Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt[a] (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), commonly known as FDR, was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death. He was a member of the Democratic Party and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America's involvement in World War II
A member of the Delano family and Roosevelt family, after attending university, Roosevelt began to practice law in New York City. He was elected a member of the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and was then the assistant secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Roosevelt was James M. Cox's running mate on the Democratic Party's ticket in the 1920 U.S. presidential election, but Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Harding. In 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness that permanently paralyzed his legs. Partly through the encouragement of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, he returned to public office as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide.
During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal in response to the most significant economic crisis in American history. He also built the New Deal coalition, realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System and defining American liberalism throughout the mid-20th century. He created numerous programs to provide relief to the unemployed and farmers while seeking economic recovery with the National Recovery Administration and other programs. He also instituted major regulatory reforms related to finance, communications, and labor, and presided over the end of Prohibition. In 1936, Roosevelt won a landslide reelection with the economy having improved from 1933, but the economy relapsed into a deep recession in 1937 and 1938. He was unable to expand the Supreme Court in 1937, the same year the conservative coalition was formed to block the implementation of further New Deal programs and reforms. Major surviving programs and legislation implemented under Roosevelt include the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Social Security. In 1940, he ran successfully for reelection, becoming the only American president to serve for more than two terms.
With World War II looming after 1938 in addition to the Japanese invasion of China and the aggression of Nazi Germany, Roosevelt gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union, while the U.S. remained officially neutral. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he obtained a declaration of war on Japan, Germany, and Italy. He worked closely with other national leaders in leading the Allies against the Axis powers. Roosevelt supervised the mobilization of the American economy to support the war effort and implemented a Europe first strategy. He also initiated the development of the first atomic bomb and worked with the other Allied leaders to lay the groundwork for the United Nations and other post-war institutions, even coining the term "United Nations".[2] Roosevelt won reelection in 1944 but died in 1945 after his physical health seriously and steadily declined during the war years. Since then, several of his actions have come under substantial criticism, including his ordering of the internment of Japanese Americans in concentration camps. Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him as one of the greatest American presidents.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in the Hudson Valley town of Hyde Park, New York, to businessman James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano. His parents, who were sixth cousins,[3] came from wealthy, established New York families—the Roosevelts, the Aspinwalls and the Delanos, respectively. Roosevelt's paternal ancestor migrated to New Amsterdam in the 17th century, and the Roosevelts succeeded as merchants and landowners.[4] The Delano family patriarch, Philip Delano, traveled to the New World on the Fortune in 1621, and the Delanos thrived as merchants and shipbuilders in Massachusetts.[5] Franklin had a half-brother, James Roosevelt "Rosy" Roosevelt, from his father's previous marriage.[6]
Roosevelt's father, James, graduated from Harvard Law School in 1851 but chose not to practice law after receiving an inheritance from his grandfather.[6] James, a prominent Bourbon Democrat, once took Franklin to meet President Grover Cleveland, who said to him: "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be President of the United States."[7] Franklin's mother, the dominant influence in his early years, once declared, "My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all."[3][8] James, who was 54 when Franklin was born, was considered by some as a remote father, though biographer James MacGregor Burns indicates James interacted with his son more than was typical at the time.[9]
As a child, Roosevelt learned to ride, shoot, and sail, and play polo, tennis, and golf.[10][11] Frequent trips to Europe—beginning at age two and from age seven to fifteen—helped Roosevelt become conversant in German and French. Except for attending public school in Germany at age nine,[12] Roosevelt was homeschooled by tutors until age 14. He then attended Groton School, an Episcopal boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts.[13] He was not among the more popular Groton students, who were better athletes and had rebellious streaks.[14] Its headmaster, Endicott Peabody, preached the duty of Christians to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Peabody remained a strong influence throughout Roosevelt's life, officiating at his wedding and visiting him as president.[15][16]
