Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-
20th centuryThe 20th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000, according to the Gregorian calendar.The British Empire, the Russian Empire, the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire dissolved in the first half of the century, with all but the...
, leading the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. Often referred to by his initials,
FDR won his first of four presidential elections in
1932The United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as voters felt he was unable to reverse the economic collapse, or deal...
, while the United States was in the depths of the
Great DepressionThe Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. His combination of optimism and
economic activismKeynesian economics is a macroeconomic theory based on the ideas of 20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes...
is often credited with keeping the country's economic crisis from
developing into a political crisis. He led the United States through most of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and died in office of a cerebral hemorrhage, shortly before the war ended.
Roosevelt's approach to the economic situation he inherited is known as the
New DealThe New Deal was the name that United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to his complex package of economic programs 1933-36 with the goals of what historians call the 3 Rs, of giving Relief to the unemployed and badly hurt farmers, Reform of business and financial practices, and promoting...
. The New Deal consisted both of executive orders and legislation pushed through Congress. Executive orders included the
bank holidayThe Emergency Banking Act was an act of the United States Congress spearheaded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. It was passed on March 9, 1933. The act allowed a plan that would close down insolvent banks and reorganize and reopen those banks strong enough to survive...
declared when he first came to office; legislation created new
government agenciesA government agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of types of agency...
, such as the
Works Progress AdministrationThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
and the
National Recovery AdministrationThe National Recovery Administration was a New Deal agency in the United States. Created under the National Industrial Recovery Act in 1933, it was one of the first major pieces of the New Deal program of President Franklin D...
, with the intent of creating new jobs for the unemployed. Other legislation provided direct assistance to individuals, such as the Social Security Act.
As World War II began in 1939, with Japanese occupation of countries on the western Pacific rim and the rise of Hitler in
GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
, FDR kept the US on an ostensibly
neutralA neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
course. Once war broke out in Europe, however, Roosevelt provided
Lend-LeaseLend-Lease was the name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945 in return for, in the case of Britain, military bases in Newfoundland,...
aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany, with
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
the recipient of the most assistance. With the Japanese
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt immediately asked for and received a
declaration of warA declaration of war is a formal performative speech act or signing of a document by an authorized party of a government in order to initiate a state of war between two or more nations. The legality of who can declare war varies between nations and forms of government. In many nations power is...
against the
Axis powersThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
. The nearly total mobilization of the US economy to support the war effort caused a rapid recovery.
Roosevelt dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterwards. His presidency created a realignment that dominated American politics until the election of
Richard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States and is the only president to resign the office. He was also the 36th Vice President of the United States ....
in 1968. FDR's
coalitionA coalition is an alliance among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in his own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause. This alliance may be temporary or a matter of convenience. A coalition thus differs from a more formal covenant...
melded together such disparate elements as Southern whites and African Americans in the cities of the North. Roosevelt's political impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
and
Bretton WoodsThe Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid 20th century...
as examples of his administration's wide ranging impact. Roosevelt is rated by historians as one of the
greatest U.S. PresidentsIn political science, historical rankings of United States Presidents are surveys conducted in order to construct rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or...
.
The family name
Roosevelt is an Anglicized form of the Dutch surname 'Van Rosevelt,' or 'Van Rosenvelt', meaning 'from field of roses.' Although some use an Anglicized
spelling pronunciationA spelling pronunciation is a pronunciation that, instead of reflecting the way the word was pronounced by previous generations of speakers, is a rendering in sound of the word's spelling...
of , that is, with the vowels of
rue and
felt, Franklin used , with the vowel of the English
rose.
One of the wealthiest and oldest families in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
State, the Roosevelts distinguished themselves in areas other than politics. Franklin's first cousin,
Ellen RooseveltEllen Crosby Roosevelt was an American tennis player.She won the women's singles title and the women's doubles title at the 1890 U.S. Championships and the mixed doubles title at the 1893 U.S. Championships.A first cousin of Franklin D...
, was the
1890 U.S. Open ChampionshipsList of Champions of the 1890 U.S. National Championships :-Men's Singles: Oliver Campbell defeated Henry Slocum 6-2 4-6 6-3 6-1-Women's Singles: Ellen Roosevelt defeated Bertha Townsend 6-2, 6-2
...
women's singles and doubles tennis champion and is a member of the
International Tennis Hall of FameThe International Tennis Hall of Fame is a non-profit tennis hall of fame and museum at the Newport Casino in Newport, Rhode Island, USA.- History :...
.
His mother named him after her favorite uncle Franklin Delano. The progenitor of the
Delano familyThe progenitor of the Delano family in the Americas was Philippe de Lannoy whose family name was anglicized to Delano. The 19-year-old Pilgrim of Flanders descent arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on November 9, 1621 on the second Pilgrim ship, Fortune. His descendants include Philip Delano...
in the Americas of 1621 was
Philippe de la NoyeThe progenitor of the Delano family in the Americas was Philippe de Lannoy whose family name was anglicized to Delano. The 19-year-old Pilgrim of Flanders descent arrived at Plymouth, Massachusetts on November 9, 1621 on the second Pilgrim ship, Fortune. His descendants include Philip Delano...
, the first
HuguenotThe Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Since the eighteenth century, Huguenots have been commonly designated "French Protestants", the title being suggested by their German co-religionists or "Calvinists"...
to land in the New World, whose family name was Anglicized to Delano.
Early life
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in the
Hudson ValleyThe Hudson Valley refers to the valley of the Hudson River and its adjacent communities in New York State, generally from northern Westchester County northward to the cities of Albany and Troy...
town of
Hyde ParkHyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the birthplace of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. His father,
James RooseveltJames Roosevelt, Sr. was a businessman and father of the President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, and his mother,
SaraSara Ann Delano Roosevelt was the wife of James Roosevelt, Sr., and the mother of President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt, her only child.-Childhood:...
, were each from wealthy old New York families, of Dutch and
FrenchFrench Americans or Franco-Americans are Americans of French descent. About 11.8 million U.S. residents are of French descent, and about 1.6 million speak French at home.An additional 450,000 U.S...
ancestry respectively. Franklin was their only child. His paternal grandmother, Mary Rebecca Aspinwall, was a first cousin of Elizabeth Monroe, wife of the fifth U.S. President,
James MonroeJames Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . His administration was marked by the acquisition of Florida ; the Missouri Compromise , in which Missouri was declared a slave state; the admission of Maine in 1820 as a free state; and the profession of the Monroe Doctrine , declaring U.S...
. One of his ancestors was John Lothropp, also an ancestor of
Benedict ArnoldBenedict Arnold V was a general during the American Revolutionary War who originally fought for the American Continental Army but switched sides to the British Empire. While he was still a general on the American side, he obtained command of the fort at West Point, New York, and plotted...
and
Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s...
One of his distant relatives from his mother's side is the author
Laura Ingalls WilderLaura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder was an American author who wrote the Little House series of children's books based on her childhood in a pioneer family.-Early life and marriage:...
. His maternal grandfather Warren Delano II, a descendant of
MayflowerThe Mayflower was the famous ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from Southampton, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts , in 1620...
passengers
Richard WarrenRichard Warren was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620. He settled in Plymouth Colony and was among ten passengers of the Mayflower landing party with Myles Standish at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620...
,
Isaac AllertonIsaac Allerton was one of the original Pilgrim fathers who came on the Mayflower to settle the Plymouth Colony in 1620. Allerton is an ancestor to Presidents of the United States Zachary Taylor and Franklin D. Roosevelt....
,
Degory PriestDegory Priest was a signer of the Mayflower Compact, and one of the original 102 Pilgrims who arrived on the Mayflower to Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. Alternate spellings of his name were: "Digory" "Gregory", "Degorie", or "Digorie" Priest.Little information remains regarding Degory Priest's...
, and
Francis CookeFrancis Cooke was one of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower. This early settler is one of the twenty-six male Pilgrims known to have descendants.-Early life and family:...
, during a period of twelve years in China made more than a million dollars in the tea trade in
MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
,
CantonGuangzhou , in English formerly known as Canton and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.It is a port on the Pearl River,...
, and
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
, but upon returning to the United States, he lost it all in the
Panic of 1857The Panic of 1857 was a sudden downturn in the economy of the United States that occurred in 1857. A general recession first emerged late in 1856, but the successive failure of banks and businesses that characterized the panic began in mid-1857. While the overall economic downturn was brief, the...
. In 1860, he returned to China and made a fortune in the notorious but highly profitable opium trade supplying opium-based medication to the
U. S. War DepartmentThe United States Department of War, also called the War Office, was the cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the US Army...
during the
American Civil WarThe American Civil War , also known as the War Between the States and several other names, was a civil war in the United States of America. Eleven Southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America...
but not exclusively.
Roosevelt grew up in an atmosphere of privilege. Sara was a possessive mother, while James was an elderly and remote father (he was 54 when Franklin was born). Sara was the dominant influence in Franklin's early years. Frequent trips to
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
made Roosevelt conversant in
GermanGerman is a West Germanic language, thus related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. It is one of the world's major languages and the most widely spoken first language in the European Union. Around the world, German is spoken by approximately 105 million native speakers and also by...
and
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
. He learned to ride,
shootThe shooting sports include those competitive sports involving tests of proficiency using various types of guns such as firearms and airguns . Hunting is also a shooting sport, and indeed shooting live pigeons was an Olympic event...
,
rowRowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
, and play
poloPolo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a long-handled mallet...
and
lawn tennisTennis is a sport played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a strung racquet to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court....
.
Roosevelt went to
Groton SchoolGroton School is a private, Episcopal, college preparatory boarding school located in Groton, Massachusetts, U.S. It enrolls approximately 350 boys and girls, from the eighth through twelfth grades. For decades Groton was a portal to power whose graduates trod a well-worn path to the State...
, an
EpiscopalThe Episcopal Church , also known as the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America , is the Province of the Anglican Communion in the United States, Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
boarding school in
MassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. Most of its population of...
. He was heavily influenced by its headmaster,
Endicott PeabodyThe Rev. Endicott Peabody was the American Episcopal priest who founded Groton School for Boys , , in 1884. Peabody served as headmaster at Groton School from 1884 until 1940, and also served as a trustee at Lawrence Academy at Groton...
, who preached the duty of
ChristiansChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
to help the less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Roosevelt went to
HarvardHarvard University is a private university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1636 by the colonial Massachusetts legislature, Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and currently comprises ten separate academic units...
, where he lived in
luxurious quartersThe FDR Suite is a set of rooms at Adams House, Harvard College occupied by the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, from 1900-1904. Currently under restoration, the Suite is being refurbished as a living museum and memorial to President Franklin D...
and was a member of the
Alpha Delta PhiAlpha Delta Phi is the fourth oldest continuous Greek-letter fraternity in the United States and Canada and was founded in 1832 by Samuel Eells at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. Today the name refers to both the all-male fraternity and the Alpha Delta Phi Society, which separated from the...
fraternity. He was also president of
The Harvard CrimsonThe Harvard Crimson, the daily student newspaper of Harvard University, was founded in 1873. It is the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates...
daily newspaper. While he was at Harvard, his fifth cousin
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
became president, and Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero. In 1902, he met his future wife
Eleanor RooseveltAnna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and assumed a role as an advocate for civil rights...
, Theodore's niece, at a
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it was built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the late Georgian style and has been the residence of every...
reception (they had previously met as children, but this was their first serious encounter). Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed. They were both descended from Claes Martensz van Rosenvelt (Roosevelt), who arrived in
New AmsterdamNew Amsterdam was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that later became the city now known as New York City.The town outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in the New Netherland territory which was situated between 38 and 42 degrees latitude of the Dutch Republic as of 1624...
(
ManhattanManhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, located primarily on Manhattan Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.New York County, which has the same boundaries as the Borough of Manhattan , is the most densely populated county in the United States, with a 2008 population of 1,634,795...
) from the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
in the 1640s. Rosenvelt's (Roosevelt) two grandsons, Johannes and Jacobus, began the Long Island and Hudson River branches of the Roosevelt family, respectively. Eleanor and Theodore Roosevelt were descended from the Johannes branch, while FDR came from the Jacobus branch.
Roosevelt entered
Columbia Law SchoolColumbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia is located in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. David Schizer is the dean....
in 1905, but dropped out in 1907 because he had passed the New York State Bar exam. In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious
Wall StreetWall Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. It runs east from Broadway to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. It is the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange; over time Wall Street became the...
firm of
Carter Ledyard & MilburnCarter Ledyard & Milburn LLP is a New York City law firm. It has 97 attorneys with offices in New York and Washington, D.C..The firm was founded in 1854 by Henry Scudder and James C. Carter. The firm remained small well into the 1900s. It long represented American Tobacco and Standard Oil in early...
, dealing mainly with
corporate lawCorporate law is the law of the most dominant kind of business enterprise in the modern world. Corporate law is the study of how shareholders, directors, employees, creditors, and other stakeholders such as consumers, the community and the environment interact with one another under the internal...
. He was first initiated in the
Independent Order of Odd FellowsThe Independent Order of Odd Fellows is an altruistic fraternal organization derived from the similar English Oddfellows service organizations which came into being during the 1700s, at a time when altruistic and charitable acts were far less common. In the U.S., it is a "Mutual Benefit...
and was initiated into
FreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around 5 million, including just under two million in the United States and around 480,000 in...
on October 11, 1911 at Holland Lodge Nr. 8 in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
.
Marriage and family life
On March 17, 1905, Roosevelt married
EleanorAnna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and assumed a role as an advocate for civil rights...
despite the fierce resistance of his mother. Eleanor's uncle,
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
, stood in at the wedding for Eleanor's deceased father
ElliottElliott Bulloch Roosevelt was the father of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and the brother of US President Theodore Roosevelt. Elliott and Theodore were of the Oyster Bay Roosevelts. Eleanor later married their Hyde Park Roosevelt cousin and future US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.Elliott was the...
. The young couple moved into
SpringwoodThe Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site preserves the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, United States of America. Springwood was the birthplace, life-long home, and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, his family's estate, where FDR's mother became a frequent house guest, much to Eleanor's chagrin. As for their personal lives, Franklin was a charismatic, handsome, and socially active man. In contrast, Eleanor was shy and disliked social life, and at first stayed at home to raise their children. Although Eleanor disliked sex, and considered it "an ordeal to be endured," they had six children in rapid succession:
- Anna Eleanor (1906–1975; age 69)
- James
James Roosevelt was the oldest son of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was a U.S. Representative, officer in the United States Marine Corps, aide to his father, official Secretary to the President, Democratic Party activist, and businessman.-Early life:Roosevelt was born in New York City...
(1907–1991; age 83)
- Franklin Delano, Jr. (March 18, 1909–November 7, 1909)
- Elliott
Elliott Roosevelt was an United States Army Air Forces officer and an author. Roosevelt was a son of U.S. President Franklin D...
(1910–1990; age 80)
- a second Franklin Delano, Jr.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. was the fifth child of Anna Eleanor Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt .-Personal life:...
(1914–1988; age 74)
- John Aspinwall
John Aspinwall Roosevelt was the 6th and last child of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the only Roosevelt son who never sought political office....
(1916–1981; age 65).
Roosevelt had affairs outside his marriage, including one with Eleanor's social secretary
Lucy MercerLucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd is considered by historians to have been a mistress of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was with Roosevelt on the day he died in 1945.-Background:...
which began soon after she was hired in early 1914. In September 1918, Eleanor found letters revealing the affair in Roosevelt's luggage, when he returned from
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
. According to the Roosevelt family, Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce so that he could be with the woman he loved, but Lucy, being Catholic, could not bring herself to marry a divorced man with five children. According to FDR's biographer
Jean Edward SmithJean Edward Smith is professor at Marshall University and biographer. Currently he is the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto after having served as professor of political economy there for thirty-five years...
it is generally accepted that Eleanor indeed offered "to give Franklin his freedom." However, they reconciled after a fashion with the informal mediation of Roosevelt's adviser
Louis McHenry HoweLouis McHenry Howe was an intimate friend and close political advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He, along with Eleanor Roosevelt and Margurite "Missy" LeHand, was one of the few close associates who supported FDR throughout the most difficult stages of his personal and political...
