in the nation and the people who represent them. Even after Roosevelt's death, his reform and part in winning World War Two helped future presidents increase the USA's wealth and power, making the country the superpower that it is today. It is safe to say that without Franklin Roosevelt's twelve years in office, America would not be as we know it today.