Like most of his Groton classmates, Roosevelt went to Harvard College.[14] He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity[17] and the Fly Club,[18] and served as a school cheerleader.[19] Roosevelt was relatively undistinguished as a student or athlete, but he became editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper, which required ambition, energy, and the ability to manage others.[20] He later said, "I took economics courses in college for four years, and everything I was taught was wrong."[21]
Roosevelt's father died in 1900, causing him great distress.[22] The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became President of the United States. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero.[23] He graduated from Harvard in three years in 1903 with an A.B. in history.[24] He remained there for a fourth year, taking graduate courses.[25]
Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School in 1904 but dropped out in 1907 after passing the New York Bar Examination.[26][b] In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn, working in the firm's admiralty law division.[28]
During his second year of college, Roosevelt met and proposed to Boston heiress Alice Sohier, who turned him down.[14] Franklin then began courting his childhood acquaintance and fifth cousin once removed, Eleanor Roosevelt, a niece of Theodore Roosevelt.[29] In 1903, Franklin proposed to Eleanor. Following resistance from Roosevelt's mother, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were married on March 17, 1905.[14][30] Eleanor's father, Elliott, was deceased; Theodore, who was then president, gave away the bride.[31] The young couple moved into Springwood. Franklin and Sara Roosevelt also provided a townhouse for the newlyweds in New York City, and Sara had a house built for herself alongside that townhouse. Eleanor never felt at home in the houses at Hyde Park or New York; however, she loved the family's vacation home on Campobello Island, which Sara also gave the couple.[32] Burns indicates that young Franklin Roosevelt was self-assured and at ease in the upper class. On the other hands, Eleanor was then shy and disliked social life. Initially, Eleanor stayed home to raise their children.[33] As his father had done, Franklin left childcare to his wife, and Eleanor delegated the task to caregivers. She later said that she knew "absolutely nothing about handling or feeding a baby."[34] They had six children. Anna, James, and Elliott were born in 1906, 1907, and 1910, respectively. The couple's second son, Franklin, died in infancy in 1909. Another son, also named Franklin, was born in 1914, and the youngest, John, was born in 1916.[35]
Roosevelt had several extramarital affairs. He commenced an affair with Eleanor's social secretary, Lucy Mercer, soon after she was hired in 1914. That affair was discovered by Eleanor in 1918.[36] Franklin contemplated divorcing Eleanor, but Sara objected, and Mercer would not marry a divorced man with five children.[37] Franklin and Eleanor remained married, and Franklin promised never to see Mercer again. Eleanor never forgave him for the affair, and their marriage shifted to become a political partnership.[38] Eleanor soon established a separate home in Hyde Park at Val-Kill and devoted herself to social and political causes independent of her husband. The emotional break in their marriage was so severe that when Franklin asked Eleanor in 1942—in light of his failing health—to come live with him again, she refused.[39] Roosevelt was not always aware of Eleanor's visits to the White House. For some time, Eleanor could not easily reach Roosevelt on the telephone without his secretary's help; Franklin, in turn, did not visit Eleanor's New York City apartment until late 1944.[40]
Franklin broke his promise to Eleanor regarding Lucy Mercer. He and Mercer maintained a formal correspondence and began seeing each other again by 1941.[41][42] Roosevelt's son Elliott claimed that his father had a 20-year affair with his private secretary, Marguerite LeHand.[43] Another son, James, stated that "there is a real possibility that a romantic relationship existed" between his father and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway, who resided in the White House during part of World War II. Aides referred to her at the time as "the president's girlfriend",[44] and gossip linking the two romantically appeared in newspapers.[45]
Roosevelt cared little for the practice of law and told friends he planned to enter politics.[46] Despite his admiration for cousin Theodore, Franklin shared his father's bond with the Democratic Party, and in preparation for the 1910 elections, the party recruited Roosevelt to run for a seat in the New York State Assembly.[47] Roosevelt was a compelling recruit: he had the personality and energy for campaigning and the money to pay for his own campaign.[48] But Roosevelt's campaign for the state assembly ended after the Democratic incumbent, Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler, chose to seek re-election. Rather than putting his political hopes on hold, Roosevelt ran for a seat in the state senate.[49] The senate district, located in Dutchess, Columbia, and Putnam, was strongly Republican.[50] Roosevelt feared that opposition from Theodore could end his campaign, but Theodore encouraged his candidacy despite their party differences.[47] Acting as his own campaign manager, Roosevelt traveled throughout the senate district via automobile at a time when few could afford a car.[51] Due to his aggressive campaign,[52] his name recognition in the Hudson Valley, and the Democratic landslide in the 1910 United States elections, Roosevelt won a surprising victory.[53]