, and FDR promised never to see Lucy again. Sara also intervened, and told Franklin that if he divorced his wife, he would bring scandal upon the family, and she "would not give him another dollar." However, Franklin broke his promise. He and Lucy maintained a formal correspondence, and began seeing each other again in 1941—and perhaps earlier. Lucy was even given the code name "Mrs. Johnson" by the
Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
. Indeed, Lucy was with FDR on April 12, 1945—the day he died. Despite this, FDR's affair was not widely known of until the 1960s.
The effect of this affair upon Eleanor Roosevelt is difficult to underestimate. "I have the memory of an elephant. I can forgive, but I cannot forget," she wrote a close friend. Though Eleanor never liked sex, after the affair, any remaining intimacy left their relationship. Eleanor soon thereafter established a separate house in Hyde Park at
ValkillEleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site consists of approximately two miles east of Springwood, the Hyde Park Roosevelt family home. FDR encouraged Eleanor Roosevelt to develop this property as a place that she could develop some of her ideas for work with winter jobs for rural workers and...
, and increasingly devoted herself to various social and political causes. For the rest of their lives, the Roosevelts' marriage was more of a political partnership than an intimate relationship. The emotional break in their marriage was so severe, that when FDR asked Eleanor in 1942—in light of his failing health—to come back home and live with him again, she refused.
Franklin's son Elliott claimed that Franklin had a 20-year affair with his private secretary Marguerite "Missy" LeHand.
In 1919 the Roosevelts lived next door to Attorney General
A. Mitchell PalmerAlexander Mitchell Palmer was the Attorney General of the United States from 1919 to 1921. He was nicknamed The Fighting Quaker and he directed the controversial Palmer Raids.-Judicial, Congressional, and party service:...
, and were present when a
GalleanistLuigi Galleani was a 20th century anarchist. Galleani is best described as an anarchist communist and an insurrectionary anarchist.-Background:...
anarchist was killed in the botched bombing that was an attempt to assassinate Palmer. Also in 1919, Franklin Roosevelt helped
Éamon de ValeraÉamon de Valera was one of the dominant political figures in 20th century Ireland...
and his fledgling
Irish Republican ArmyThe Irish Republican Army was an Irish republican revolutionary military organisation. It was descended from the Irish Volunteers, an organisation established on 25 November 1913 that staged the Easter Rising in April 1916...
get around export laws for shipping arms used against British troops in the
Irish War of IndependenceThe Irish War of Independence was a guerrilla war mounted against the British government in Ireland by the Irish Republican Army . It began in January 1919, following the Irish Republic's declaration of independence, and ended with a truce in July 1921...
.
The five surviving Roosevelt children all led tumultuous lives overshadowed by their famous parents. They had among them nineteen marriages, fifteen divorces, and twenty-nine children. All four sons were officers in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and were decorated, on merit, for bravery. Two of them were elected to the
U.S. House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
—FDR, Jr. served three terms representing the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and James served six terms representing the 26th district in
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
—but none were elected to higher office despite several attempts.
Roosevelt's dog, Fala, also became well-known as a companion of Roosevelt's during his time in the White House, and was called the "most photographed dog in the world."
State Senator
In 1910, Roosevelt ran for the
New York State SenateThe New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...
from the district around
Hyde ParkHyde Park is a town located in the northwest part of Dutchess County, New York, United States, just north of the city of Poughkeepsie. The town is most famous for being the birthplace of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt....
in
Dutchess CountyDutchess County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, in the state's Mid-Hudson Region of the Hudson Valley. The 2000 census lists the population as 280,150, but the United States Census Bureau gives an estimate of 292,706 residents for the 12-month period ending July 1, 2007...
, which had not elected a Democrat since 1884. He entered the Roosevelt name, with its associated wealth, prestige, and influence in the Hudson Valley, and the Democratic landslide that year carried him to the state capital of
AlbanyAlbany is a city in the United States of America; it is the capital of the state of New York and the county seat of Albany County. Albany is roughly 136 miles north of the city of New York, and slightly south of the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers. The city sits on the Hudson River and...
,
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Roosevelt entered the state house, January 1, 1911. He became a leader of a group of reformers who opposed Manhattan's
Tammany HallTammany Hall , was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s...
machineA political machine is a disciplined political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters , who receive rewards for their efforts...
which dominated the state Democratic Party. Roosevelt soon became a popular figure among New York Democrats. He was reelected for a second term November 5, 1912, and resigned from the New York State Senate on March 17, 1913.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Franklin D. Roosevelt was appointed
Assistant SecretaryAssistant Secretary of the Navy is the title given to certain senior officials in the United States Department of the Navy. As of 2007, there are four Assistant Secretaries of the Navy:...
of the
NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
by
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. A leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
in 1913. He served under
Secretary of the NavyThe United States Secretary of the Navy is the civilian head of the Department of the Navy. The position was a member of the President's Cabinet until 1947, when the Navy, Army, and newly created Air Force were placed in the Department of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy was placed under the...
Josephus DanielsJosephus Daniels was a newspaper editor and publisher from North Carolina who was appointed by United States President Woodrow Wilson to serve as Secretary of the Navy during World War I...
. In 1914, he was defeated in the Democratic
primary electionA primary election , also referred to simply as a primary, is an election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election...
for the
United States SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
by Tammany Hall-backed
James W. GerardJames Watson Gerard was a U.S. lawyer and diplomat.-Biography:Gerard was born in Geneseo, N. Y. He graduated from Columbia in 1890 and from New York Law School. He was chairman of the Democratic campaign committee of New York County for four years, and served as major of the National Guard of the...
. As assistant secretary, Roosevelt worked to expand the Navy and founded the
United States Navy ReserveThe United States Navy Reserve , until 2005 known as the United States Naval Reserve, is the Reserve Component of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are enrolled in the Selected Reserve , the the Full Time Support , or Retired Reserve program...
. Wilson sent the Navy and
MarinesThe United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States armed forces responsible for providing force projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to rapidly deliver combined-arms task forces. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
to intervene in
Central AmericaManagua
Guatemala City
San Salvador
San Pedro Sula
Panama City
San José, Costa Rica
Santa Ana, El Salvador
León
San Miguel|-|}...
n and
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a region consisting of the Caribbean Sea, its islands , and the surrounding coasts...
countries. In a series of speeches in his
1920 campaignThe United States presidential election of 1920 was dominated by the aftermath of World War I and the hostile reaction to Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic president. The wartime boom had collapsed. Politicians were arguing over peace treaties and the question of America's entry into the League of...
for Vice President, Roosevelt claimed that he, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, wrote the constitution which the U.S. imposed on Haiti in 1915.
Roosevelt developed a life-long affection for the
NavyA navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
. Roosevelt negotiated with Congressional leaders and other government departments to get budgets approved. He became an enthusiastic advocate of the
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability...
and of means to combat the German submarine menace to Allied shipping: he proposed building a mine barrier across the North Sea from
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
to
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. In 1918, he visited
BritainThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
and France to inspect American naval facilities; during this visit he met
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
for the first time. With the end of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
in November 1918, he was in charge of demobilization, although he opposed plans to completely dismantle the Navy. In July 1920, Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Campaign for Vice-President
The
1920 Democratic National ConventionThe 1920 Democratic National Convention was held at the Civic Auditorium in San Francisco, California from June 28 - July 6, 1920. It resulted in the nomination of Governor James Cox of Ohio for President and Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin Roosevelt of New York for Vice-President.Former...
chose Roosevelt as the candidate for
Vice President of the United StatesThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term...
on the ticket headed by Governor
James M. CoxJames Middleton Cox was a Governor of Ohio, U.S. Representative from Ohio and Democratic candidate for President of the United States in the election of 1920.Cox was born in the tiny Butler County, Ohio, village of Jacksonburg...
of
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
, helping build a national base, but the Cox-Roosevelt ticket was heavily defeated by
RepublicanThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
Warren G. HardingWarren Gamaliel Harding was the 29th President of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death from a heart attack or stroke in 1923. A Republican from Ohio, Harding was an influential newspaper publisher. He served in the Ohio Senate and later as Lieutenant Governor of Ohio and as a U.S...
in the
presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 1920 was dominated by the aftermath of World War I and the hostile reaction to Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic president. The wartime boom had collapsed. Politicians were arguing over peace treaties and the question of America's entry into the League of...
. Roosevelt then retired to a New York legal practice and joined the newly organized New York Civitan Club, but few doubted that he would soon run for public office again.
Paralytic illness
In August 1921, while the Roosevelts were vacationing at Campobello Island,
New BrunswickNew Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only constitutionally bilingual province in the confederation. The provincial capital is Fredericton...
, Roosevelt contracted an illness believed by his physicians to be
polioPoliomyelitis, often called polio or infantile paralysis, is an acute viral infectious disease spread from person to person, primarily via the fecal-oral route. The term derives from the Greek , meaning "grey", , referring to the "spinal cord", and the suffix -itis, which denotes inflammation...
, which resulted in his total and permanent paralysis from the waist down. For the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to accept that he was permanently paralyzed. He tried a wide range of therapies, including
hydrotherapyHydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy involves the use of water for soothing pains and treating diseases.Its use has been recorded in ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman civilizations. Egyptian royalty bathed with essential oils and flowers, while Romans had communal public baths for their...
, and, in 1926, he purchased a resort at
Warm SpringsWarm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 485 at the 2000 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32°C...
,
GeorgiaGeorgia is a state in the United States. One of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution, it had been the last of the Thirteen Colonies to be established, in 1733. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January...
, where he founded a hydrotherapy center for the treatment of polio patients which still operates as the
Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for RehabilitationThe Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation was founded in 1927 in Warm Springs, Georgia, by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt and philanthropist Basil O'Connor as a treatment center and refuge for poliomyelitis patients. In 1921 Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness, at...
. After he became President, he helped to found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the
March of DimesMarch of Dimes is a United States health charity whose mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality....
). His leadership in this organization is one reason he is commemorated on the
dimeThe dime is a coin worth ten cents or one tenth of a United States dollar. The dime is the smallest in diameter and the thinnest of all U.S. coins currently minted for circulation. The 32nd President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, is featured on the obverse of the current design, while a torch, oak...
.
At the time, Roosevelt was able to convince many people that he was getting better, which he believed was essential if he was to run for public office again. Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting himself with a cane. In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in it in public. He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by an aide or one of his sons.
In 2003, one retrospective study suggested that it was more likely that Roosevelt suffered from
Guillain-Barré syndromeGuillain–Barré syndrome is an acute inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy , an autoimmune disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system, usually triggered by an acute infectious process. It is included in the wider group of peripheral neuropathies...
, not poliomyelitis. However, without access to FDR's detailed medical records—which are, by all reports, unaccounted-for-- it is impossible to be certain of that premise.
Governor of New York, 1929–1932
Roosevelt maintained contacts and mended fences with the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
during the 1920s, especially in New York. Although he made his name as an opponent of
New York City'sNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
Tammany HallTammany Hall , was the Democratic Party political machine that played a major role in controlling New York City politics and helping immigrants rise up in American politics from the 1790s to the 1960s...
machineA political machine is a disciplined political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters , who receive rewards for their efforts...
, Roosevelt moderated his stance. He helped
Alfred E. SmithAlfred Emanuel Smith, Jr. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American politician who was elected Governor of New York four times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He was the first Roman Catholic and Irish-American to run for President as a major party...
win the election for governor of New York in 1922. Roosevelt gave nominating speeches for Smith at the 1924 and 1928 Democratic conventions. As the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the
1928 electionThe United States presidential election of 1928 pitted Republican Herbert Hoover against Democrat Al Smith. The Republicans were identified with the booming economy of the 1920s, whereas Smith, a Roman Catholic, suffered politically from anti-Catholic prejudice, his anti-prohibitionist stance, and...
, Smith in turn asked Roosevelt to run for governor in the state election. While Smith lost the Presidency in a landslide, and was even defeated in his home state, Roosevelt was narrowly elected governor.
As a reform governor, he established a number of new social programs, and he was advised by
Frances PerkinsFrances Perkins Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Davies, (April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor...
and
Harry HopkinsHarry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
.
In his 1930 campaign for re-election, Roosevelt needed the good will of the Tammany Hall machine in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
; however, his Republican opponent, Charles H. Tuttle, was using Tammany Hall's corruption as an election issue. As the election approached, Roosevelt initiated investigations of the sale of judicial offices. He was elected to a second term by a margin of more than 700,000 votes.
Boy Scout supporter
Roosevelt was a strong supporter of
scoutingScouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, so that they may play constructive roles in society....
, beginning in 1915. In 1924, he became president of the New York City Boy Scout Foundation and led the development of Ten Mile River Boy Scout Camp between 1924–1928 to serve the Scouts of New York City. As governor in 1930, the
Boy Scouts of AmericaThe Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over four million youth members in its age-related divisions...
(BSA) honored him with their highest award for adults, the
Silver Buffalo AwardThe Silver Buffalo Award is the national-level distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America. It is presented for noteworthy and extraordinary service to youth on a national basis, either as part of or independent of the Scouting program...
, which is conferred in recognition of distinguished support of youth on a national level. Later, as U.S. president, Roosevelt was honorary president of the BSA and attended the first
national jamboreeThe national Scout jamboree is a gathering, or jamboree of thousands of members of the Boy Scouts of America, usually held every four years and organized by the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America. Referred to as "the Jamboree", "Jambo", or NSJ, Scouts from all over the nation and world...
in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
in 1937.
1932 presidential election
Roosevelt's strong base in the most populous state made him an obvious candidate for the Democratic nomination, which was hotly contested since it seemed that incumbent
Herbert HooverHerbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted government intervention under the rubric "economic...
would be vulnerable in the
1932 electionThe United States presidential election of 1932 took place as the effects of the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression were being felt intensely across the country. President Herbert Hoover's popularity was falling as voters felt he was unable to reverse the economic collapse, or deal...
. Al Smith was supported by some city bosses, but had lost control of the New York Democratic party to Roosevelt. Roosevelt built his own national coalition with personal allies such as newspaper magnate
William Randolph HearstWilliam Randolph Hearst was an American newspaper magnate and leading newspaper publisher.Hearst was born in San Francisco, California, to millionaire mining engineer George Hearst and Phoebe Apperson. Following preparation at St...
, Irish leader
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr.Joseph Patrick "Joe" Kennedy, Sr. was a prominent American businessman and political figure, and the father of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, United States Senator and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, United States Senator Edward Kennedy, Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, U.S...
, and California leader
William Gibbs McAdooWilliam Gibbs McAdoo, Jr. was an American lawyer and political leader who served as a U.S. Senator, United States Secretary of the Treasury and director of the United States Railroad Administration...
. When
TexasTexas is the second-largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous United States.The name had wide usage among native Americans, meaning "friends" or "allies"...
leader
John Nance GarnerJohn Nance Garner IV nicknamed "Cactus Jack" was the 44th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the 32nd Vice President of the United States .- Early life and family :...
switched to FDR, he was given the presidential nomination.
In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt declared:
The election campaign was conducted under the shadow of the
Great Depression in the United StatesThe Great Depression began on "Black Tuesday" with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and...
, and the new alliances which it created. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party mobilized the expanded ranks of the poor as well as organized labor, ethnic minorities, urbanites, and Southern whites, crafting the
New Deal coalitionThe New Deal coalition was the alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 1932 until approximately 1968, which made the Democratic Party the majority party during that period, losing only to Dwight D. Eisenhower in...
