Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park,

New York. His parents, James Roosevelt and Sara Roosevelt, were fourth

cousins to the former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Growing up he

attended an elementary school called Groton School, which was a boarding

school in Massachusetts. In his college years he attended Harvard University

and Columbia Law School. While at Harvard he received his Bachelors

Degree in History. Although he attended Columbia Law School, he did not

receive his degree in law, but he did pass the New York State Bar

examination. Before he completed college, his father James Roosevelt died,

leaving him and his mother alone.

After college Roosevelt married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, his love and

also his fifth cousin once removed. A year later their first daughter was born in

1906, Anna Eleanor,and named after her mother,with another five children

after their first, all born within ten years. Their family prospered and Franklin

began to get involved in government and politics like much of his past family.

It is also known that Roosevelt had an affair with a woman called Lucy

Mercer.(www.nps.gov) She was Eleanor’s secretary and this affair had said to

have began in 1914. For the rest of their lives, the Roosevelt’s' marriage was

more of a political partnership, for the sake of his presidency, than an intimate

relationship. It has also been said that it was Lucy Mercer that was with

Roosevelt when he died.

On November 8, 1910, Franklin was elected for New York State

Senate. The Roosevelt name carried with it associated wealth and a sense of

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prestige. He took his seat at senate on January 1st , 1911.Roosevelt soon

became a popular political man amongst the New York Democrats. Not too

long after receiving re-election into the senate, which he resigned, President

Woodrow Wilson appointed him as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. As

assistant secretary Roosevelt toiled to expand the U.S. navy. In his time as

secretary he created the United States Navy Reserve. It was in early 1920

that Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy so that he could

run for the position of Vice-President.

Staying in the political limelight he was nominated for Vice President in

late 1920. Sadly he was defeated by James Cox on November 2nd, 1920. A

year after this he was struck with polio while in New Brunswick, Canada. He

spent three long and painful years, most of which in a wheel chair, battling

this disease. It was a few years later that he reappeared in politics. He did this

at the Democratic National Convention in New York, where he gave his

“Happy Warrior” speech. It was here in 1922 that he nominated Alfred E.

Smith for Govenor of New York. Because of his battle with polio Roosevelt

created the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation for the treatment of polio

patients.

Back into the political world Roosevelt was elected Governor of New

York 1928. With his life back on track he took over as governor and passed

many new ideas around. In 1932, Roosevelt filed from Albany to Chicago in

order to accept his Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

In his presidential campaign he pledged for a new deal for the American

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people. In the end of the election he defeated Herbert Hoover for the

presidency. A year after his win there was an assassination attempt while he

was in Miami, Florida. A month after the assassination attempt, Franklin D.

Roosevelt was inaugurated as the United States’ thirty-second president.

The months following his inauguration were a time of stress and

turmoil. Roosevelt entered his presidency in the middle of the Depression and

at the end of the Civil War. With over 13,000,000 unemployed people in the

United States at that time Roosevelt acted swiftly and assertively, by

proposing a program to bring recovery to the nation and help business and

agriculture. He also supplied relief to the unemployed and all the families in

danger of losing their homes. He ceased all bank distribution temporarily to

stop panic among depositors. With the help of Congress, Roosevelt initiated

agencies to help unemployed, insure bank deposits, regulate trade and stock,

and aid in the payment of mortgages. All of these revisions revived the

economy over several years. The change wasn’t rapid, but it was continual.

He established many organizations that we still use today. One we all know

today is called Social Security.

By the year 1935 the country had received a lot of aid and recovered greatly.

Many of Roosevelt’s ideas were revered by all people. Even though his

success prospered, many bankers and businessmen were turning against

him. One of the problems they had was with his New Deal Program. Many of

them feared that he was experimenting with the wrong things and putting the

nation into more trouble. Roosevelt responded with a new program for reform.

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Roosevelt called it Social Security, which taxed more on the wealthy and

established more control over the banks and public utilities. Yet again aiding

the country, he served another two terms as President from 1937 to 1945, his

death. Roosevelt became the first president to serve more than two terms. It

was in his Third term that he dealt with loss of many American troops in the

bombing of Pearl Harbor.

During his following years as president he faced other problems

such as the war in Europe. Roosevelt urged all Americans to stay out of it and

he tried to strengthen those countries in need of aid. Roosevelt made an

alliance with Russia to insure the future peace between them. Roosevelt

began to assist in the establishment of the League of Nations, which is now

The United Nations, to keep peace between all the continents.

It was on March 29, 1945 that Roosevelt went to Warm Springs to rest

before his much anticipated appearance at the conference of the United

Nations. On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said that he was suffering a

terrible pain in the back of his head. He then fell unconscious and physicians

were unable to wake him. Dr. Howard Bruenn, the president’s cardiologist

diagnosed him with a massive stroke. It was at 3:35 p.m., April 12, 1945, that

Roosevelt died. Coincidentally, at the time that he fell unconscious he was

sitting for a portrait with the artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff. This portrait became

known as the famous Unfinished Portrait of FDR.( www.fdrheritage.org) Many

of his ideas still live on today and he established many renowned programs

and corporations. By: Brian Mourato Period 4