Despite short legislative sessions, Roosevelt treated his new position as a full-time career.[54] Taking his seat on January 1, 1911, Roosevelt soon became the leader of a group of "Insurgents" in opposition to the Tammany Hall machine that dominated the state Democratic Party. In the 1911 U.S. Senate election, which was determined in a joint session of the New York state legislature,[c] Roosevelt and nineteen other Democrats caused a prolonged deadlock by opposing a series of Tammany-backed candidates. Tammany threw its backing behind James A. O'Gorman, a highly regarded judge whom Roosevelt found acceptable, and O'Gorman won the election in late March.[55] Roosevelt in the process became a popular figure among New York Democrats.[53] News articles and cartoons depicted "the second coming of a Roosevelt", sending "cold shivers down the spine of Tammany".[56]
Roosevelt opposed Tammany Hall by supporting New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson's successful bid for the 1912 Democratic nomination.[57] The election became a three-way contest when Theodore Roosevelt left the Republican Party to launch a third-party campaign against Wilson and sitting Republican President William Howard Taft. Franklin's decision to back Wilson over his cousin in the general election alienated some of his family, except Theodore.[58] Roosevelt overcame a bout of typhoid fever, and with help from journalist Louis McHenry Howe, he was re-elected in the 1912 elections. After the election, he served as chairman of the Agriculture Committee; his success with farm and labor bills was a precursor to his later New Deal policies.[59] He had then become more consistently progressive, in support of labor and social welfare programs.[60]
Roosevelt's support of Wilson led to his appointment in March 1913 as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, the second-ranking official in the Navy Department after Secretary Josephus Daniels who paid it little attention.[61] Roosevelt had an affection for the Navy, was well-read on the subject, and was an ardent supporter of a large, efficient force.[62][63] With Wilson's support, Daniels and Roosevelt instituted a merit-based promotion system and extended civilian control over the autonomous departments of the Navy.[64] Roosevelt oversaw the Navy's civilian employees and earned the respect of union leaders for his fairness in resolving disputes.[65] No strikes occurred during his seven-plus years in the office,[66] as he gained valuable experience in labor issues, wartime management, naval issues, and logistics.[67]
In 1914, Roosevelt ran for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Elihu Root of New York. Though he had the backing of Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo and Governor Martin H. Glynn, he faced a formidable opponent in Tammany Hall's James W. Gerard.[68] He also was without Wilson's support, as the president needed Tammany's forces for his legislation and 1916 re-election.[69] Roosevelt was soundly defeated in the Democratic primary by Gerard, who in turn lost the general election to Republican James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. He learned that federal patronage alone, without White House support, could not defeat a strong local organization.[70] After the election, he and Tammany Hall boss Charles Francis Murphy sought accommodation and became allies.[71]
Roosevelt refocused on the Navy Department as World War I broke out in Europe in August 1914.[72] Though he remained publicly supportive of Wilson, Roosevelt sympathized with the Preparedness Movement, whose leaders strongly favored the Allied Powers and called for a military build-up.[73] The Wilson administration initiated an expansion of the Navy after the sinking of the RMS Lusitania by a German submarine, and Roosevelt helped establish the United States Navy Reserve and the Council of National Defense.[74] In April 1917, after Germany declared it would engage in unrestricted submarine warfare and attacked several U.S. ships, Congress approved Wilson's call for a declaration of war on Germany.[75]
Roosevelt requested that he be allowed to serve as a naval officer, but Wilson insisted that he continue as Assistant Secretary. For the next year, Roosevelt remained in Washington to coordinate the naval deployment, as the Navy expanded fourfold.[76][77] In the summer of 1918, Roosevelt traveled to Europe to inspect naval installations and meet with French and British officials. In September, he returned to the United States on board the USS Leviathan. On the 11-day voyage, pandemic influenza struck and killed many on board. Roosevelt became very ill with influenza and complicating pneumonia but recovered by the time the ship landed in New York.[78][79] After Germany signed an armistice in November 1918, Daniels and Roosevelt supervised the demobilization of the Navy.[80] Against the advice of older officers such as Admiral William Benson—who claimed he could not "conceive of any use the fleet will ever have for aviation"—Roosevelt personally ordered the preservation of the Navy's Aviation Division.[81] With the Wilson administration near an end, Roosevelt planned his next run for office. He approached Herbert Hoover about running for the 1920 Democratic presidential nomination, with Roosevelt as his running mate.[82]
Roosevelt's plan for Hoover to run fell through after Hoover publicly declared himself to be a Republican, but Roosevelt decided to seek the 1920 vice presidential nomination. After Governor James M. Cox of Ohio won the party's presidential nomination at the 1920 Democratic National Convention, he chose Roosevelt as his running mate, and the convention nominated him by acclamation.[83] Although his nomination surprised most people, he balanced the ticket as a moderate, a Wilsonian, and a prohibitionist with a famous name.[84][85] Roosevelt, then 38, resigned as Assistant Secretary after the Democratic convention and campaigned across the nation for the party ticket.[86]