. During the campaign, Roosevelt said: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people", coining a slogan that was later adopted for his legislative program as well as his new coalition.
Economist Marriner Eccles observed that "given later developments, the campaign speeches often read like a giant misprint, in which Roosevelt and Hoover speak each other's lines." Roosevelt denounced Hoover's failures to restore prosperity or even halt the downward slide, and he ridiculed Hoover's huge deficits. Roosevelt campaigned on the Democratic platform advocating "immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating bureaus and eliminating extravagances reductions in bureaucracy," and for a "sound currency to be maintained at all hazards." On September 23, Roosevelt made the gloomy evaluation that, "Our industrial plant is built; the problem just now is whether under existing conditions it is not overbuilt. Our last frontier has long since been reached." Hoover damned that pessimism as a denial of "the promise of American life ... the counsel of despair." The prohibition issue solidified the wet vote for Roosevelt, who noted that repeal would bring in new tax revenues.
Roosevelt won 57% of the vote and carried all but six states. Historians and political scientists consider the 1932-36 elections a
realigning electionRealigning election or political realignment are terms from political science and political history describing a dramatic change in the political system. Scholars frequently apply the term to American elections and occasionally to other countries...
that created a new majority coalition for the Democrats, thus transforming American politics and starting what is called the "New Deal Party System" or (by political scientists) the
Fifth Party SystemThe New Deal Coalition, also known as the Fifth Party System, refers to the era of United States national politics that began with the New Deal in 1933. It followed the Fourth Party System, usually called the Progressive Era. Experts debate whether it ended in the mid-1960s or the mid-1990s, or...
.
After the election, Roosevelt refused Hoover's requests for a meeting to come up with a joint program to stop the downward spiral and calm investors, claiming it would tie his hands. The economy spiralled downward until the banking system began a complete nationwide shutdown as Hoover's term ended. In February 1933, Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt by
Giuseppe ZangaraGiuseppe Zangara was the assassin of Chicago mayor Anton Cermak, though United States President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt is generally believed to have been his intended target...
(which killed Chicago Mayor
Anton CermakAnton Joseph Cermak was the mayor of Chicago, Illinois, from 1931 until his assassination by Giuseppe Zangara in 1933.-Early life and career:...
sitting next to him). Roosevelt leaned heavily on his "Brain Trust" of academic advisors, especially
Raymond MoleyRaymond Charles Moley was a leading New Dealer who became its bitter opponent....
when designing his policies; he offered cabinet positions to numerous candidates (sometimes two at a time), but most declined. The cabinet member with the strongest independent base was
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
at State.
William Hartman WoodinWilliam Hartman Woodin was a U.S. industrialist. He served as the Secretary of Treasury under Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.Woodin was closely involved in Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company...
at Treasury, was soon replaced by the much more powerful
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was also the father of Robert M...
First term, 1933–1937
When Roosevelt was
inaugurated in March 1933The first inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as the 32nd President of the United States was held on Saturday, March 4, 1933. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President and John Nance Garner as Vice President...
, the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Farmers were in deep trouble as prices fell by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million were homeless. Due to the lack of employment, organized crime and outlaws were on the rise, such as
John DillingerJohn Herbert Dillinger was an American bank robber in the Midwest during the early 1930s. He was considered to be a dangerous criminal who was involved in the deaths of several police officers, robbed at least two dozen banks and four police stations, escaped from jail twice and was idolized by...
. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states, as well as the District of Columbia had closed their banks. The New York Federal Reserve Bank was unable to open on the 5th, as huge sums had been withdrawn by panicky customers in previous days. Beginning with his inauguration address, Roosevelt began blaming the economic crisis on bankers and financiers, the quest for profit, and the self-interest basis of capitalism:
Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery and reform." Relief was urgently needed by tens of millions of unemployed. Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal. Reform meant long-term fixes of what was wrong, especially with the financial and banking systems. Roosevelt's series of radio talks, known as
fireside chatsThe fireside chats were a series of thirty evening radio speeches given by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt between 1933 and 1944.-Origin of radio address:...
, presented his proposals directly to the American public.
First New Deal, 1933–1934
Roosevelt's "First 100 Days" concentrated on the first part of his strategy: immediate relief. From March 9 to June 16, 1933, he sent Congress a record number of bills, all of which passed easily. To propose programs, Roosevelt relied on leading
SenatorsThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
such as George Norris,
Robert F. WagnerRobert Ferdinand Wagner was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.-Origin and early life:...
and
Hugo BlackHugo LaFayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented the state of Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to...
, as well as his
Brain TrustBrain trust began as a term for a group of close advisors to a political candidate or incumbent, prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of advisors to Franklin Roosevelt during his presidential administration...
of academic advisers. Like Hoover, he saw the Depression caused in part by people no longer spending or investing because they were afraid.
His inauguration on March 4, 1933 occurred in the middle of a
bank panicA bank run occurs when a large number of bank customers withdraw their deposits because they believe the bank is, or might become, insolvent...
, hence the backdrop for his famous words: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." The very next day Congress passed the
Emergency Banking ActThe Emergency Banking Act was an act of the United States Congress spearheaded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. It was passed on March 9, 1933. The act allowed a plan that would close down insolvent banks and reorganize and reopen those banks strong enough to survive...
which declared a "bank holiday" and announced a plan to allow banks to reopen. However, the number of banks that opened their doors after the "holiday" was less than the number that had been open before. This was his first proposed step to recovery. To give Americans confidence in the banks, Roosevelt signed the Glass-Stegall Act that created the
Federal Deposit Insurance CorporationThe Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is a United States government corporation created by the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. It provides deposit insurance, which guarantees the safety of deposits in member banks, currently up to $250,000 per depositor per bank...
.
- Relief measures included the continuation of Hoover's major relief program for the unemployed under the new name, Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Federal Emergency Relief Administration was the name given by the Roosevelt Administration to a program similar to unemployment-relief efforts of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation set up by Herbert Hoover and the U.S. Congress in 1932. It was established as a result of the Federal Emergency...
. The most popular of all New Deal agencies, and Roosevelt's favorite, was the Civilian Conservation CorpsThe Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program for unemployed men, providing vocational training through the performance of useful work related to conservation and development of natural resources in the United States from 1933 to 1942. As part of the New Deal legislation...
(CCC), which hired 250,000 unemployed young men to work on rural local projects. Congress also gave the Federal Trade CommissionThe Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
broad new regulatory powers and provided mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners. Roosevelt expanded a Hoover agency, the Reconstruction Finance CorporationThe Reconstruction Finance Corporation was an independent agency of the United States government chartered during the administration of Herbert Hoover in 1932. It was modeled after the War Finance Corporation of World War I. The agency gave $2 billion in aid to state and local governments and made...
, making it a major source of financing to railroads and industry. Roosevelt made agriculture relief a high priority and set up the first Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The AAA tried to force higher prices for commodities by paying farmers to take land out of crops and to cut herds.
- Reform of the economy was the goal of the National Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act , officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), officially known as the Act of June 16, 1933 (Ch. 90, 48 Stat. 195, formerly...
(NIRA) of 1933. It tried to end cutthroat competition by forcing industries to come up with codes that established the rules of operation for all firms within specific industries, such as minimum prices, agreements not to compete, and production restrictions. Industry leaders negotiated the codes which were then approved by NIRA officials. Industry needed to raise wages as a condition for approval. Provisions encouraged unions and suspended anti-trust laws. The NIRA was found to be unconstitutional by unanimous decision of the U.S. Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
on May 27, 1935. Roosevelt opposed the decision, saying "The fundamental purposes and principles of the NIRA are sound. To abandon them is unthinkable. It would spell the return to industrial and labor chaos." In 1933, major new banking regulations were passed. In 1934, the Securities and Exchange CommissionThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is an independent agency of the United States government which holds primary responsibility for enforcing the federal securities laws and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other electronic securities markets...
was created to regulate Wall Street, with 1932 campaign fundraiser Joseph P. Kennedy in charge.
- Recovery was pursued through "pump-priming" (that is, federal spending). The NIRA included $3.3 billion of spending through the Public Works Administration
The United States Public Works Administration a New Deal government agency headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L...
to stimulate the economy, which was to be handled by Interior SecretaryThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
Harold IckesHarold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office. Ickes was responsible for implementing much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" and is the...
. Roosevelt worked with Republican Senator George Norris to create the largest government-owned industrial enterprise in American history, the Tennessee Valley AuthorityThe Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly impacted...
(TVA), which built dams and power stations, controlled floods, and modernized agriculture and home conditions in the poverty-stricken Tennessee ValleyThe Tennessee Valley is the drainage basin of the Tennessee River and is largely within the U.S. state of Tennessee. It stretches from southwest Kentucky to northwest Georgia and from northeast Mississippi to the mountains of Virginia and North Carolina...
. The repeal of prohibitionProhibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is a sumptuary law which prohibits alcohol. Typically, the manufacture, transportation, import, export, and sale of alcoholic beverages is restricted or illegal. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries...
also brought in new tax revenues and helped him keep a major campaign promise.
- In a controversial move, Roosevelt gave Executive Order 6102
Executive Order 6102 is an Executive Order signed on April 5, 1933 by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt "forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion, and Gold Certificates" by U.S. citizens.-Effect of the Order:The Order required U.S...
which made all privately held gold of American citizens property of the US Treasury. This gold confiscation by executive order was argued to be unconstitutional, but Roosevelt's executive order asserts authority to do so based on the "War Time Powers Act" of 1917. Gold bullion remained illegal for Americans to own until President Ford rescinded the order in 1974.
Roosevelt tried to keep his campaign promise by cutting the regular federal budget, including 40% cuts to veterans' benefits and cuts in overall military spending. He removed 500,000 veterans and widows from the pension rolls and slashed benefits for the remainder. Protests erupted, led by the
Veterans of Foreign WarsThe Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization. VFW currently has 1.6 million members and is the largest American organization of combat veterans.-Membership:...
. Roosevelt held his ground, but when the angry veterans formed a coalition with Senator
Huey LongHuey Pierce Long, Jr. , nicknamed The Kingfish, served as the Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935. A Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies. Though a backer of Franklin D...
and passed a huge bonus bill over his veto, he was defeated. He succeeded in cutting federal salaries and the military and naval budgets. He reduced spending on research and education.
Roosevelt also kept his promise to push for repeal of
ProhibitionIn the history of the United States, Prohibition, also known as The Noble Experiment, is the period from 1919 to 1933, during which the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol for consumption were banned nationally as mandated in the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States...
. In April 1933, he issued an Executive Order redefining 3.2% alcohol as the maximum allowed. That order was preceded by Congressional action in the drafting and passage of the
21st AmendmentThe Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution repealed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which mandated nationwide Prohibition.- Text :- Background :...
, which was ratified later that year.
Second New Deal, 1935–1936
After the 1934 Congressional elections, which gave Roosevelt large majorities in both houses, there was a fresh surge of New Deal legislation. These measures included the
Works Progress AdministrationThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
(WPA) which set up a national relief agency that employed two million family heads. However, even at the height of WPA employment in 1938, unemployment was still 12.5% according to figures from Michael Darby. The Social Security Act, established
Social SecuritySocial Security in the United States currently refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program....
and promised economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick. Senator
Robert WagnerRobert Ferdinand Wagner was an American politician. He was a Democratic U.S. Senator from New York from 1927 to 1949.-Origin and early life:...
wrote the Wagner Act, which officially became the
National Labor Relations ActThe National Labor Relations Act is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector that labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands...
. The act established the federal rights of workers to organize unions, to engage in
collective bargainingIn organized labor, collective bargaining is the method whereby workers organize together to meet, converse, and negotiate upon the work conditions with their employers normally resulting in a written contract setting forth the wages, hours, and other conditions to be observed for a stipulated...
, and to take part in strikes.
While the First New Deal of 1933 had broad support from most sectors, the Second New Deal challenged the business community. Conservative Democrats, led by
Al SmithAlfred Emanuel Smith, Jr. , known in private and public life as Al Smith, was an American politician who was elected Governor of New York four times, and was the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate in 1928. He was the first Roman Catholic and Irish-American to run for President as a major party...
, fought back with the
American Liberty LeagueThe American Liberty League was a United States organization formed in 1934 by conservative Democrats such as Al Smith , Jouett Shouse , John W...
, savagely attacking Roosevelt and equating him with Marx and Lenin. But Smith overplayed his hand, and his boisterous rhetoric let Roosevelt isolate his opponents and identify them with the wealthy vested interests that opposed the New Deal, setting Roosevelt up for the 1936 landslide. By contrast, the labor unions, energized by the Wagner Act, signed up millions of new members and became a major backer of Roosevelt's reelections in 1936, 1940 and 1944.
Economic environment
Government spending increased from 8.0% of gross national product (GNP) under Hoover in 1932 to 10.2% of the GNP in 1936. Because of the depression, the national debt as a percentage of the GNP had doubled under Hoover from 16% to 33.6% of the GNP in 1932. While Roosevelt balanced the "regular" budget, the emergency budget was funded by debt, which increased to 40.9% in 1936, and then remained level until World War II, at which time it escalated rapidly. The national debt rose under Hoover, and held steady under FDR until the war began, as shown on chart 1.
Deficit spending had been recommended by some economists, most notably by
John Maynard KeynesJohn Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, CB was a British economist whose ideas have been a central influence on modern macroeconomics, both in theory and practice...
of Britain. Some economists in retrospect have argued that the
National Labor Relations ActThe National Labor Relations Act is a 1935 United States federal law that limits the means with which employers may react to workers in the private sector that labor unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take part in strikes and other forms of concerted activity in support of their demands...
and Agricultural Adjustment Administration were ineffective policies because they relied on price fixing. The GNP was 34% higher in 1936 than in 1932 and 58% higher in 1940 on the eve of war. That is, the economy grew 58% from 1932 to 1940 in 8 years of peacetime, and then grew 56% from 1940 to 1945 in 5 years of wartime. However, the economic recovery did not absorb all the unemployment Roosevelt inherited. Unemployment fell dramatically in Roosevelt's first term, from 25% when he took office to 14.3% in 1937. Afterward, however, it increased to 19.0% in 1938 ('a depression within a depression'), 17.2% in 1939 because of various added taxation (
Undistributed profits taxThe Undistributed Profits Tax was enacted in 1936 by the United States administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt , during the Great Depression . The UP Tax was a revenue program for FDR's New Deal. The act was even within FDR's Treasury Department, as some noted economists such as Alfred G...
in Mar. 1936, and the
Social SecuritySocial Security in the United States currently refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program....
Payroll Tax 1937, plus the effects of the Wagner Act; the
Fair Labor Standards ActThe Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 , also called the Wages and Hours Bill, is United States federal law that applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce orin the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption...
and a blizzard of other federal regulations), and stayed high until it almost vanished during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
when the previously unemployed were
conscriptedConscription in the United States has been employed several times, usually during war but also during the nominal peace of the Cold War...
, taking them out of the potential labor supply number.
During the war, the economy operated under such different conditions that comparison with peacetime is impossible. However, Roosevelt saw the New Deal policies as central to his legacy, and in his 1944
State of the Union AddressThe State of the Union is an annual address presented before by the President of the United States to the United States Congress. The address not only reports on the condition of the nation but also allows the president to outline his legislative agenda and national priorities to Congress...
, he advocated that Americans should think of basic economic rights as a
Second Bill of RightsThe Second Bill of Rights was a proposal made by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt during his State of the Union Address on January 11, 1944 to suggest that the nation had come to recognize, and should now implement, a second bill of rights...
.
