Franklin Delano Roosevelt is often regarded as one of the best presidents. It helps that he governed our country during one of the most important periods in world history.
Roosevelt grew up a child of privilege, in one of New York's oldest, most distinguished families. He went to Harvard, and although a C student, later became a lawyer after attending Columbia Law School. He supported Woodrow Wilson and was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy. During the war years, Roosevelt decided to run for Senate. He lost.
In 1920 the Democratic National Convention chose Roosevelt as Vice President on the Cox ticket. As a Wilsonian, a prohibitionist, and a moderate, he was seen as bringing balance to Cox's politics. The Democrats were soundly defeated and Roosevelt returned to New York to practice law.
In 1921, Roosevelt contracted polio. He became paralytic from the waist-down, and taught himself how to walk using a cane and swiveling his upper body. When he became President, he helped found a Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which today is known as the March of Dimes. After 1946 his profile replaced the Mercury head and has remained in coin collections since.
Roosevelt ran for governor in 1929, winning by a narrow margin. As the 1932 election approached, Hoover became increasingly vulnerable due to the Great Depression. With support from powerful businessmen, including William Randolph Hearst, FDR won, and in his acceptance speech pledged a new deal. The New Deal helped bring together people from all over the country, and in particular, blue collar workers, ethnic Americans, including recent immigrants, as well as southern farmers. Political scientists recognized Roosevelt's election as the beginning of the Fifth Party System.
To reassure the country through the depression, Roosevelt held fireside chats over the radio. He enacted regulation such as the Glass-Seagall act, created jobs for the unemployed, and established Social Security.
In his second term Roosevelt created the minimum wage and quickly found himself implicated in messy foreign affairs. There was pervasive isolationism during the late '30's, although he backed France and Britain against an ever-aggressive Germany. His phrase "Arsenal of Democracy" built up public support for the war.
By 1940, Roosevelt had won a third term and in July 1941, stopped selling oil to Japan after their occupation of China. Pearl Harbor, just five months later entered the United States into the war. He became friends with Churchill, and believed Stalin wouldn't attempt a domination over Eastern Europe, and would participate in the United Nations, a statement he later admitted was wrong. Roosevelt narrowly won the election of 1944 and added Harry Truman to his ticket. But just months later, when it was already clear the Allies were going to win the war, Roosevelt's health was in decline. He died April 12, 1945.
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