During the campaign, Cox and Roosevelt defended the Wilson administration and the League of Nations, both of which were unpopular in 1920.[87] Roosevelt personally supported U.S. membership in the League, but, unlike Wilson, he favored compromising with Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and other "Reservationists".[88] Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge defeated the Cox–Roosevelt ticket in the presidential election by a wide margin, carrying every state outside of the South.[89] Roosevelt accepted the loss and later reflected that the relationships and goodwill that he built in the 1920 campaign proved to be a major asset in his 1932 campaign. The 1920 election also saw the first public participation of Eleanor Roosevelt who, with the support of Louis Howe, established herself as a valuable political player.[90] After the election, Roosevelt returned to New York City, where he practiced law and served as a vice president of the Fidelity and Deposit Company.[91]
convalescence.[107] That year, the Democrats were badly divided between an urban wing, led by Smith, and a conservative, rural wing, led by William Gibbs McAdoo. On the 101st ballot, the nomination went to John W. Davis, a compromise candidate who suffered a landslide defeat in the 1924 presidential election. Like many throughout the United States, Roosevelt did not abstain from alcohol during the Prohibition era, but publicly he sought to find a compromise on Prohibition acceptable to both wings of the party.[108]
In 1925, Smith appointed Roosevelt to the Taconic State Park Commission, and his fellow commissioners chose him as chairman.[109] In this role, he came into conflict with Robert Moses, a Smith protégé,[109] who was the primary force behind the Long Island State Park Commission and the New York State Council of Parks.[109] Roosevelt accused Moses of using the name recognition of prominent individuals including Roosevelt to win political support for state parks, but then diverting funds to the ones Moses favored on Long Island, while Moses worked to block the appointment of Howe to a salaried position as the Taconic commission's secretary.[109] Roosevelt served on the commission until the end of 1928,[110] and his contentious relationship with Moses continued as their careers progressed.[111]
In 1923 Edward Bok established the $100,000 American Peace Award for the best plan to deliver world peace. Roosevelt had leisure time and interest, and he drafted a plan for the contest. He never submitted it because Eleanor was selected as a judge for the prize. His plan called for a new world organization that would replace the League of Nations.[112] Although Roosevelt had been the vice-presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket of 1920 that supported the League, by 1924 he was ready to scrap it. His draft of a "Society of Nations" accepted the reservations proposed by Henry Cabot Lodge in the 1919 Senate debate. The new Society would not become involved in the Western Hemisphere, where the Monroe doctrine held sway. It would not have any control over military forces. Although Roosevelt's plan was never made public, he thought about the problem a great deal and incorporated some of his 1924 ideas into the design for the United Nations in 1944–1945.[113]
Smith, the Democratic presidential nominee in the 1928 election, asked Roosevelt to run for governor of New York in the 1928 state election.[114] Roosevelt initially resisted, as he was reluctant to leave Warm Springs and feared a Republican landslide.[115] Party leaders eventually convinced him only he could defeat the Republican gubernatorial nominee, New York Attorney General Albert Ottinger.[116] He won the party's gubernatorial nomination by acclamation and again turned to Howe to lead his campaign. Roosevelt was joined on the campaign trail by associates Samuel Rosenman, Frances Perkins, and James Farley.[117] While Smith lost the presidency in a landslide, and was defeated in his home state, Roosevelt was elected governor by a one-percent margin,[118] and became a contender in the next presidential election.[119]
Roosevelt proposed the construction of hydroelectric power plants and addressed the ongoing farm crisis of the 1920s.[120] Relations between Roosevelt and Smith suffered after he chose not to retain key Smith appointees like Moses.[121] He and his wife Eleanor established an understanding for the rest of his career; she would dutifully serve as the governor's wife but would also be free to pursue her own agenda and interests.[122] He also began holding "fireside chats", in which he directly addressed his constituents via radio, often pressuring the New York State Legislature to advance his agenda.[123]
In October 1929, the Wall Street Crash occurred and the Great Depression in the United States began.[124] Roosevelt saw the seriousness of the situation and established a state employment commission. He also became the first governor to publicly endorse the idea of unemployment insurance.[125]
When Roosevelt began his run for a second term in May 1930, he reiterated his doctrine from the campaign two years before: "that progressive government by its very terms must be a living and growing thing, that the battle for it is never-ending and that if we let up for one single moment or one single year, not merely do we stand still but we fall back in the march of civilization."[126] His platform called for aid to farmers, full employment, unemployment insurance, and old-age pensions.[127] He was elected to a second term by a 14% margin.[128]
Roosevelt proposed an economic relief package and the establishment of the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration to distribute those funds. Led first by Jesse I. Straus and then by Harry Hopkins, the agency assisted over one-third of New York's population between 1932 and 1938.[129] Roosevelt also began an investigation into corruption in New York City among the judiciary, the police force, and organized crime, prompting the creation of the Seabury Commission. The Seabury investigations exposed an extortion ring, led many public officials to be removed from office, and made the decline of Tammany Hall inevitable.[130] Roosevelt supported reforestation with the Hewitt Amendment in 1931, which gave birth to New York's State Forest system.[131]
