FDR: OVERVIEW
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, known as FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States. He was born in 1882 in Hyde Park, New York, to James Roosevelt, a businessman and land-owner, and Sara Ann Delano. Both James and Sara Ann came from affluent New York families and were able to provide their only child with considerable opportunities. They sent fourteen-year-old Franklin to the Groton School, a prestigious boarding school in Massachusetts that gathered children from socially influential families. In 1900, FDR went to Harvard University, where his academic record was not particularly impressive but where he joined a number of elite social clubs and became editor-in-chief of the undergraduate newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. Prior to graduation, FDR became engaged to his future wife, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1903, he graduated with a degree in history. A year later, he entered Columbia Law School but dropped out in 1907.
With little interest in law, FDR began his rapid political career in the Democratic Party. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 1910 and 1912. In 1913, he became an assistant secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson. In 1920, when James Cox run as the Democratic presidential candidate, FDR served as a vice-presidential candidate. The ticket of Cox and FDR lost and in 1921, FDR was diagnosed with polio. The disease left him paralyzed from the waist down and in its aftermath, FDR focused on his legal career. In 1928, he triumphantly returned to big politics, winning the office of New York State Governor. Only three years later, he defeated incumbent Republican Herbert Hoover in the 1932 presidential election, taking over the office in the midst of the Great Depression.
Roosevelt's legacy is inescapably linked with the global processes that largely shaped his presidency. First, he was the force behind the New Deal, a massive program that introduced a plethora of programs and reforms to battle the consequences of the Great Depression. Second, together with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin, he led the victorious Allied forces during World War II.
THE NEW DEAL AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY
FDR's New Deal redefined the role of the federal government in the United States. The New Deal was the first large-scale practical application of the idea that the central government could significantly intervene in the economy. Such programs as Social Security, unemployment compensation, minimum wage, bank deposit insurance, public housing, or farm subsidies, are all direct legislative legacies of the New Deal.
Under the Roosevelt administration, stock market was also regulated. Business regulations introduced at the time lived on until about 1975–85, when Libertarian ideas became ascendant. The regulation of Wall Street by the Securities and Exchange Commission continues to exist until today.
WORLD WAR II
During World War II, FDR served as one of three leaders representing the Allied nations. Together with Great Britain and the Soviet Union, the United States under the leadership of Roosevelt shaped the strategy of the eventually victorious alliance. In opposition to still strong isolationist sentiments at home, Roosevelt held more internationalist views. Before the United States formally entered the war in 1941, he successfully pushed policies that supported the Allied forces, including a Lend-Lease program that gave some allied nations access to American arms and supplies, regardless of their inability to pay.
The war-related production led to extremely rapid economic growth. By 1945, unemployment among labor force dropped to less than 2%. Millions of Americans moved to new jobs in war centers and 16 million men and 300,000 women joined the military. Many New Deal reforms were no longer necessary. One of the major FDR's war-related legacies at home was the 1944 G.I. Bill of Rights, which provided a wide range of benefits for returning veterans. Roosevelt's war strategy also contributed to a close relationship between the federal government and defense industries. At the international scene, FDR was a fervent supporter of the United Nations. Although the organization was formally established after his death, he was the one that initiated the talks that led to its creation.
POLITICS
FDR's presidency also changed the American political landscape. Roosevelt significantly broadened the appeal of the Democratic Party, turning it into the majority party. Organized labor, urban working class, including white ethnic communities (e.g. Irish Americans, Polish Americans, Jews, etc.), white Southerners, farmers, progressive intellectuals, and African Americans all aligned with the Democratic Party, creating what would be known as the New Deal Coalition (political scientists call the aftermath of this realignment the Fifth Party System). Not until the end of the 1960s did the New Deal coalition begin to fall apart. Some historians argue that the remains of the coalition existed as late as the end of the 1980s.
Perhaps the one legacy, on which Roosevelt had the greatest personal impact was his role in redefining presidency. Following the steps of Theodore Roosevelt (his distant cousin) and Woodrow Wilson, FDR turned the executive branch into the center of the national government. Through his use of the new medium of radio and regular "fireside chats," he also created a personal bond with American citizens, many of whom cherished their president.
Although FDR remains one of the most popular and highly ranked presidents in American history, his legacy also includes decisions that had disastrous impact on many American citizens. Historians are divided over Roosevelt's attitude towards African Americans, with many arguing that his alliances with influential white Southerners endorsed the disenfranchisement of and violence towards black Americans. FDR also ordered the incarceration of Japanese Americans in internment camps after the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack. Some historians also note that FDR's decision not to accept Jewish refugees during World War II contributed to their eventual death in war-torn Europe.
Presidential portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, presided over the nation's response to the Great Depression and World War II. FDR is consistently ranked one of the top 2 or 3 greatest presidents in the nation's history by historians and public opinion polls.