The
U.S. economyThe economy of the United States is the largest national economy in the world in both nominal value and by purchasing power parity. Its nominal gross domestic product was estimated as $14.4 trillion in 2008, which is about three times that of the world's second largest economy, Japan Its GDP by...
grew rapidly during Roosevelt's term. However, coming out of the depression, this growth was accompanied by continuing high levels of unemployment; as the median joblessness rate during the New Deal was 17.2%. Throughout his entire term, including the war years, average unemployment was 13%. Total employment during Roosevelt's term expanded by 18.31 million jobs, with an average annual increase in jobs during his administration of 5.3%.
Roosevelt did not raise income taxes before
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
began; however
payroll taxPayroll tax generally refers to two kinds of taxes: Taxes which employers are required to withhold from employees' pay, also known as withholding, Pay-As-You-Earn or Pay-As-You-Go tax; and taxes which are paid from the employer's own funds and which are directly related to employing a worker,...
es were also introduced to fund the new
Social SecuritySocial Security in the United States currently refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program....
program in 1937. He also got
CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States of America, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the House of Representatives. Both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election....
to spend more on many various programs and projects never before seen in American history. However, under the revenue pressures brought on by the depression, most states added or increased taxes, including sales as well as income taxes. Roosevelt's proposal for new taxes on corporate savings were highly controversial in 1936–37, and were rejected by Congress. During the war he pushed for even higher income tax rates for individuals (reaching a marginal tax rate of 91%) and corporations and a cap on high salaries for executives. To fund the war, Congress broadened the base so that almost every employee paid federal income taxes, and introduced withholding taxes in 1943.
Unemployment (% labor force) |
Year |
Lebergott |
Darby |
1933 |
24.9 |
20.6 |
1934 |
21.7 |
16.0 |
1935 |
20.1 |
14.2 |
1936 |
16.9 |
9.9 |
1937 |
14.3 |
9.1 |
1938 |
19.0 |
12.5 |
1939 |
17.2 |
11.3 |
1940 |
14.6 |
9.5 |
1941 |
9.9 |
8.0 |
1942 |
4.7 |
4.7 |
1943 |
1.9 |
1.9 |
1944 |
1.2 |
1.2 |
1945 |
1.9 |
1.9 |
Foreign policy, 1933–37
The rejection of the
League of NationsThe League of Nations was an inter-governmental organization founded as a result of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919–1920. At its greatest extent from 28 September 1934 to 23 February 1935, it had 58 members...
treaty in 1919 marked the dominance of
isolationismIsolationism is a foreign policy which combines a non-interventionist military policy and a political policy of economic nationalism...
from world organizations in American foreign policy. Despite Roosevelt's Wilsonian background, he and
Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
acted with great care not to provoke isolationist sentiment. Roosevelt's "bombshell" message to the
world monetary conferenceThe London Economic Conference was a meeting that took place between representatives of 66 nations in the June 1933. Held at London's Geological Museum, the purpose was to attack global depression, revive international trade, and stabilize international currencies. However, while vacationing on his...
in 1933 effectively ended any major efforts by the world powers to collaborate on ending the worldwide depression, and allowed Roosevelt a free hand in economic policy.
The main foreign policy initiative of Roosevelt's first term was the
Good Neighbor PolicyThe Good Neighbor policy was the foreign policy of the administration of United States President Franklin Roosevelt toward the countries of Latin America. The United States wished to have good relations with its neighbors, especially at a time when conflicts were beginning to rise once again, and...
, which was a re-evaluation of U.S. policy towards
Latin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. Since the
Monroe DoctrineThe Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy that was introduced on December 2, 1823, which said that further efforts by European governments to colonize land or interfere with states in the Americas would be viewed by the United States of America as acts of aggression requiring US intervention...
of 1823, this area had been seen as an American
sphere of influenceIn the field of international relations, a sphere of influence is an area or region over which a state or organization has significant cultural, economic, military or political influence....
. American forces were withdrawn from
HaitiHaiti , officially the Republic of Haiti , is a Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean country. Along with the Dominican Republic, it occupies the island of Hispaniola, in the Greater Antillean archipelago...
, and new treaties with
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
and
PanamaPanama, officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of both Central America and, in turn, North America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the...
ended their status as United States
protectorateA protectorate, in international law, is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity. In exchange for this, the protectorate usually accepts specified obligations, which may vary greatly, depending on the real nature of...
s. In December 1933, Roosevelt signed the
Montevideo ConventionThe Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States was a treaty signed at Montevideo, Uruguay, on December 26, 1933, during the Seventh International Conference of American States. At the conference, United States President Franklin D...
on the Rights and Duties of States, renouncing the right to intervene unilaterally in the affairs of Latin American countries.
Landslide re-election, 1936
In the
1936 presidential electionThe United States presidential election of 1936 was the most lopsided presidential election in the history of the United States in terms of electoral votes. In terms of the popular vote, it was the third biggest victory since 1820....
, Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal programs against
KansasKansas is a state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa tribe, who inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south wind," although this was...
Governor
Alf LandonAlfred "Alf" Mossman Landon was an American Republican politician, who served as Governor of Kansas from 1933–1937. He was best known for being the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States, defeated in a landslide by Franklin D...
, who accepted much of the New Deal but objected that it was hostile to business and involved too much waste. Roosevelt and Garner won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except
MaineThe State of Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordering the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, New Hampshire to the southwest, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is the northernmost portion of...
and
VermontThe State of Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd by land area, , and 45th by total area. It has a population of 621,270, making it the second least-populated state...
. The New Deal Democrats won even larger majorities in Congress. Roosevelt was backed by a coalition of voters which included traditional Democrats across the country, small farmers, the "
Solid SouthSolid South refers to the electoral support of the Southern United States for the Democratic Party candidates for nearly a century from 1877, the end of the Reconstruction, to 1964, during the middle of the Civil Rights era....
,"
CatholicsThe Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church. With more than a billion members, over half of all Christians and more than one-sixth of the world's population, the Catholic Church is a communion of the Western, or Latin Rite Church, and...
,
big city machinesA political machine is a disciplined political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters , who receive rewards for their efforts...
, labor unions, northern
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
s,
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s,
intellectualAn intellectual is a person who uses his or her intelligence and analytical thinking, either in a professional or a personal capacity.-Terminology and endeavours:...
s and political liberals. This coalition, frequently referred to as the New Deal coalition, remained largely intact for the
Democratic PartyThe Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. It is the oldest political party in continuous operation in the United States and it is one of the oldest parties in the world. In the U.S...
until the 1960s.
Second term, 1937–1941
In dramatic contrast to the first term, very little major legislation was passed in the second term. There was a
United States Housing AuthorityThe United States Housing Authority, or USHA, was an agency created during 1937 as part of the New Deal.It was designed to lend money to the states or communities for low-cost construction. Units for about 650,000 low-income people but mostly homeless were started...
(1937), a second Agricultural Adjustment Act and the
Fair Labor Standards ActThe Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 , also called the Wages and Hours Bill, is United States federal law that applies to employees engaged in interstate commerce or employed by an enterprise engaged in commerce orin the production of goods for commerce, unless the employer can claim an exemption...
(FLSA) of 1938, which created the
minimum wageA minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly wage that employers may legally pay to employees or workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labor. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion...
. When the economy began to deteriorate again in late 1937, Roosevelt responded with an aggressive program of stimulation, asking Congress for $5 billion for WPA relief and public works. This managed to eventually create a peak of 3.3 million WPA jobs by 1938.
The
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
was the main obstacle to Roosevelt's programs during his second term, overturning many of his programs. In particular in 1935 the Court unanimously ruled that the National Recovery Act (NRA) was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative power to the president. Roosevelt stunned Congress in early 1937 by proposing a law allowing him to appoint five new justices, a "persistent infusion of new blood." This "court packing" plan ran into intense political opposition from his own party, led by Vice President Garner, since it seemed to upset the
separation of powersThe separation of powers, also known as trias politica, is a model for the governance of democratic states. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the uncodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
and give the President control over the Court. Roosevelt's proposals were defeated. The Court also drew back from confrontation with the administration by finding the Labor Relations and Social Security Acts to be constitutional. Deaths and retirements on the Supreme Court soon allowed Roosevelt to make his own appointments to the bench with little controversy. Between 1937 and 1941, he appointed eight justices to the court.
Roosevelt had massive support from the rapidly growing labor unions, but now they split into bitterly feuding
AFLThe American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in Columbus, Ohio in 1886 by Samuel Gompers as a reorganization of its predecessor, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions...
and
CIOThe Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
factions, the latter led by
John L. LewisJohn Llewellyn Lewis was an American leader of organized labor who served as president of the United Mine Workers of America from 1920 to 1960. He was a major player in the history of coal mining...
. Roosevelt pronounced a "plague on both your houses," but the disunity weakened the party in the elections from 1938 through 1946.
Determined to overcome the opposition of conservative Democrats in Congress (mostly from the South), Roosevelt involved himself in the 1938 Democratic primaries, actively campaigning for challengers who were more supportive of New Deal reform. His targets denounced Roosevelt for trying to take over the Democratic party and used the argument that they were independent to win reelection. Roosevelt failed badly, managing to defeat only one target, a conservative Democrat from New York City.
In the November 1938 election, Democrats lost six Senate seats and 71 House seats. Losses were concentrated among pro-New Deal Democrats. When Congress reconvened in 1939, Republicans under Senator Robert Taft formed a
Conservative coalitionThe Conservative coalition, in the United States, was an unofficial Congressional coalition bringing together the conservative majority of the Republican Party and the conservative, mostly Southern, minority of the Democratic Party...
with Southern Democrats, virtually ending Roosevelt's ability to get his domestic proposals enacted into law. The minimum wage law of 1938 was the last substantial New Deal reform act passed by Congress.
Foreign policy, 1937–1941
The rise to power of dictator
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
in Germany aroused fears of a new world war. In 1935, at the time of Italy's
invasion of EthiopiaThe Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a brief colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
, Congress passed the Neutrality Act, applying a mandatory ban on the shipment of arms from the U.S. to any combatant nation. Roosevelt opposed the act because it penalized the victims of aggression such as Ethiopia, and that it restricted his right as President to assist friendly countries, but public support was overwhelming so he signed it. In 1937, Congress passed an even more stringent act, but when the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, public opinion favored
ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
, and Roosevelt found various ways to assist that nation.
In October 1937, he gave the
Quarantine SpeechThe Quarantine Speech was given by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on October 5, 1937 in Chicago calling for an international "quarantine of the aggressor nations" as an alternative to the political climate of American neutrality and isolationism that was prevalent at the time...
aiming to contain aggressor nations. He proposed that warmongering states be treated as a public health menace and be "quarantined." Meanwhile he secretly stepped up a program to build long range submarines that could blockade Japan.
In May 1938, there occurred a failed coup by the fascist
IntegralistaBrazilian Integralism was a Brazilian political movement created in October 1932. Founded and led by Plínio Salgado, a literary figure who was relatively famous during the 1922 Modern Art Week, the movement had adopted some characteristics of European mass movements of those times, specifically of...
movement in
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
. After the failed coup, the Brazilian government claimed that the German Ambassador, Dr. Karl Ritter had been involved in the coup attempt and declared him
persona non grata. The Brazilian allegation of German support for the
Integralista coup had a galvanizing effect on the Roosevelt administration as it led to fears that German ambitions were not confined to Europe, but rather to the whole world. This in turn led the Roosevelt administration to change its previous view of the Nazi regime as an unpleasant regime that was however basically not an American problem.
On September 4, 1938 in the midst of the great crisis in Europe that was to culminate in the
Munich AgreementThe Munich Agreement was an agreement permitting German annexation of Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland. The Sudetenland were areas along borders of Czechoslovakia, mainly inhabited by Czech Germans. The agreement was negotiated at a conference held in Munich, Germany, among the major powers of Europe...
, during the unveiling of a plaque in France honoring Franco-American friendship, the American Ambassador, and close friend of Roosevelt’s William C. Bullitt stated that "France and the United States were united in war and peace," leading to much speculation in the press that if war did break over
CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, then the United States would join the war on the Allied side. Roosevelt disallowed this interpretation of Bullitt’s remarks in a press conference on September 9, stating it was “100% wrong”, and that the U.S. would not join a “stop-Hitler bloc” under any circumstances, and he made it quite clear in the event of German aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral. Upon
Neville ChamberlainArthur Neville Chamberlain was a British Conservative politician and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940...
’s return to London from the Munich Conference, Roosevelt sent him a two word telegram reading “Good Man”, which has been the subject of much debate, with the majority opinion arguing that the telegram was meant to be congratulatory with the minority opinion opposing that interpretation.
In October 1938, Roosevelt opened secret talks with the French on how to bypass American neutrality laws and allowed the French to buy American aircraft to make up for productivity deficiencies in the French aircraft industry. The French Premier
Édouard DaladierÉdouard Daladier was a French Radical politician, and Prime Minister of France at the start of the Second World War.-Career:...
commented in October 1938 that "If I had three or four thousand aircraft Munich would never have happened", and was most anxious to buy American war planes as the only way of strengthening the French Air Force. A major problem in the Franco-American talks was how the French were to pay for the American planes, and how to bypass the American neutrality acts In addition, the American Johnson Act of 1934 which forbade loans to the nations that had defaulted on their World War I debts was a further complicating factor (France had defaulted on its World War I debts in 1932). In February 1939, the French offered to cede their possessions in the Caribbean and the Pacific together with a lump sum payment of ten billion francs, in exchange for the unlimited right to buy on credit American aircraft. After torturous negotiations, an arrangement was worked out in the spring of 1939 allowing the French to place huge orders with the American aircraft industry; though most of the aircraft ordered had not arrived in France by 1940, Roosevelt arranged for French orders to be diverted to the British.
When
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out in 1939, Roosevelt rejected the Wilsonian neutrality stance and sought ways to assist Britain and France militarily. He began a regular secret correspondence with the First Lord of the Admiralty
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
in September 1939 discussing ways of supporting Britain. Roosevelt forged a close personal relationship with Churchill, who became
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
of the UK in May 1940.
In April 1940 Germany invaded
DenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe and the senior member of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries; southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and it is bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark borders both the Baltic and the North Sea...
and
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
, followed by invasions of the
NetherlandsThe Netherlands is a country in Northwestern Europe, constituting the major portion of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a parliamentary democratic constitutional monarchy. The Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east...
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
,
LuxembourgLuxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a small, landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany...
, and France in May. The German victories in Western Europe left Britain vulnerable to invasion. Roosevelt, who was determined that Britain not be defeated, took advantage of the rapid shifts of public opinion. The fall of
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
shocked American opinion, and isolationist sentiment declined. A consensus was clear that military spending had to be dramatically expanded. There was no consensus on how much the U.S. should risk war in helping Britain. In July 1940, FDR appointed two interventionist Republican leaders,
Henry L. StimsonHenry Lewis Stimson was an American statesman, who served as Secretary of War, Governor-General of the Philippines, and Secretary of State. He was a conservative Republican, and a leading lawyer in New York City...
and
Frank KnoxWilliam Franklin "Frank" Knox was the Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during most of World War II. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936.-Biography:...
, as Secretaries of War and the Navy respectively. Both parties gave support to his plans to rapidly build up the American military, but the isolationists warned that Roosevelt would get the nation into an unnecessary war with Germany. He successfully urged Congress to enact the first
peacetime draftThe Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke-Wadsworth Act, was passed by the Congress of the United States on September 14 1940, becoming the first peacetime conscription in United States history when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it into law two days later...
in United States history in 1940 (it was renewed in 1941 by one vote in Congress). Roosevelt was supported by the
Committee to Defend America by Aiding the AlliesThe Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies was an American political action group formed in May 1940.The group advocated American military materiel support for Britain as the best way to keep the United States out of the conflict then raging in Europe...
, and opposed by the
America First CommitteeThe America First Committee was the foremost non-interventionist pressure group against the American entry into World War II. Peaking at 800,000 members, it was likely the largest anti-war organization in American history. Started in 1940, it became defunct after the attack upon Pearl Harbor in...
.