As the 1932 presidential election approached, Roosevelt turned his attention to national politics, established a campaign team led by Howe and Farley, and a "brain trust" of policy advisers, primarily composed of Columbia University and Harvard University professors.[132] Some were not so sanguine about his chances, such as Walter Lippmann, the dean of political commentators, who observed: "He is a pleasant man who, without any important qualifications for the office, would very much like to be president."[133]
However, Roosevelt's efforts as governor to address the effects of the depression in his own state established him as the front-runner for the 1932 Democratic presidential nomination.[133] Roosevelt rallied the progressive supporters of the Wilson administration while also appealing to many conservatives, establishing himself as the leading candidate in the South and West. The chief opposition to Roosevelt's candidacy came from Northeastern conservatives, Speaker of the House John Nance Garner of Texas and Al Smith, the 1928 Democratic presidential nominee.[133]
Roosevelt entered the convention with a delegate lead due to his success in the 1932 Democratic primaries, but most delegates entered the convention unbound to any particular candidate. On the first presidential ballot, Roosevelt received the votes of more than half but less than two-thirds of the delegates, with Smith finishing in a distant second place. Roosevelt then promised the vice-presidential nomination to Garner, who controlled the votes of Texas and California; Garner threw his support behind Roosevelt after the third ballot, and Roosevelt clinched the nomination on the fourth ballot.[133] Roosevelt flew in from New York to Chicago after learning that he had won the nomination, becoming the first major-party presidential nominee to accept the nomination in person.[134] His appearance was essential, to show himself as vigorous, despite his physical disability.[133]
In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt declared, "I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms."[135] Roosevelt promised securities regulation, tariff reduction, farm relief, government-funded public works, and other government actions to address the Great Depression.[136] Reflecting changing public opinion, the Democratic platform included a call for the repeal of Prohibition; Roosevelt himself had not taken a public stand on the issue prior to the convention but promised to uphold the party platform.[137] Otherwise, Roosevelt's primary campaign strategy was one of caution, intent upon avoiding mistakes that would distract from Hoover's failings on the economy. His statements attacked the incumbent and included no other specific policies or programs.[133]
After the convention, Roosevelt won endorsements from several progressive Republicans, including George W. Norris, Hiram Johnson, and Robert La Follette Jr.[138] He also reconciled with the party's conservative wing, and even Al Smith was persuaded to support the Democratic ticket.[139] Hoover's handling of the Bonus Army further damaged the incumbent's popularity, as newspapers across the country criticized the use of force to disperse assembled veterans.[140]
Roosevelt won 57% of the popular vote and carried all but six states. Historians and political scientists consider the 1932–36 elections to be a political realignment. Roosevelt's victory was enabled by the creation of the New Deal coalition, small farmers, the Southern whites, Catholics, big-city political machines, labor unions, northern black Americans (southern ones were still disfranchised), Jews, intellectuals, and political liberals.[141] The creation of the New Deal coalition transformed American politics and started what political scientists call the "New Deal Party System" or the Fifth Party System.[142] Between the Civil War and 1929, Democrats had rarely controlled both houses of Congress and had won just four of seventeen presidential elections; from 1932 to 1979, Democrats won eight of twelve presidential elections and generally controlled both houses of Congress.[143]
Transition and assassination attempt
Main article: Presidential transition of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Roosevelt was elected in November 1932 but like his predecessors did not take office until the following March.[d] After the election, President Hoover sought to convince Roosevelt to renounce much of his campaign platform and to endorse the Hoover administration's policies.[144] Roosevelt refused Hoover's request to develop a joint program to stop the economic decline, claiming that it would tie his hands and that Hoover had the power to act.[145]
During the transition, Roosevelt chose Howe as his chief of staff, and Farley as Postmaster General. Frances Perkins, as Secretary of Labor, became the first woman appointed to a cabinet position.[133] William H. Woodin, a Republican industrialist close to Roosevelt, was chosen for Secretary of the Treasury, while Roosevelt chose Senator Cordell Hull of Tennessee as Secretary of State. Harold L. Ickes and Henry A. Wallace, two progressive Republicans, were selected for Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Agriculture, respectively.[146]
In February 1933, Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara, who expressed a "hate for all rulers." As he was attempting to shoot Roosevelt, Zangara was struck by a woman with her purse; he instead mortally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, who was sitting alongside Roosevelt.[147][148]
