Franklin Roosevelt (Presidents of the United States Biographies)

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Early Life and Career

Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. To get the free app, enter your mobile phone number. Would you like to tell us about a lower price? Franklin Delano Roosevelt may have been destined to be president of the United States.

Buy for others

After all, he was related by either blood or marriage to 11 other presidents. Roosevelt was not a rags-to-riches story. When he assumed office for the first time in , the country was mired in an economic crisis so deep that the very existence of capitalism was questioned. Roosevelt, though, had no such financial worries.

He did not even control his own finances. His mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, was in charge of the family purse strings. Roosevelt never had a financial worry in his life and there were those that assumed that when he became president, he would govern the nation with the interests of his social class in mind. That was far from the truth. He earned re-election by offering hope through a myriad of programs that were designed to help the average family, not preserve the financial status of the wealthy. Ultimately, it was war with Germany and Japan that pulled the country out of the Depression.

The country shifted its attention to the preservation of democracy and once again looked to Roosevelt to provide leadership, comfort, and hope. Arguably, few leaders could unite the country toward the common goal of winning the war in the way that Roosevelt did. When Americans saw Roosevelt move to a podium to speak, they were seeing the illusion of walking that Roosevelt wanted them to see. It was only in his final months, when he was dying of congenital heart failure, that Roosevelt presented anything other than the figure of strength and confidence.

He was not a perfect man or perfect husband. Yet it was in the Pacific rather than the Atlantic that war came to the United States. When Japan joined the Axis powers of Germany and Italy, Roosevelt began to restrict exports to Japan of supplies essential to making war. Throughout , Japan negotiated with the United States, seeking restoration of trade in those supplies, particularly petroleum products. When the negotiations failed to produce agreement, Japanese military leaders began to plan an attack on the United States.

This controversial hypothesis continues to be debated today. By the end of November, Roosevelt knew that an attack was imminent the United States had broken the Japanese code , but he was uncertain where it would take place. To his great surprise, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii , on December 7, , destroying or damaging nearly the entire U.

Bibliography of Franklin D. Roosevelt

Pacific fleet and hundreds of airplanes and killing about 2, military personnel and civilians. From the start of American involvement in World War II, Roosevelt took the lead in establishing a grand alliance among all countries fighting the Axis powers. He met with Churchill in a number of wartime conferences at which differences were settled amicably. One early difference centred upon the question of an invasion of France. Relations with the Soviet Union posed a difficult problem for Roosevelt.

Throughout the war the Soviet Union accepted large quantities of lend-lease supplies but seldom divulged its military plans or acted in coordination with its Western allies. Roosevelt, believing that the maintenance of peace after the war depended on friendly relations with the Soviet Union, hoped to win the confidence of Joseph Stalin. Stalin kept his pledge concerning Japan but proceeded to impose Soviet satellite governments throughout eastern Europe.

Roosevelt had been suffering from advanced arteriosclerosis for more than a year before the Yalta Conference. His political opponents had tried to make much of his obviously declining health during the campaign of , when he ran for a fourth term against Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York. But Roosevelt campaigned actively and won the election by a popular vote of 25 million to 22 million and an electoral college vote of to By the time of his return from Yalta, however, he was so weak that for the first time in his presidency he spoke to Congress while sitting down.

On the afternoon of April 12, while sitting for a portrait, he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage , and he died a few hours later. With him at his death were two cousins, Laura Delano and Margaret Suckley, and Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd by then a widow , with whom he had renewed his relationship a few years before. During his lifetime Franklin D.

Roosevelt was simultaneously one of the most loved and most hated men in American history.

Biographies and Features - FDR Presidential Library & Museum

His supporters hailed him as the saviour of his nation during the Great Depression and the defender of democracy during World War II. Opponents criticized him for undermining American free-market capitalism , for unconstitutionally expanding the powers of the federal government, and for transforming the nation into a welfare state.

It is generally accepted by all, however, that he was a brilliant politician, able to create a massive coalition of supporters that sustained the Democratic Party for decades after his death. There is also little argument that he was a talented administrator, able to retain leaders of diverse views within the executive branch. The table provides a list of cabinet members in the administration of President Franklin D. We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles.

You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article.

Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Cabinet of President Franklin D. Ickes Agriculture Henry A. Wallace from March 2, Labor Frances Perkins. Learn More in these related Britannica articles: In contrast to many countries with parliamentary forms of government, where the office of president, or head of state, is mainly ceremonial, in the United States the president is vested with great authority and is arguably….

Roosevelt , made his secretary of state, Cordell Hull, the head of the U. Hull was a free-trader, but in July Roosevelt sent a message to the conference insisting that its main concern must be monetary exchanges, and in January the…. Roosevelt was generally solicitous. From the fundamentally different outlooks of Chiang, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Roosevelt and because of the divergent national interests of China, the British Commonwealth, and the United States, there followed many controversies that had powerful repercussions in….

Indeed, Hoover bequeathed to his successor two bold initiatives meant to restore international cooperation in matters of trade, currency, and security: The final Allied agreements. More About Franklin D. The creation of Israel presidential election of In United States presidential election of Background and candidates presidential election of In United States presidential election of presidential election of In United States presidential election of presidential election of In United States presidential election of View More.