Roosevelt used his personal charisma to build support for intervention. America should be the "
Arsenal of Democracy"The Arsenal of Democracy" is one of the 30 fireside chats broadcast on the radio by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was read on December 29, 1940, during World War II, at a time when Nazi Germany had occupied much of Europe and threatened Britain....
," he told his fireside audience. On September 2, 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by passing the
Destroyers for Bases AgreementThe Destroyers for Bases Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, September 2, 1940, transferred fifty destroyers from the United States Navy in exchange for land rights on British possessions. The destroyers became the Town class....
, which gave 50 American
destroyerIn naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast and maneuverable yet long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against smaller, short-range but powerful attackers .Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels without the endurance...
s to Britain in exchange for military base rights in the British Caribbean Islands and Newfoundland. This was a precursor of the March 1941 Lend-Lease agreement which began to direct massive military and economic aid to Britain, the
Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
, and later the Soviet Union. For foreign policy advice, Roosevelt turned to
Harry HopkinsHarry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
, who became his chief wartime advisor. They sought innovative ways to help Britain, whose financial resources were exhausted by the end of 1940. Congress, where isolationist sentiment was in retreat, passed the Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, allowing the U.S. to give Britain, China and later the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
military supplies. Congress voted to commit to spend $50 billion on military supplies from 1941–45. In sharp contrast to the loans of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, there would be no repayment after the war. Roosevelt was a lifelong free trader and anti-imperialist, and ending European
colonialismColonialism is the building and maintaining of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the metropole...
was one of his objectives.
Election of 1940
The two-term tradition had been an unwritten rule (until the
22nd AmendmentThe Twenty-second Amendment of the United States Constitution sets a term limit for the President of the United States. The Congress passed the amendment on March 21, 1947. It was ratified by the requisite number of states on February 27, 1951...
after his presidency) since
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
declined to run for a third term in 1796, and both
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was general-in-chief of the Union Army from 1864 to 1869 during the American Civil War and the 18th President of the United States from 1869 to 1877....
and
Theodore RooseveltTheodore Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States. He is well remembered for his energetic persona, his range of interests and achievements, his model of masculinity, and his "cowboy" image. He was a leader of the Republican Party and founder of the short-lived Bull Moose Party...
were attacked for trying to obtain a third non-consecutive term. FDR systematically undercut prominent Democrats who were angling for the nomination, including two cabinet members, Secretary of State
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
and
James FarleyJames "Jim" Aloysius Farley was an American politician, business executive, and dignitary who served as head of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General. Farley was known as a political "kingmaker", and was responsible for Franklin D. Roosevelt's rise to the presidency...
, Roosevelt's campaign manager in 1932 and 1936, Postmaster General and Democratic Party chairman. Roosevelt moved the convention to Chicago where he had strong support from the city machine (which controlled the auditorium sound system). At the convention the opposition was poorly organized but Farley had packed the galleries. Roosevelt sent a message saying that he would not run, unless he was drafted, and that the delegates were free to vote for anyone. The delegates were stunned; then the loudspeaker screamed "We want Roosevelt... The world wants Roosevelt!" The delegates went wild and he was nominated by 946 to 147. The new vice presidential nominee was
Henry A. WallaceHenry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the 11th Secretary of Agriculture , and the tenth Secretary of Commerce...
, the liberal intellectual who was Secretary of Agriculture.
In his campaign against Republican
Wendell WillkieWendell Lewis Willkie was a corporate lawyer in the United States and was the Republican Party nominee for the 1940 presidential election, although he had never previously had an elected political office....
, Roosevelt stressed both his proven leadership experience and his intention to do everything possible to keep the United States out of war. He won the
1940 electionThe United States presidential election of 1940 was fought in the shadow of World War II as the United States was emerging from the Great Depression. Incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt , a Democrat, broke with tradition and ran for a third term, which became a major issue...
with 55% of the popular vote and 38 of the 48 states. A shift to the left within the Administration was shown by the naming of
Henry A. WallaceHenry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the 11th Secretary of Agriculture , and the tenth Secretary of Commerce...
as Vice President in place of the conservative Texan
John Nance GarnerJohn Nance Garner IV nicknamed "Cactus Jack" was the 44th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the 32nd Vice President of the United States .- Early life and family :...
, who had become a bitter enemy of Roosevelt after 1937.
Policies
Roosevelt's third term was dominated by World War II, in
EuropeThe European Theatre of World War II was a huge area of heavy fighting across Europe from Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939 until the end of the war with the German unconditional surrender on May 8, 1945...
and in the
PacificThe Pacific War was the part of World War II—and preceding conflicts—that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia. The war began as a conflict with the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China on July 7, 1937, but by December 1941, became part of the greater World War II,...
. Roosevelt slowly began re-armament in 1938 since he was facing strong isolationist sentiment from leaders like Senators William Borah and
Robert TaftRobert Alphonso Taft , of the Taft political family of Cincinnati, was a Republican United States Senator and a prominent conservative statesman...
who supported re-armament. By 1940, it was in high gear, with bipartisan support, partly to expand and re-equip the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the branch of the United States Military responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military and is one of seven uniformed services...
and
NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
and partly to become the "
Arsenal of Democracy"The Arsenal of Democracy" is one of the 30 fireside chats broadcast on the radio by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It was read on December 29, 1940, during World War II, at a time when Nazi Germany had occupied much of Europe and threatened Britain....
" supporting the United Kingdom,
French Third RepublicThe French Third Republic was the republican government of France between the end of the Second French Empire in 1870 and the Vichy Regime after the invasion of France by the German...
, the
Republic of ChinaThe history of the Republic of China begins after the Qing Dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China put an end to over two thousand years of Imperial rule. The Qing Dynasty, also known as the Manchu Dynasty, ruled from 1644 to 1912...
and (after June 1941), the
Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. The name is a translation of the , tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated СССР, SSSR. The common short name is Soviet Union, from , Sovetskiy Soyuz...
. As Roosevelt took a firmer stance against the
Axis PowersThe Axis powers comprised the countries that were opposed to the Allies during World War II. The three major Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—were part of a military alliance on the signing of the Tripartite Pact in September 1940, which officially founded the Axis powers...
, American isolationists—including
Charles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor and explorer.On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh, then a 25-year old U.S...
and
America FirstAmerica First may refer to:*America First Committee, a group that opposed entry of the United States into World War II*America First Credit Union, a credit union in Utah*America First Party , an isolationist political party...
—attacked the President as an irresponsible warmonger. Unfazed by these criticisms and confident in the wisdom of his foreign policy initiatives, FDR continued his twin policies of preparedness and aid to the
AlliedThe Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . The involvement of the Allies in World War II was either natural and inevitable they were invaded or under the direct threat of invasion by the Axis or compelled by concerns that the Axis powers...
coalition. On December 29, 1940, he delivered his Arsenal of Democracy fireside chat, in which he made the case for involvement directly to the American people, and a week later he delivered his famous
Four FreedomsThe Four Freedoms are goals famously articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged by wife Eleanor Roosevelt and friend Jon Run, on January 6, 1941...
speech in January 1941, further laying out the case for an American defense of basic rights throughout the world.
The military buildup spurred economic growth. By 1941, unemployment had fallen to under 1 million. There was a growing labor shortage in all the nation's major manufacturing centers, accelerating the
Great MigrationThe Great Migration was the movement of 1.3 million African-Americans out of the Southern United States to the North, Midwest and West from 1910 to 1930. Precise estimates of the number of migrants depend on the time frame. African Americans migrated to escape racism and seek employment...
of
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa. In the United States, the terms are generally used for Americans with at least partial Sub-Saharan African ancestry...
s workers from the
Southern United StatesThe Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, Down South, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive region in the southeastern and south-central United States...
, and of underemployed farmers and workers from all rural areas and small towns. The homefront was subject to dynamic social changes throughout the war, though domestic issues were no longer Roosevelt's most urgent policy concerns.
When
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
invadedOperation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 km front...
the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt extended Lend-Lease to the Soviets. During 1941, Roosevelt also agreed that the U.S. Navy would escort Allied convoys as far east as
Great BritainGreat Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island. With a population of about 59.6 million people, it is the third most populated island on Earth. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1000 smaller...
and would fire upon German ships or submarines (
U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s) of the
KriegsmarineThe Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy between 1935 and 1945, during the Nazi regime, superseding the Reichsmarine, and the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht.-Command structure:Adolf Hitler was the commander-in-chief...
if they attacked Allied shipping within the U.S. Navy zone. Moreover, by 1941, U.S. Navy
aircraft carrierAn aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power great distances without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...
s were secretly ferrying British fighter planes between the UK and the Mediterranean war zones, and the British
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
was receiving supply and repair assistance at American naval bases in the United States.
Thus, by mid-1941, Roosevelt had committed the U.S. to the Allied side with a policy of "all aid short of war." Roosevelt met with
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on August 14, 1941, to develop the
Atlantic CharterThe Atlantic Charter was the blueprint for the world after World War II, and is the foundation for many of the international treaties and organizations that currently shape the world...
in what was to be the first of several
wartime conferences. In July 1941, Roosevelt ordered Henry Stimson,
Secretary of WarThe Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
to begin planning for total American military involvement. The resulting "Victory Program," under the direction of
Albert WedemeyerAlbert Coady Wedemeyer was an American soldier, who served primarily in World War II in Asia. His most notable command was the China theater in the South-East Asia Theater. During the Cold War, Wedemeyer was a chief supporter of the Berlin Airlift.-Early Life and military career:Albert C....
, provided the President with the estimates necessary for the total mobilization of manpower, industry, and logistics to defeat the "potential enemies" of the United States. The program also planned to dramatically increase aid to the Allied nations and to have ten million men in arms, half of whom would be ready for deployment abroad in 1943. Roosevelt was firmly committed to the Allied cause and these plans had been formulated before the
Attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
by the
Empire of JapanThe Empire of Japan was a Japanese political entity that existed during the period from the...
.
Pearl Harbor
After Japan occupied northern
French Indochina||-|French Indochina was part of the French colonial empire in southeast Asia. A federation of the three Vietnamese regions, Tonkin , Annam , and Cochinchina , as well as Cambodia, was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and Kouang-Tchéou-Wan in 1900...
in late 1940, he authorized increased aid to the
Republic of ChinaThe Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...
. In July 1941, after Japan occupied the remainder of Indo-China, he cut off the sales of oil. Japan thus lost more than 95 percent of its oil supply. Roosevelt continued negotiations with the Japanese government. Meanwhile he started shifting the long-range B-17 bomber force to the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
.
On December 4, 1941,
The Chicago Tribune revealed "Rainbow Five," a top-secret war plan drawn up at President Franklin Roosevelt's order. "Rainbow Five" called for a 10-million man army invading
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
in 1943 on the side of Britain and Russia.
On December 6, 1941, President Roosevelt read an intercepted Japanese message and told his assistant
Harry HopkinsHarry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
, "This means war." He never warned Admiral Husband Kimmel or Lt. Gen.
Walter ShortWalter Campbell Short was a Major General in the United States Army and the U.S. military Commander responsible for the defense of U.S. military installations in Hawaii at the time of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.-Early life:He was born in 1880 in Fillmore, Illinois...
after reception of the message before the Pearl Harbor attack.
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese
attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
, destroying or damaging 16 warships, including most of the fleet's
battleshipA battleship is a large, heavily armored warship with a main battery consisting of the largest caliber of guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers or destroyers. There are currently no battleships in service....
s, and killing almost 3000 American military personnel and civilians. In the weeks after the attack the Japanese conquered the
PhilippinesThe Philippines officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
and the British and Dutch colonies in
Southeast AsiaManila
Bangkok
Ho Chi Minh City
Kuala Lumpur
Singapore
Yangon
Bandung
Hanoi
Surabaya
Taichung
Kaohsiung
Medan|-|}...
, taking
SingaporeSingapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, lying north of the equator, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of Indonesia's Riau Islands. At , Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast...
in February 1942 and advancing through Burma to the borders of
British IndiaThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
by May, cutting off the overland supply route to the Republic of China. Antiwar sentiment in the United States evaporated overnight and the country united behind Roosevelt. It is at this time Roosevelt gave the famous "
Infamy SpeechThe Infamy Speech was delivered at 12:30 p.m. on December 8, 1941, by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, one day after the Empire of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base, Hawaii...
" in which he said this:
"Yesterday, December 7, 1941 — a date which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."
Despite the wave of anger that swept across the U.S. in the wake of
Pearl HarborPearl Harbor is a harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...
, Roosevelt decided from the start that the defeat of
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
had to take priority. On December 11, 1941, this strategic
Europe FirstEurope first, also known as Germany first, was the key element of the grand strategy employed by the United States and the United Kingdom during World War II. According to this policy, the United States and the United Kingdom would use the preponderance of their resources to subdue Nazi Germany in...
decision was made easier to implement when Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Roosevelt met with Churchill in late December and planned a broad informal alliance between the U.S., Britain, China and the Soviet Union, with the objectives of halting the German advances in the Soviet Union and in North Africa; launching an invasion of western Europe with the aim of crushing Nazi Germany between two fronts; and saving China and defeating Japan.
Internment of Germans, Japanese and Italians
There was some pressure to intern German Americans and Italian Americans even while the United States declared its neutrality.
After the
attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
by forces of the Japanese Empire, there was growing pressure to imprison Japanese and Japanese-Americans on the West Coast of the United States. This pressure grew due to fears of terrorism, espionage, and/or sabotage. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066United States Executive Order 9066 was a presidential executive order issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 to send Japanese Americans to internment camps....
which imprisoned the "Issei" (first generation of Japanese who immigrated to the US) and their children, "Nisei" (who were US citizens).
After both
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
and Fascist Italy unilaterally declared war on the United States,
German AmericansGerman American Internment refers to the detention of people of German ancestry in the United States during World War II. Many of the detainees were American citizens.-World War II:...
and
Italian AmericansItalian American internment refers to the internment of Italian Americans in the United States during World War II.-Terms:The term "Italian American" does not have a legal definition...
were also interned more widely.
War strategy
The "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Churchill, and
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
), together with Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He was an influential member of the Kuomintang and Sun Yat-sen's close ally. He became the commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place in the party when the latter died in 1925...
cooperated informally in which American and British troops concentrated in the West, Russian troops fought on the
Eastern frontThe Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of war between the European Axis powers, Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Croatia and Finland , and the Soviet Union which encompassed central and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9...
, and Chinese, British and American troops fought in the Pacific. The Allies formulated strategy in a series of high profile conferences as well as contact through diplomatic and military channels. Roosevelt guaranteed that the U.S. would be the "Arsenal of Democracy" by shipping $50 billion of Lend Lease supplies, primarily to Britain and to the USSR, China and other Allies.
Roosevelt acknowledged that the U.S. had a traditional antipathy towards the British Empire. In
One Christmas in Washington, a dinner meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill is described, in which Roosevelt is quoted as saying:
- "It's in the American tradition, this distrust, this dislike and even hatred of Britain the Revolution, you know, and 1812; and India and the Boer War, and all that. There are many kinds of Americans of course, but as a people, as a country, we're opposed to Imperialism—we can't stomach it."
Officials in the
U.S. War DepartmentThe United States Department of War, also called the War Office, was the cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the US Army...
believed that the quickest way to defeat Germany was to invade France across the English Channel. Churchill, wary of the casualties he feared this would entail, favored a more indirect approach, advancing northwards from the
Mediterranean SeaThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by the Levant. The sea is technically a part of the Atlantic Ocean, although it...
. Roosevelt rejected this plan. Stalin advocated opening a Western front at the earliest possible time, as the bulk of the land fighting in 1942–44 was on Soviet soil.
The Allies undertook the invasions of French
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
and
AlgeriaAlgeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country located in North Africa. It is the largest country on the Mediterranean sea, the second largest on the African continent and the eleventh-largest country in the world in terms of land area.It is bordered by Tunisia in...
