Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only president elected to four terms and was related to many other presidents. Roosevelt was the thirty second president during the Great Depression and World War Two. He had great ideas to help the Great Depression, and many war strategies. Franklin D. Roosevelt was a brilliant person starting in his youth and personal life, his political career, until his death and memory.
Roosevelt’s early life was filled with adventure. Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 his mother was Sara Roosevelt, she had many servants but took care of her son all by herself. Sara Roosevelt was twenty-eight when Roosevelt was born and his father James Roosevelt was fifty-four. Roosevelt first lived in Hyde Park, New York. He was home schooled by private tutors and was taught how to read and write by his mother. He worked hard and had lots of time to play, but he was not allowed to play with his neighbors. He either played alone or with his many cousins. Roosevelt's father taught him to ice-skating, swim, and ride a horse. He also enjoyed taking photographs with a camera, his parents gave him. As a young boy Roosevelt's parents took him on many trips, he was only three when he went to Europe. When he was nine, he spent a summer in Germany. He met with many people, listening closely to everything they said. He went to boarding school when he was fourteen, he was prepared for school so he received good grades. He was teased for being too well behaved and for not being good at sports. While at school, he became a skilled speaker and won many debates and in 1900 he graduated and went to Harvard University. At Harvard Roosevelt spent lots of time at the school newspaper, he was very serious about the Harvard Crimson. He became editor of the newspaper during his last year. He also spent lots of time thinking about a woman named Eleanor. He was engaged to her during his last year at Harvard and was married in 1905. He had six children, two of them were elected into the House of Representatives. He had an affair with his social secretary, Lucy Mercer. His wife offered a divorce, but did not go through with it. After a weird night Roosevelt said, “when I swung out of bed my left leg lagged, but I managed to move… Presently the left leg refused to work, and then the other”. At the age of 39, Roosevelt had cut polo, a contagious disease. At first, he refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed, He tried many therapies and then bought warm springs resort in Georgia seeking a cure. He then established a foundation to help with polo. His wife took care of him during his disability brought by polo. Roosevelt received good grades and did have personal business but also had a political career.
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Roosevelt was a politician, he was a governor, a senator and a president. His first political action was in 1910 when he ran for New York state senate. He called himself a Democrat and attacked the corrupt bosses in both parties. He defeated his Republican opponent 15,708 votes to 14,568 votes becoming Senator of New York. In 1912 Roosevelt joined other Democratic reformers in supporting New Jersey Governor Woodrow Wilson for president. In April 1913, President Wilson appointed Roosevelt assistant Secretary of the navy. In 1920 he won nomination for vice president. He focused on his campaign making many speeches to the public. He lost to his competitors but was happy with the friends he made. Roosevelt then ran for governor of New York and took office on January 1, 1929. On August 31, 1931, he established the temporary emergency relief administration to direct aid to families and other people who needed help. In 1932 advisers began bringing in support for a presidential run. After three ballots his campaign team convinced Garner to give his support to Roosevelt. He won the nomination on the fourth ballot and Garner received nomination for vice president. Roosevelt's acceptance speech was “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people”, a ‘New deal’ was the theme of his campaign. On November 1932, Roosevelt won 22.8 million votes to 15.8 million. He won forty-two of the forty-eight states. In the first hundred days as president, he started to improve America. He helped introduce legislation protecting workers rights. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” this is part of a famous quote by Roosevelt in 1933. On March 16, 1933 he asked for federal banking on loans to farmers, subsidies for those who reduce the size of their crops to bring their output into balance with demand. On the twenty-first of the same month, he asked to create the civilian conservation corps which gave 250,000 young men work in the national parks and he received 500 million dollars to provide immediate relief to out of work men and their families. He then received authority to raise the rich taxes from fifty nine percent to seventy five percent in the highest income bracket. One of Roosevelt's new programs was the social security system it made sure that retired people would have an income after they stopped working. In the fall of 1935, he took a ‘nonpolitical’ 3000-mile trip to inspect new deal programs. He was elected in 1936, before the stock market crashed the second time, he then asked for more emergency money but was denied. He created the Works Progress Administration (WPA) federal theatre project which gave work to actors and stage technicians. In Washington the new deal was stymied, the congress was angry. Roosevelt was tiered, his polo-weakened muscles ache. He planned to retire at the end of his second term in 1940. During World War two he negotiated a generous lend-lease program which helped Great Britain financially. In 1940 he began a series of measures to help defend France and Britain from Nazi aggression. In 1941 with heavy war in Europe, he pushed to have the U.S factories become an ‘arsenal of democracy’ for the allies. After Pearl Harbor in 1941 Roosevelt declared war on Japan and Germany. He developed a strategy for defeating Germany in Europe through a series of invasions. He also helped encourage people during the Great Depression and World War II with his radio fireside chats. Together with Churchill and Stalin the Big Three helped lay the foundation of the post-war period. During his fourth inauguration ceremony his grandchildren joined him, and that was the last time they would all celebrate his victories. Roosevelt lived a life in politics and so after he died a memorial was built.
There are many known and unknown facts about Roosevelt. In March 1944, hospital tests indicated he had atherosclerosis which led to his death on April 12,1945. He died unexpectedly from a massive brain hemorrhage and died just before the first meeting of the United Nations. A train carried his body along the east coast to his funeral in Washington, thousands of people watched the train pass. In 1997 the Roosevelt memorial was opened in Washington, D.C. It had four galleries, one for each of his presidential terms. On the walls are some of Roosevelt's inspiring statements. He is now the face on every dime. He was remembered for his politics but had many other personal things in his life. He collected about 1.2 million stamps throughout his life. The collection was large but it was not necessarily selective or valuable. But he did have several unique pieces created especially for him by foreign heads of state. Roosevelt was remembered for all the things he did in his life.
Roosevelt lived through a rough time in history. He was homeschooled with tutors until he was fourteen when his parents sent him to boarding school. He became a senator for New York, after that he ran for president and won. He encouraged America with his fireside chats during the Great Depression and World War II. After he died, a memorial was built in his honor and is filled with many of his statements. Roosevelt was a brilliant person who was remembered for all the things he did in his lifetime.
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