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. Help us improve this article! Contact our editors with your feedback. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources.

At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. Internet URLs are the best. Thank You for Your Contribution! There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Keep Exploring Britannica Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin, Russian intelligence officer and politician who served as president —, —…. Roosevelt delivered his inaugural address and from his first days in the office, he acted with an openness and honesty towards citizens and press that were unprecedented in former administrations. One of his first steps as president was to surround himself with different experts, union leaders, professors, and intellectuals that could advise him and help him find solutions.

Pressured by the gravity of the economic depression, Roosevelt decided that radical policies were dangerous and that the best way to handle these sensitive issues was to try innovative programs to stimulate the economy and employment. While some of his solutions were efficient, others reflected poorly in reality. Among others, his agenda advocated farming subsidies, unemployment insurance, and retirement pensions. To fix the distressing unemployment issue, President Roosevelt urged Congress to establish the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, which provided states with financial aid to develop programs for the millions of unemployed people in the country.

An innovative policy was the foundation of the Civilian Conservation Corps, which involved , young men in projects for rural development. The Agricultural Adjustment Act provided subsidies to farmers who were in deep trouble due to falling prices.

The Tennessee Valley Authority was established by Roosevelt with the aim of reducing the devastating poverty in the area. To further reduce employment, Roosevelt pushed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which caused controversy because it forced businesses to set fix prices and wages.

• Franklin D. Roosevelt Biography: 32nd President of the United States?
• The Delta Kappa Gamma Bulletin - Educational Research (Educational Research 79-2)!
• The Wimbledon Common Murder: The shocking story of how an innocent man nearly got sent down for life.
• Raw Amateur Models: Sherri, Vol. 1, Bondage BDSM S&M Naked and Nude Tits, Boobs, and Breasts Glamour Model Photos!

In elaborating his New Deal, Roosevelt intended to create a welfare state that would maintain capitalism as its foundation. While he rejected socialism, Roosevelt believed that the federal government should support the Americans who were struggling. Meanwhile, the conservatives considered his policies extreme. This clash led to the development of a Second New Deal. The new program brought the Social Security Act of , which promised economic security for the elderly, the temporarily unemployed, and the sick, and the National Labor Relations Act, also known as the Wagner Act, which protected workers against unfair practices of companies.

Another important success of Roosevelt was the creation of the Works Progress Administration through the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act, which was a program aimed at providing employment to the jobless. The WPA employed 8. WPA workers even developed cultural and artistic programs and events for numerous communities. While big business leaders supported Landon, Roosevelt had an outstanding base of support among the working class and the unions.

After a series of clashes with the Supreme Court and the conservative factions of the government during his second term, Roosevelt lost some of his political force and became unable of passing some of his other reform legislation. As Adolf Hitler rose to prominence in Germany and the war became imminent in Europe, the United States decided to avoid getting involved in the conflict. Roosevelt won a third term as president against Wendell Willkie. During the campaign, Roosevelt had promised that he would protect the peace in the United States and would not send Americans to fight in a foreign war.

Despite all his promises, he was forced to change his policy under the overwhelming political pressure and changing world events. When France was occupied by Germany in June , the Americans, shocked by the event, changed their views as well, and the isolationists lost public support. Besides the European crisis, Roosevelt also had to manage another international conflict with Japan.

The Roosevelt administration refused to remove the embargo. On December 7, , Japan delivered a surprise bomb attack on the U. The idea of American neutrality became a distant dream. At the beginning of , after mobilizing its armed forces, the United States entered the war. Roosevelt met Churchill in January in Morocco to discuss the strategy of the Allied troops. In November, he met both Churchill and Stalin in Iran. In August , the three leaders met in Washington D.

A few months later, Franklin D. Roosevelt won a fourth term as president against Republican presidential candidate Thomas E. In February , after he was elected to a fourth term in office, Roosevelt had another meeting with his allies, Churchill and Stalin, at Yalta, in the Crimea. The results of the Yalta negotiations are still controversial and many criticized Roosevelt for abandoning Eastern Europe in the hands of the communist Soviets. In reality, Roosevelt knew that he could not trust Stalin and that Stalin would not compromise, especially since the Soviet army had already occupied Poland and a large part of Eastern Europe.

When he returned from Yalta, Roosevelt was so physically weak that he scared everyone. He sought refuge in Warm Springs, Georgia, but his health continued to deteriorate dramatically. On April 12, , after complaining of a headache, Roosevelt fell unconscious and died within hours of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

He was in the company of his former lover, Lucy Mercer. Truman was summoned to the White House for a meeting with Eleanor Roosevelt. For you are the on in trouble now. Roosevelt was deeply mourned by Americans all over the country, who were shocked and devastated by his death. He had accompanied them in moments of extreme crisis, such as economic depression and war. Months after his death, the Axis powers surrendered and peace was restored in the world. The man who conquered fear. Accessed June 26, A New Deal Body Politic: Landscape, Labor, and the Civilian Conservation Corps.