(
Operation TorchOperation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started 8 November 1942....
) in November 1942, of
SicilySicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous region of Italy. Several much smaller islands surrounding it are considered to be part of Sicily....
(Operation Husky) in July 1943, and of Italy (Operation Avalanche) in September 1943. The strategic bombing campaign was escalated in 1944, pulverizing all major German cities and cutting off oil supplies. It was a 50-50 British-American operation. Roosevelt picked
Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was a five-star general in the United States Army and the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the...
, and not
George MarshallGeneral of the Army George Catlett Marshall was an American military leader, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State, and the third Secretary of Defense. Once noted as the "organizer of victory" by Winston Churchill for his leadership of the Allied victory in World War II, Marshall served...
, to head the Allied cross-channel invasion,
Operation OverlordOperation Overlord was the code name for the invasion of western Europe during World War II by Allied forces. The operation began on 6 June 1944 with the Normandy Landings when an airborne assault preceded an amphibious assault...
that began on
D-DayD-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar...
, June 6, 1944. Some of the most costly battles of the war ensued after the invasion, and the Allies were blocked on the German border in the "
Battle of the BulgeThe Ardennes Offensive was a major German offensive , launched towards the end of World War II through the forested Ardennes Mountains region of Belgium , France and Luxembourg on the Western Front...
" in December 1944. When Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, Allied forces were closing in on Berlin.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the Japanese advance reached its maximum extent by June 1942, when the U.S. Navy scored a decisive victory at the
Battle of MidwayThe Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign of World War II. Between 4 and 7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and seven months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated...
. American and Australian forces then began a slow and costly progress called
island hoppingIsland hopping is a term that has several different definitions as it is applied in various fields. Generally, the term refers to the means of crossing an ocean by a series of shorter journeys between islands, as opposed to a single journey directly across the ocean to the destination.-World War...
or
leapfroggingThe concept of leapfrogging was originally used in the context of economic growth theories and industrial-organization innovation studies with specific focus on competition among firms. It is based on Joseph Schumpeter's notion of ‘gales of creative destruction’...
through the Pacific Islands, with the objective of gaining bases from which strategic airpower could be brought to bear on Japan and from which Japan could ultimately be invaded. Roosevelt gave way in part to insistent demands from the public and Congress that more effort be devoted against Japan; he always insisted on Germany first.
Post-war planning
By late 1943, it was apparent that the Allies would ultimately defeat
Nazi GermanyNazi Germany and the Third Reich are the common English names for Germany between 1933 and 1945, while it was led by Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Worker's Party . The name Third Reich refers to the state as the successor to the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and the German...
, and it became increasingly important to make high-level political decisions about the course of the war and the postwar future of
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
. Roosevelt met with
ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
and the Chinese leader
Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He was an influential member of the Kuomintang and Sun Yat-sen's close ally. He became the commandant of Kuomintang's Whampoa Military Academy and took Sun's place in the party when the latter died in 1925...
at the
Cairo ConferenceThe Cairo Conference of November 22 - 26 1943, held in Cairo, Egypt, addressed the Allied position against Japan during World War II and made decisions about postwar Asia...
in November 1943, and then went to
TehranTehran is the capital and largest city of Iran, and the administrative center of Tehran Province. Tehran is a sprawling city at the foot of the Tochal mountain range with an immense network of highways unparalleled in Western Asia...
to confer with Churchill and Stalin. While Churchill viewed
StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
as a tyrant, when warned of potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship over part of Europe, Roosevelt responded with a statement summarizing his rationale for relations with Stalin: "I just have a hunch that Stalin is not that kind of a man. . . . I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace." At the
Tehran ConferenceThe Tehran Conference was the meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill between November 28 and December 1, 1943, most of which was held at the Soviet Embassy in Tehran, Iran. It was the first World War II conference among the Big Three in which Stalin was present...
, Roosevelt and Churchill told Stalin about the plan to invade France in 1944, and Roosevelt also discussed his plans for a postwar international organization. For his part, Stalin insisted on the redrawing the frontiers of Poland. Stalin supported Roosevelt's plan for the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
and promised to enter the war against Japan 90 days after Germany was defeated.
By the beginning of 1945, however, with the Allied armies advancing into Germany and the Soviets in control of Poland, the issues had to come out into the open. In February, Roosevelt, despite his steadily deteriorating health, traveled to
YaltaYalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...
, in the Soviet
CrimeaCrimea or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history...
, to meet again with Stalin and Churchill. While Roosevelt maintained his confidence that Stalin would keep his Yalta promises regarding free elections in eastern Europe, one month after Yalta ended, Roosevelt's Ambassador to the USSR Averill Harriman cabled Roosevelt that "we must come clearly to realize that the Soviet program is the establishment of totalitarianism, ending personal liberty and democracy as we know it." Two days later, Roosevelt began to admit that his view of Stalin had been excessively optimistic and that "Averell is right." Americans of Eastern European descent criticized the
Yalta ConferenceThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
for failing to curtail the Soviets' formation of the
Eastern BlocThe terms Eastern Bloc, Communist Bloc or Soviet Bloc were used to refer to the former Communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, including the countries of the Warsaw Pact, along with Yugoslavia and Albania, which were not aligned with the Soviet Union after 1948 and 1960...
. Regarding earlier wartime decisions, a desire to maintain a good working relationship with Stalin during the war may have been a factor in Roosevelt's reluctance to agree with Churchill's proposal to aid the Poles in the
Warsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a struggle by the Polish Home Army to liberate Warsaw from Nazi German occupation during World War II. The Uprising began on 1 August 1944, as part of a nationwide rebellion, Operation Tempest. It was intended to last for only a few days until the Soviet Army reached the...
against Stalin's wishes and suppressing a report by George Earle that assigned responsibility for the
Katyń MassacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass murder of thousands of Polish military officers, policemen, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war by Soviet NKVD, based on a proposal from Lavrentiy Beria to execute all members of the Polish Officer Corps...
to the Soviets.
Election of 1944
Roosevelt, who turned 62 in 1944, had been in declining health since at least 1940. The strain of his paralysis and the physical exertion needed to compensate for it for over 20 years had taken their toll, as had many years of stress and a lifetime of chain-smoking. By this time, Roosevelt had numerous ailments including chronic high blood pressure,
emphysemaEmphysema is a lung disease, characterized by an abnormal, permanent enlargement of air spaces distal to the terminal bronchioles. The disease is coupled with the destruction of walls, but without obvious fibrosis...
, systemic
atherosclerosisAtherosclerosis is the condition in which an artery wall thickens as the result of a build-up of fatty materials such as cholesterol...
, coronary artery disease with angina pectoris, and myopathic
hypertensive heart diseaseHypertensive heart disease is any of a number of complications of arterial hypertension that affects the heart. Billy Mays died from this-Symptoms:* Fatigue* Irregular pulse* Swelling of feet* Weight gain* Nausea* Shortness of breath...
with
congestive heart failureHeart failure is a condition in which a problem with the structure or function of the heart impairs its ability to supply sufficient blood flow to meet the body's needs...
. Dr. Emanuel Libman, then an assistant
pathologistPathology is the study and diagnosis of disease through examination of organs, tissues, bodily fluids, and whole bodies...
at
Mount Sinai HospitalMount Sinai Hospital, founded in 1852, is one of the oldest and largest teaching hospitals in the United States. In 2009, Mount Sinai Hospital was ranked as one of the best hospitals in the U.S. by U.S...
in New York City, reacting to Roosevelt's appearance in newsreels, remarked in 1944 that "It doesn't matter whether Roosevelt is re-elected or not, he'll die of a cerebral hemorrhage within 6 months" (which he did, five months later).
Aware of the risk that Roosevelt would die during his fourth term, the party regulars insisted that
Henry A. WallaceHenry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the 11th Secretary of Agriculture , and the tenth Secretary of Commerce...
, who was seen as too pro-Soviet, be dropped as Vice President. After considering
James F. ByrnesJames Francis Byrnes was an American statesman from the state of South Carolina. During his career, Byrnes served as a member of the House of Representatives , as a Senator , as Justice of the Supreme Court , as Secretary of State , and as Governor of South Carolina...
of
South CarolinaSouth Carolina is a U.S. state that borders Georgia to the south and North Carolina to the north. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence from the British Crown during the American Revolution. The colony was...
, and being turned down by
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
Governor
Henry F. SchrickerHenry Frederick Schricker was Democratic governor of the American state of Indiana from 1941 to 1945 and from 1949 to 1953. He is the only Indiana governor elected to two non-consecutive terms, and the only governor between 1852 and 1977 to be elected to more than one term in office...
, Roosevelt replaced Wallace with the little-known Senator
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
. In the
1944 electionThe United States presidential election of 1944 took place while the United States was preoccupied with fighting World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had been in office longer than any other president, but remained popular. Unlike 1940, there was little doubt that Roosevelt would run for...
, Roosevelt and Truman won 53% of the vote and carried 36 states, against New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey.
Last days, death and memorial
The President left the
Yalta ConferenceThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
on February 12, 1945, and flew to Egypt and boarded the
USS QuincyUSS Quincy , a Baltimore class heavy cruiser of the United States Navy. She was the third ship to carry the name.Quincy was authorized on 17 June 1940; laid down by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Shipbuilding Division, Quincy, Massachusetts as St...
operating on the
Great Bitter LakeThe Great Bitter Lake is a salt water lake between the north and south part of the Suez Canal. It is adjoined by the Small Bitter Lake . Together, the Bitter Lakes have a surface area of about 250 km²...
near the
Suez CanalThe Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened on November 1869, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigating around Africa...
. Aboard
Quincy, the next day he met with Farouk I, king of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
, and Haile Selassie, emperor of
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
. On February 14, he held a historic meeting with King Abdulaziz, the founder of
Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia , is an Arab country and the largest country of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south...
, a meeting which holds profound significance in U.S.-Saudi relations even today. After a final meeting between Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Winston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC was a British politician known chiefly for his leadership of the United Kingdom during World War II. He served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. A noted statesman and orator, Churchill was also an officer...
,
Quincy steamed for
AlgiersAlgiers is the capital and largest city of Algeria, and the second largest city in the Maghreb . According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630...
, arriving February 18, at which time Roosevelt conferred with American ambassadors to Britain, France and Italy. At Yalta, Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's physician, commented on Roosevelt's ill health: "He is a very sick man. He has all the symptoms of
hardening of the arteries of the brainArteriosclerosis refers to a stiffening of arteries.Arteriosclerosis is a general term describing any hardening of medium or large arteries...
in an advanced stage, so that I give him only a few months to live".
When he returned to the United States, he addressed Congress on March 1 about the Yalta Conference, and many were shocked to see how old, thin and frail he looked. He spoke while seated in the well of the House, an unprecedented concession to his physical incapacity. (He opened his speech by saying, "I hope that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what I want to say, but...it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs." This was his only public mention of his disability.) But mentally he was still in full command. "The Crimean Conference," he said firmly, "ought to spell the end of a system of unilateral action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balances of power, and all the other expedients that have been tried for centuries and have always failed. We propose to substitute for all these, a universal organization in which all peace-loving nations will finally have a chance to join."
During March 1945, he sent strongly worded messages to Stalin accusing him of breaking his Yalta commitments over Poland, Germany,
prisoners of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
and other issues. When Stalin accused the western Allies of plotting a separate peace with Hitler behind his back, Roosevelt replied: "I cannot avoid a feeling of bitter resentment towards your informers, whoever they are, for such vile misrepresentations of my actions or those of my trusted subordinates."
On March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to
Warm SpringsWarm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 485 at the 2000 census.-History:Warm Springs first came to prominence in the 19th century as a spa town, due to its mineral springs which flow constantly at nearly 32°C...
to rest before his anticipated appearance at the founding conference of the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
. On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I have a terrific headache." He collapsed, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a massive cerebral hemorrhage (stroke). At 3:35 p.m. that day, Roosevelt died. As
Allen DruryAllen Stuart Drury was a U.S. novelist. He wrote the 1959 novel Advise and Consent, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1960....
later said, “so ended an era, and so began another.” After Roosevelt's death an editorial by
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded in 1851 and published in New York City. The largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States, "The Gray Lady"—named for its staid appearance and style—is regarded as a national newspaper of record...
declared, "Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House".
At the time he collapsed, Roosevelt had been sitting for a portrait painting by the artist
Elizabeth ShoumatoffElizabeth Shoumatoff was an American painter who was most well known for painting the Unfinished Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt....
, resulting in the famous
Unfinished Portrait of FDRThe Unfinished Portrait is a water color of Franklin Delano Roosevelt that was in progress at the time of his collapse and subsequent death. Elizabeth Shoumatoff had begun working on the portrait of the president around noon on April 12, 1945. FDR was being served lunch when he stated "I have a...
.
In his later years at the White House, Roosevelt was increasingly overworked and his daughter
Anna Roosevelt BoettigerAnna Eleanor Roosevelt Halsted , was the daughter of the thirty-second President of the United States Franklin D. Roosevelt and the granddaughter of Elliott Roosevelt...
had moved in to provide her father companionship and support. Anna had also arranged for her father to meet with his former mistress, the now widowed
Lucy Mercer RutherfurdLucy Page Mercer Rutherfurd is considered by historians to have been a mistress of United States President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She was with Roosevelt on the day he died in 1945.-Background:...
. Shoumatoff, who maintained close friendships with both Roosevelt and Mercer, rushed Mercer away to avoid negative publicity and implications of infidelity. When Eleanor heard about her husband's death, she was also faced with the news that Anna had been arranging these meetings with Mercer and that Mercer had been with Franklin when he died.
Roosevelt's death was met with shock and grief across the U.S. and around the world. His declining health had not been known to the general public. Roosevelt had been president for more than 12 years, longer than any other person, and had led the country through some of its greatest crises to the impending defeat of Nazi Germany and to within sight of the defeat of Japan as well.
As was his wish, Roosevelt was buried in the Rose Garden of the
Springwood estateThe Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site preserves the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, United States of America. Springwood was the birthplace, life-long home, and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
, the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park. After her death in November 1962, Eleanor was buried next to him.
Less than a month after his death, on May 8, came the moment Roosevelt fought for:
V-E DayVictory in Europe Day was on 8 May 1945, the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich...
. President Harry Truman, who turned 61 that day, dedicated V-E Day and its celebrations to Roosevelt's memory, paying tribute to his commitment to ending the war in Europe. He also kept flags across the U.S. at half-staff for the remainder of the 30-day mourning period, again to pay tribute to Roosevelt's commitment to ending the war in Europe.
Civil rights issues
Roosevelt's record on civil rights has been the subject of much controversy. He was a hero to large minority groups, especially African-Americans,
CatholicThe word Catholic is derived from the Greek adjective , meaning "universal". In the context of Christian ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages. For some, the term "Catholic Church" refers to the church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, made up of the Latin Rite and the 22...
s, and
JewThe Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
s. African-Americans and
Native AmericanThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
s fared well in the New Deal relief programs, although they were not allowed to hold significant leadership roles in the
WPAThe Works Progress Administration was the largest "New Deal" agency, employing millions of people and affecting almost every locality in the United States, especially rural and western mountain populations...
and
CCCThe Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program for unemployed men, providing vocational training through the performance of useful work related to conservation and development of natural resources in the United States from 1933 to 1942. As part of the New Deal legislation...
. Roosevelt needed the support of Southern Democrats for his New Deal programs, and he therefore decided not to push for anti-
lynchingLynching is an extrajudicial punishment meted by a mob, usually by hanging. It is an enumerated felony in all states of the United States, defined by some codes of law as "Any act of violence inflicted by a mob upon the body of another person which results in the death of the person," with a 'mob'...
legislation that might threaten his ability to pass his highest priority programs. Roosevelt was highly successful in attracting large majorities of African-Americans, Jews, and Catholics into his
New Deal coalitionThe New Deal coalition was the alignment of interest groups and voting blocs that supported the New Deal and voted for Democratic presidential candidates from 1932 until approximately 1968, which made the Democratic Party the majority party during that period, losing only to Dwight D. Eisenhower in...
