Best biography of franklin roosevelt

President of the United States from 1933 to 1945

"FDR" redirects here. For other uses, see FDR (disambiguation) and Franklin D. Roosevelt (disambiguation).

Franklin Delano Roosevelt^[a] (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one 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 prominent Delano and Roosevelt families, Roosevelt was elected to 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 president Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory.

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, building the New Deal coalition, and realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System. 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. 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, before the official implementation of term limits.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt obtained a declaration of war on Japan. When in turn, Japan's Axis partners, Nazi Germany and Italy, declared war on the U.S. on December 11, 1941, he secured additional declarations of war from the United States Congress. 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 criticism, such as his ordering of the internment of Japanese Americans. Nonetheless, historical rankings consistently place him among the three greatest American presidents.

Early life and marriage

Childhood

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York, to businessman James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano. His parents, who were sixth cousins, came from wealthy, established New York families—the Roosevelts, the Aspinwalls and the Delanos, respectively—and resided at Springwood, a large estate south of Hyde Park's historic center. Franklin's father James, was a prominent Bourbon Democrat who once took him to meet President Grover Cleveland. During this meeting, Cleveland said: "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be President of the United States." Franklin's mother Sara, the dominant influence in his early years, once declared, "My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all." 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. Franklin had a half-brother, James Roosevelt "Rosy" Roosevelt, from his father's previous marriage.

Education and early career

As a child, Roosevelt learned to ride, shoot, sail, and play polo, tennis, and golf. 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, Roosevelt was homeschooled by tutors until age 14. He then attended Groton School, an Episcopal boarding school in Groton, Massachusetts.^[11] He was not among the more popular Groton students, who were better athletes and had rebellious streaks.^[12] 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.

Like most of his Groton classmates, Roosevelt went to Harvard College.^[12] He was a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity^[15] and the Fly Club, and served as a school cheerleader.^[17] 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. He later said, "I took economics courses in college for four years, and everything I was taught was wrong."

Roosevelt's father died in 1900, distressing him greatly. The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became U.S. president. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero. He graduated from Harvard in three years in 1903 with an A.B. in history.^[22] He remained there for a fourth year, taking graduate courses.^[23] Like his cousin Theodore, he was a member of The Explorers Club.^[24]

Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School in 1904, but dropped out in 1907 after passing the New York bar examination.^[b] In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn, working in the firm's admiralty law division.

Marriage, family, and extramarital affairs

During his second year of college, Roosevelt met and proposed to Boston heiress Alice Sohier, who turned him down.^[12] Franklin then began courting his childhood acquaintance and fifth cousin once removed, Eleanor Roosevelt, a niece of Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903, Franklin proposed to Eleanor. Despite resistance from his mother, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were married on March 17, 1905.^[12] Eleanor's father, Elliott, was deceased; Theodore, who was then president, gave away the bride. The young couple moved into Springwood. Franklin's mother, Sara Roosevelt, also provided a townhouse for the newlyweds in New York City, and 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 was also a gift from Sara.

Burns indicates that young Franklin Roosevelt was self-assured and at ease in the upper class. On the other hand, Eleanor was shy and disliked social life. Initially, Eleanor stayed home to raise their children. 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." 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.^[34]

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. Franklin contemplated divorcing Eleanor, but Sara objected, and Mercer would not marry a divorced man with five children. 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. 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. 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.

Franklin broke his promise to Eleanor regarding Lucy Mercer. He and Mercer maintained a formal correspondence and began seeing each other again by 1941.^[40][41] Roosevelt's son Elliott claimed that his father had a 20-year affair with his private secretary, Marguerite LeHand. 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", and gossip linking the two romantically appeared in newspapers.

Early political career (1910–1920)