. Beginning in 1941 Roosevelt issued a series of executive orders designed to guarantee racial, religious, and ethnic minorities a fair share of the new wartime jobs. He pushed for admission of African-Americans into better positions in the military. In 1942 Roosevelt made the final decision in
orderingUnited States Executive Order 9066 was a presidential executive order issued during World War II by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on February 19, 1942 to send Japanese Americans to internment camps....
the
internmentJapanese American internment refers to the forcible relocation and internment in 1942 of approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese residing in the United States to housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of...
of
Japaneseare Americans of Japanese heritage, either born in Japan or their descendents. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or...
,
ItalianAn Italian American is an American of Italian ancestry, and/or may also refer to someone possessing Italian/American dual citizenship. Italian Americans are the fourth largest European ethnic group in the United States.-History:...
, and
German AmericanGerman Americans are Americans of German descent. They form the largest self-reported ancestry group in the United States, outnumbering the Irish and English. They account for 50 million people, or 17% of the U.S. population...
s (many not released until well after the war's end) during World War II. Beginning in the 1960s he was charged with not acting decisively enough to prevent or stop
the HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as The Shoah is the term generally used to describe the genocide of approximately six million European Jews during World War II, a program of systematic state-sponsored extermination by Nazi Germany,...
which killed six million Jews. Critics cite episodes such as when, in 1939, the 936 Jewish refugees on board the
SS St. LouisThe MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most notable for a single voyage in 1939, in which her captain tried to find homes for more than 900 German Jewish refugees after they were denied entry to Cuba...
were denied
asylumAsylum may refer to:* Right of asylum or political asylum* Insane asylum or psychiatric hospital, a hospital specializing in the treatment of persons with mental illness- such as insanity...
and not allowed into the United States.
Administration, Cabinet, and Supreme Court appointments 1933–1945
| The FDR Cabinet |
| OFFICE |
NAME |
TERM |
| President The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt |
1933–1945 |
Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term...
|
John Nance GarnerJohn Nance Garner IV nicknamed "Cactus Jack" was the 44th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the 32nd Vice President of the United States .- Early life and family :...
|
1933–1941 |
| |
Henry A. WallaceHenry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the 11th Secretary of Agriculture , and the tenth Secretary of Commerce...
|
1941–1945 |
| |
Harry S. TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
|
1945 |
StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
|
Cordell HullCordell Hull was an American politician from the U.S. state of Tennessee. He is best-known as the longest-serving Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
|
1933–1944 |
| |
Edward R. Stettinius, Jr.Edward Reilly Stettinius, Jr. was United States Secretary of State under Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, serving from 1944 to 1945....
|
1944–1945 |
WarThe Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
|
George H. DernGeorge Henry Dern was born in Dodge County, Nebraska on September 8, 1872. He was a successful politician, mining man and business man. He is probably best remembered for co-inventing the Holt–Dern ore roasting process, as well as his tenure as United States Secretary of War from 1933 to his death...
|
1933–1936 |
| |
Harry H. WoodringHarry Hines Woodring was a U.S. political figure. He was born in 1890 in Elk City, Kansas. He was educated in city and county schools and at sixteen began work as a janitor in the First National Bank of Neodesha, Kansas...
|
1936–1940 |
| |
Henry L. StimsonHenry Lewis Stimson was an American statesman, who served as Secretary of War, Governor-General of the Philippines, and Secretary of State. He was a conservative Republican, and a leading lawyer in New York City...
|
1940–1945 |
TreasuryThe United States Secretary of the Treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, concerned with finance and monetary matters, and, until 2003, some issues of national security and defense. This position in the Federal Government of the United States is analogous to the...
|
William H. WoodinWilliam Hartman Woodin was a U.S. industrialist. He served as the Secretary of Treasury under Franklin Roosevelt in 1933.Woodin was closely involved in Jackson and Woodin Manufacturing Company...
|
1933–1934 |
| |
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.Henry Morgenthau, Jr. was the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was also the father of Robert M...
|
1934–1945 |
| Justice |
Homer S. CummingsHomer Stille Cummings was a U.S. political figure who most notably served as United States Attorney General from 1933 to 1939. He also was elected mayor of Stamford, Connecticut, three times before, founding the legal firm of Cummings & Lockwood in 1909...
|
1933–1939 |
| |
Frank MurphyWilliam Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
|
1939–1940 |
| |
Robert H. JacksonRobert Houghwout Jackson was United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court . He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials...
|
1940–1941 |
| |
Francis B. Biddle Francis Beverley Biddle was an American lawyer and judge who was Attorney General of the United States during World War II and who served as the primary American judge during the postwar Nuremberg trials....
|
1941–1945 |
PostThe United States Postmaster General is the executive head of the United States Postal Service. The office, in one form or another, is older than both the United States Constitution and the United States Declaration of Independence...
|
James A. FarleyJames "Jim" Aloysius Farley was an American politician, business executive, and dignitary who served as head of the Democratic National Committee and as Postmaster General. Farley was known as a political "kingmaker", and was responsible for Franklin D. Roosevelt's rise to the presidency...
|
1933–1940 |
| |
Frank C. Walker Frank Comerford Walker was a United States political figure. He served as the United States Postmaster General between 1940 and 1945. He also served as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1943 until 1944....
|
1940–1945 |
NavyThe United States Secretary of the Navy is the civilian head of the Department of the Navy. The position was a member of the President's Cabinet until 1947, when the Navy, Army, and newly created Air Force were placed in the Department of Defense and the Secretary of the Navy was placed under the...
|
Claude A. SwansonClaude Augustus Swanson was an American lawyer and Democratic Party politician from Virginia.He served seven terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, from 1893 until 1906, was the Governor of Virginia from 1906 until 1910, and represented Virginia as a United States Senator from 1910 until 1933...
|
1933–1939 |
| |
Charles EdisonCharles Edison , son of Thomas Edison, was a businessman, Assistant and then United States Secretary of the Navy, and served as the 42nd Governor of New Jersey.-Biography:...
|
1940 |
| |
Frank Knox William Franklin "Frank" Knox was the Secretary of the Navy under Franklin D. Roosevelt during most of World War II. He was also the Republican vice presidential candidate in 1936.-Biography:...
|
1940–1944 |
| |
James V. ForrestalJames Vincent Forrestal was the last Cabinet-level United States Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense.Forrestal was a supporter of naval battle groups centered on aircraft carriers...
|
1944–1945 |
InteriorThe United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior.The US Department of the Interior should not be confused with the concept of Ministries of the Interior as used in other countries...
|
Harold L. IckesHarold LeClair Ickes was a United States administrator and politician. He served as Secretary of the Interior for 13 years, from 1933 to 1946, the longest tenure of anyone to hold the office. Ickes was responsible for implementing much of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" and is the...
|
1933–1945 |
AgricultureThe United States Secretary of Agriculture is the head of the United States Department of Agriculture. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on 20 January 2009. The position carries similar responsibilities to those of agriculture ministers in other...
|
Henry A. WallaceHenry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the 11th Secretary of Agriculture , and the tenth Secretary of Commerce...
|
1933–1940 |
| |
Claude R. Wickard Claude Raymond Wickard served as Secretary of Agriculture under President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1940 to 1945. Wickard was born on his family farm in Carroll County, Indiana, near Camden...
|
1940–1945 |
CommerceThe United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce." Until 1913 there was one Secretary of Commerce and...
|
Daniel C. Roper Daniel Calhoun Roper was a U.S. administrator, particularly under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born in Marlboro County, South Carolina...
|
1933–1938 |
| |
Harry L. HopkinsHarry Lloyd Hopkins was one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's closest advisers. He was one of the architects of the New Deal, especially the relief programs of the Works Progress Administration , which he directed and built into the largest employer in the country...
|
1939–1940 |
| |
Jesse H. Jones Jesse Holman Jones was a Houston, Texas politician and entrepreneur. He served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 1940 to 1945...
|
1940–1945 |
| |
Henry A. WallaceHenry Agard Wallace was the 33rd Vice President of the United States , the 11th Secretary of Agriculture , and the tenth Secretary of Commerce...
|
1945 |
LaborThe United States Secretary of Labor is the head of the Department of Labor who exercises control over the department and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies....
|
Frances C. PerkinsFrances Perkins Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Davies, (April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was the U.S. Secretary of Labor from 1933 to 1945, and the first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet. As a loyal supporter of her friend, Franklin D. Roosevelt, she helped pull the labor...
|
1933–1945 |
President Roosevelt appointed eight Justices to the
Supreme Court of the United StatesThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
, more than any other President except
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
, who appointed ten. By 1941, eight of the nine Justices were Roosevelt appointees. Harlan Fiske Stone was elevated to Chief Justice from the position of Associate Justice by Roosevelt.
- Hugo Black
Hugo LaFayette Black was an American politician and jurist. A member of the Democratic Party, Black represented the state of Alabama in the United States Senate from 1927 to 1937, and served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1937 to 1971. Black was nominated to...
1937
- Stanley Forman Reed
Stanley Forman Reed was a noted American attorney who served as United States Solicitor General from 1935 to 1938 and as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957...
1938
- Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born on November 15, 1882 in Vienna, Austria, third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter. His forebears had been rabbis for generations...
1939
- William O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. With a term lasting 36 years and 209 days, he is the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court...
1939
- Frank Murphy
William Francis Murphy was a politician and jurist from Michigan. He served as First Assistant U.S. District Attorney, Eastern Michigan District , Recorder's Court Judge, Detroit . Mayor of Detroit , the last Governor-General of the Philippines , U.S...
1940
- Harlan Fiske Stone
Harlan Fiske Stone was an American lawyer and jurist. A native of New Hampshire he served as the dean of Columbia Law School, his alma mater in the early 20th century. As a member of the Republican Party, he was appointed as the 52nd Attorney General of the United States before becoming an...
(Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States...
) 1941
- James Francis Byrnes 1941
- Robert H. Jackson
Robert Houghwout Jackson was United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court . He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials...
1941
- Wiley Blount Rutledge
Wiley Blount Rutledge, Jr. was a U.S. educator and jurist.-Early life:Rutledge was born in Cloverport, Kentucky to Wiley Blount Rutledge, Sr., a Southern Baptist minister, and Mary Lou Wigginton Rutledge . Another son died in infancy, and then his sister Margaret was born in 1897...
1943
Roosevelt's appointees would not share ideologies, and some, like Hugo Black and Felix Frankfurter, would become "lifelong adversaries." Frankfurter even labeled his more liberal colleagues Rutledge, Murphy, Black, and Douglas as part of an "Axis" of opposition to his judicially conservative agenda.
Legacy
A 1999 survey by
C-SPANC-SPAN , an abbreviation of Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network dedicated to airing non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming...
found that by a wide margin academic historians consider
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
,
George WashingtonGeorge Washington was the commander of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War and served as the first President of the United States of America...
and Roosevelt the three greatest presidents, consistent with other surveys. Roosevelt is the sixth
most admiredGallup's List of Widely Admired People, a poll of United States citizens to volunteer the names of the individuals whom they most admire, is a list compiled annually by The Gallup Organization. This is the only question that Gallup has asked every year since its founding in the 1930s...
person from the 20th century by US citizens, according to
GallupThe Gallup Poll is the division of Gallup that regularly conducts public opinion polls in more than 140 countries around the world. Gallup Polls are often referenced in the mass media as a reliable and objective measure of public opinion...
.
Both during and after his terms,
critics of RooseveltBoth during and after his terms, and continuing today, there has been much criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Critics have questioned not only his policies and positions, but also the general consolidation of power that occurred due to his responses to the crises of the Depression and World War II...
questioned not only
his policies and positionsDuring his presidency from 1933 to 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt established a series of programs which he called the New Deal. Critics from both ends of the political spectrum argued against these policies.- From the Left :...
, but also the consolidation of power that occurred because of his lengthy tenure as president, his service during two major crises, and his enormous popularity. The rapid expansion of government programs that occurred during Roosevelt's term redefined the role of the government in the United States, and Roosevelt's advocacy of government social programs was instrumental in redefining
liberalismLiberalism is the belief in the importance of individual freedom. This belief is widely accepted today throughout the world, and was recognized as an important value by many philosophers throughout history...
for coming generations.
Roosevelt firmly established the United States' leadership role on the world stage, with pronouncements such as his
Four FreedomsThe Four Freedoms are goals famously articulated by United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt, urged by wife Eleanor Roosevelt and friend Jon Run, on January 6, 1941...
speech, forming a basis for the active role of the United States in the war and beyond.
After Franklin's death, Eleanor Roosevelt continued to be a forceful presence in U.S. and world politics, serving as delegate to the conference which established the
United NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace...
and championing civil rights. Many members of his administration played leading roles in the administrations of
TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
,
KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
and
JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969 after his service as the Vice President of the United States from 1961 to 1963...
, each of whom embraced Roosevelt's political legacy.
Roosevelt's
home in Hyde ParkThe Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site preserves the Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, United States of America. Springwood was the birthplace, life-long home, and burial place of the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...
is now a
National historic siteA national historic site is a designation that an area possesses national historical significance. It may confer protected area status on the site, but not necessarily. Such sites can range in size from small to complex, and may include physical evidence of the subject related to the history being...
and home to his
Presidential libraryThe Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York is the first of presidential library built in the United States. It was conceived and built under the direction of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt from 1939 to 1940.- History :...
. His
retreatThe Little White House, in the Warm Springs Historic District in Warm Springs, Georgia, was Franklin Delano Roosevelt's personal retreat. He first came to Warm Springs for treatment of his paralytic illness, and liked the area so much that, as Governor of New York, he had a home built on nearby...
at Warm Springs, Georgia is a museum operated by the state of Georgia. His summer retreat on Campobello Island is maintained by the governments of both Canada and the United States as
Roosevelt Campobello International ParkRoosevelt Campobello International Park preserves the house and surrounding landscape of the Roosevelt summer retreat where, in August 1921, future president Franklin D. Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis at the age of 39. The park occupies most of the southern end of Campobello Island, New...
; the island is accessible by way of the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt BridgeThe Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge is an international bridge, which connects Maine State Route 189 in the community of Lubec, Maine in the United States with Campobello Island in the Canadian province of New Brunswick across the Lubec Narrows. The bridge is named for former President of the...
.
The
Roosevelt MemorialThe Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is a presidential memorial dedicated to the memory of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and to the era he represents.-FDR Memorial:...
is located in Washington, D.C. next to the
Jefferson MemorialThe Thomas Jefferson Memorial is a presidential memorial in Washington, D.C. that is dedicated to Thomas Jefferson, an American Founding Father and the third president of the United States....
on the
Tidal BasinThe Tidal Basin is a partially man-made inlet adjacent to the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. It is part of West Potomac Park and is surrounded by the Jefferson Memorial and the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial...
, and Roosevelt's image appears on the
Roosevelt dimeSoon after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, legislation was introduced by Virginia Congressman Ralph H. Daughton that called for the replacement of the Mercury dime with one bearing Roosevelt's image...
. Many parks and schools, as well as an
aircraft carrierUSS Franklin D. Roosevelt was the second of three Midway class aircraft carriers. To her crew, she was known as the "Swanky Franky," "Foo-De-Roo," or "Rosie," with the last nickname probably the most popular. Roosevelt spent most of her active deployed career operating in the Mediterranean Sea as...
and a
Paris subway stationFranklin D. Roosevelt is a station of the Paris Métro serving both Lines 1 and 9. With 12.19m passengers annually, Franklin D. Roosevelt is the fourteenth busiest station in the Paris Métro system.-History:...
and hundreds of streets and squares both across the US and the rest of the world have been named in his honor.
Reflecting on Roosevelt's presidency, "which brought the United States through the Great Depression and World War II to a prosperous future", said FDR's biographer
Jean Edward SmithJean Edward Smith is professor at Marshall University and biographer. Currently he is the John Marshall Professor of Political Science at Marshall University and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto after having served as professor of political economy there for thirty-five years...
in 2007, "He lifted himself from a wheelchair to lift the nation from its knees."
Coat of Arms
The Roosevelts can trace their ancestry to Claes Maartenszen van Rosenvelt, who used for his coat of arms a white shield charged with a bush displaying three roses in their natural colours all on a grassy mound, and for a crest three ostrich feathers each divided into red and white halves. The arms Roosevelt used were slightly modified, ridding the arms of the mound and using three stemmed roses rather than a full rose bush.
The arms are in a style of heraldry called canting, which tries to depict a family name pictorially. The name "Van Rosenvelt" means "from the field of roses" in the native Dutch, thus the arms used by the Roosevelts are a visual representation of the name.
Roosevelt made much use of his arms, from decorating christening robes with the family roses, to bookplates, to signet rings, to full displays in the family home. Roosevelt gave to his wife, Eleanor, a gold pin of the full arms as a wedding gift. When King George VI made a state visit, Roosevelt had frames decorated with his crest of three ostrich feathers handed out to members of the royal entourage, most likely done in good humour because the Roosevelt crest would have seemed very similar to the badge used by the Prince of Wales which also included three ostrich feathers.
Limousine
The
official state carAn official state car is a car used to transport heads of state. It is usually a limousine or an executive car. Official state cars are often those of domestic manufacturers, giving leaders an opportunity to demonstrate faith in their nation's products and therefore domestic manufacturing...
used by
RooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt , the only U.S. President elected to more than two terms, was a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
was a 1939
LincolnLincoln is the luxury brand of Ford Motor Company. Founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland and acquired by Ford in 1922, Lincoln has manufactured vehicles since the 1920s. Leland named the brand after his longtime hero Abraham Lincoln.-History:...
V12 convertible, known informally as the "
Sunshine SpecialThe Sunshine Special was inaugurated by the St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad on December 5, 1915, to provide a premium level of passenger train service between St. Louis, Little Rock, and destinations in Texas...
", a reference to the car's
convertibleA convertible is a type of automobile in which the roof can retract and fold away, converting it from an enclosed to an open-air vehicle. Many different automobile body styles are manufactured and marketed in convertible form....
roof. Originally created in 1939, the car was the first presidential state car to be specifically built for presidential use, and was leased to the
Office of the PresidentThe Executive Office of the President consists of the immediate staff of the President of the United States, as well as multiple levels of support staff reporting to the President. The EOP is headed by the White House Chief of Staff, currently Rahm Emanuel.-History:In 1939, during Franklin D...
by
Ford Motor CompanyThe Ford Motor Company is an American multinational corporation based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands, Ford also owns Volvo Cars of Sweden, and a small stake...
for $500 a year. It was a well-known personal favorite of the president, and accompanied him to
YaltaThe Yalta Conference, sometimes called the Crimea Conference and codenamed the Argonaut Conference, was the wartime meeting from 4 February 1945 to 11 February 1945 among the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—President Franklin D...
, Teheran,
CasablancaThe Casablanca Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, Morocco, then a French protectorate, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the European strategy of the Allies during World War II. Present were Franklin D...
, and
MaltaThe Malta Conference was held from January 30 to February 3, 1945 between President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom on the island of Malta. The purpose of the conference was to plan the final campaign against the Germans with the...
, as well as various domestic trips. The convertible roof, which was famously enjoyed by the president, was most commonly down during parades, and other times it was used as presidential transportation.
The limousine was originally built by the
LincolnLincoln is the luxury brand of Ford Motor Company. Founded in 1917 by Henry M. Leland and acquired by Ford in 1922, Lincoln has manufactured vehicles since the 1920s. Leland named the brand after his longtime hero Abraham Lincoln.-History:...
division of Ford Motor Company, and modified by Brunn & Company to U.S. Government specifications. It was powered by a 150
hpHorsepower is the name of several non-SI units of power. It was originally defined to allow the output of steam engines to be measured and compared with the power output of draft horses. The horsepower was widely adopted to measure the output of piston engines, turbines, electric motors and other...
, 414 cubic inch V12 L-head engine. The limousine was originally equipped with a siren, running lights, and a 2-way radio, as well as extra-wide running boards and grab handles for
Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
agents. The convertible roof, was designed as a way for Roosevelt to communicate with crowds without leaving the vehicle. The car quickly became known as a favourite of the president, as during the
WWIIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
era, it was transported to various locations throughout the world with the president, most commonly when travelling to
conferences, and other international,
diplomaticDiplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states. It usually refers to international diplomacy, the conduct of international relations through the intercession of professional diplomats with regard to issues of peace-making, trade, war,...
meetings.
After the
Japanese attack on Pearl HarborThe attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Japanese navy against the United States' naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of Sunday, December 7, 1941 , later resulting in the United...
, the
Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
began to express concern with potential
assassination attempts against the president, as his limousine then was not armoured and had no protective features. Roosevelt used a heavily armored 1928
CadillacCadillac is a luxury vehicle marque owned by General Motors Company. Cadillac vehicles are sold in over 50 countries and territories, but mainly in North America....
341A Town Sedan, which had originally belonged to gangster
Al CaponeAlphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a crime syndicate dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging of liquor and other illegal activities during the Prohibition Era of the 1920s and 1930s....
until his Sunshine Special was modified to be capable of protecting him, with armor plating for the doors, bullet-proof tires, inch-thick windows and storage compartments for pistols and sub-machine guns. All the safety modifications increased the car's weight to 9,300 pounds. Despite these precautions, Roosevelt preferred to ride with the top down during parades and at most public gatherings. The car was also fitted with the then-current Lincoln front end in 1942. After Roosevelt’s death in 1945, the Sunshine Special remained in the White House fleet and was used occasionally by
President TrumanHarry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice-president and the 34th Vice President of the United States, he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
until a new fleet of Lincoln limousines was acquired after the 1948 election. The limousine is now on permanent display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn,
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
.
Media
See also
- Criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt
Both during and after his terms, and continuing today, there has been much criticism of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Critics have questioned not only his policies and positions, but also the general consolidation of power that occurred due to his responses to the crises of the Depression and World War II...
- Sunrise at Campobello
Sunrise at Campobello is a 1960 biographical film made by Dore Schary Productions and Warner Bros. It tells the story of the initial struggle by future President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his family when he was stricken with paralysis at the age of 39 in August 1921.-Plot...
- List of coupled cousins
- List of United States Presidents who died in office
- Arthurdale
- Warm Springs
Warm Springs is a 2005 television movie about American President Franklin D. Roosevelt's struggle with polio, his discovery of the Warm Springs, Georgia spa resort and his work to turn it into a center for the aid of polio victims, and his resumption of his political career.-Cast:Actress Jane...
- Great Depression in the United States
The Great Depression began on "Black Tuesday" with the Wall Street Crash of October, 1929 and rapidly spread worldwide. The market crash marked the beginning of a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, deflation, plunging farm incomes, and lost opportunities for economic growth and...
- World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
- Historical rankings of United States Presidents
In political science, historical rankings of United States Presidents are surveys conducted in order to construct rankings of the success of individuals who have served as President of the United States. Ranking systems are usually based on surveys of academic historians and political scientists or...
Primary sources
- Bureau of the Census, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 1951 (1951) full of useful data; online
- Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 (1976)
- Cantril, Hadley and Mildred Strunk, eds.; Public Opinion, 1935–1946 (1951), massive compilation of many public opinion polls from USA
- Gallup, George Horace, ed. The Gallup Poll; Public Opinion, 1935–1971 3 vol (1972) summarizes results of each poll as reported to newspapers.
- Loewenheim, Francis L. and Harold D. Langley
Harold David Langley is an American diplomatic and naval historian who served as associate curator of naval history at the Smithsonian Institution from 1969...
, eds; Roosevelt and Churchill: Their Secret Wartime Correspondence (1975)
- Moley, Raymond. After Seven Years (1939), memoir by key Brain Truster
- Nixon, Edgar B. ed. Franklin D. Roosevelt and Foreign Affairs (3 vol 1969), covers 1933–37. 2nd series 1937–39 available on microfiche and in a 14 vol print edition at some academic libraries.
- Roosevelt, Franklin D.; Rosenman, Samuel Irving, ed. The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt (13 vol, 1938, 1945); public material only (no letters); covers 1928–1945.
- Zevin, B. D. ed.; Nothing to Fear: The Selected Addresses of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1932–1945 (1946) selected speeches
- Documentary History of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Administration 20 vol. available in some large academic libraries.
- Roosevelt, Franklin D.; Myron C. Taylor, ed. Wartime Correspondence Between President Roosevelt and Pope Pius XII. Prefaces by Pius XII and Harry Truman. Kessinger Publishing (1947, reprinted, 2005). ISBN 1-4191-6654-9
Biographies
- Black, Conrad. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, 2003.
- Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt (1956, 1970), 2 vol; interpretive scholarly biography, emphasis on politics; vol 2 is on war years
- Coker, Jeffrey W. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Biography. Greenwood, 2005. 172 pp.
- Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny (1990), One-volume scholarly biography; covers entire life
- Freidel, Frank. Franklin D. Roosevelt (4 vol 1952–73), the most detailed scholarly biography; ends in 1934.
- Davis, Kenneth S. FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny, 1982–1928 (1972)
- Goodwin, Doris Kearns. No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (1995)
- Jenkins, Roy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt (2003) short bio from British perspective
- Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers (1971), history of a marriage.
- Morgan, Ted, FDR: A biography, (1985), a popular biography
- Ward, Geoffrey C. Before The Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt, 1882–1905 (1985); A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt, (1992), covers 1905–1932.
Scholarly secondary sources
- Alter, Jonathan. The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope (2006), popular history
- Beasley, Maurine, et al. eds. The Eleanor Roosevelt Encyclopedia (2001) online
- Bellush, Bernard; Franklin D. Roosevelt as Governor of New York (1955) online
- Graham, Otis L. and Meghan Robinson Wander, eds. Franklin D. Roosevelt: His Life and Times. (1985). encyclopedia
- Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945. (1999), wide-ranging survey of national affairs
- Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940. (1963). A standard interpretive history of era.
- Leuchtenburg, William E. In the Shadow of FDR: From Harry Truman (2001), his long-term influence
- Leuchtenburg, William E. "Showdown on the Court." Smithsonian 2005 36(2): 106–113. Issn: 0037-7333 Fulltext: at Ebsco
- McMahon, Kevin J. Reconsidering Roosevelt on Race: How the Presidency Paved the Road to Brown. U. of Chicago Press, 2004. 298 pp.
- Parmet, Herbert S. and Marie B. Hecht; Never Again: A President Runs for a Third Term (1968) on 1940 election
- Ritchie, Donald A,; Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932 U. Press of Kansas, 2007.
- Rosen, Elliot A. Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery. U. Press of Virginia, 2005. 308 pp.
- Schlesinger, Arthur M. Jr., The Age of Roosevelt, 3 vols, (1957–1960), the classic narrative history. Strongly supports FDR. Online at vol 2 vol 3
- Shaw, Stephen K.; Pederson, William D.; and Williams, Frank J., eds. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Transformation of the Supreme Court. Sharpe, 2004.
- Sitkoff, Harvard, ed. Fifty Years Later: The New Deal Evaluated (1985)
Foreign policy and World War II
- Beschloss, Michael R. The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945 (2002).
- Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: Soldier of Freedom (1970), vol 2 covers the war years.
- Wayne S. Cole, "American Entry into World War II: A Historiographical Appraisal," The Mississippi Valley Historical Review, Vol. 43, No. 4. (Mar., 1957), pp. 595–617.
- Dallek, Robert. Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 (2nd ed. 1995) broad survey of foreign policy
- Glantz, Mary E. FDR and the Soviet Union: The President's Battles over Foreign Policy. U. Press of Kansas, 2005. 253 pp.
- Heinrichs, Waldo. Threshold of War. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II (1988).
- Kimball, Warren. The Juggler: Franklin Roosevelt as World Statesman (1991)
- Langer, William and S. Everett Gleason. The Challenge to Isolation, 1937–1940 (1952). The Undeclared War, 1940–1941 (1953). highly influential two-volume semi-official history
- Larrabee, Eric. Commander in Chief: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, His Lieutenants, and Their War. History of how FDR handled the war
- Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World at Arms: A Global History of World War II (1994). Overall history of the war; strong on diplomacy of FDR and other main leaders
- Woods, Randall Bennett. A Changing of the Guard: Anglo-American Relations, 1941–1946 (1990)
Criticisms
- Barnes, Harry Elmer. Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: A Critical Examination of the Foreign Policy of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Its Aftermath (1953). "revisionist" blames FDR for inciting Japan to attack.
- Best, Gary Dean. The Retreat from Liberalism: Collectivists versus Progressives in the New Deal Years (2002) criticizes intellectuals who supported FDR
- Best, Gary Dean. Pride, Prejudice, and Politics: Roosevelt Versus Recovery, 1933–1938 Praeger Publishers. 1991; summarizes newspaper editorials
- Conkin, Paul K. New Deal (1975), critique from the left
- Doenecke, Justus D. and Stoler, Mark A. Debating Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policies, 1933–1945. Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. 248 pp.
- Flynn, John T.
John Thomas Flynn was a U.S. journalist.-Career:Although he graduated from Georgetown Law School, he choose a career in journalism, beginning at the New Haven Register but eventually moved to New York where he was financial editor of the New York Globe...
The Roosevelt Myth (1948), former FDR supporter condemns all aspects of FDR
- Moley, Raymond. After Seven Years (1939) insider memoir by Brain Truster who became conservative
- Russett, Bruce M. No Clear and Present Danger: A Skeptical View of the United States Entry into World War II 2nd ed. (1997) says US should have let USSR and Germany destroy each other
- Plaud, Joseph J. Historical Perspectives on Franklin D. Roosevelt, American Foreign Policy, and the Holocaust (2005).Archived at the FDR American Heritage Center Museum Website
- Powell, Jim. FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression. (2003) ISBN 0761501657
- Robinson, Greg. By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans (2001) says FDR's racism was primarily to blame.
- Schivelbusch, Wolfgang. Three New Deals: Reflections on Roosevelt's America, Mussolini's Italy, and Hitler's Germany, 1933–1939 (2006) compares populist and paternalist features
- Smiley, Gene. Rethinking the Great Depression (1993) short essay by economist who blames both Hoover and FDR
- Wyman, David S. The Abandonment Of The Jews: America and the Holocaust Pantheon Books, 1984. Attacks Roosevelt for passive complicity in allowing Holocaust to happen
FDR's rhetoric
- Braden, Waldo W., and Earnest Brandenburg. "Roosevelt's Fireside Chats." Communication Monographs 22 (1955): 290–302.
- Buhite, Russell D. and David W. Levy, eds. FDR's Fireside Chats (1993)
- Craig, Douglas B. Fireside Politics: Radio and Political Culture in the United States, 1920–1940 (2005)
- Crowell, Laura. "Building the "Four Freedoms" Speech." Communication Monographs 22 (1952): 266–283.
- Crowell, Laura. "Franklin D. Roosevelt's Audience Persuasion in the 1936 Campaign." Communication Monographs 17 (1950): 48–64
- Houck, Davis W. F. D. R. and Fear Itself: The First Inaugural Address. Texas A&M UP, 2002.
- Houck, Davis W. Rhetoric as Currency: Hoover, Roosevelt, and the Great Depression. Texas A&M UP, 2001.
- Ryan, Halford Ross. "Roosevelt's First Inaugural: A Study of Technique." Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (1979): 137–149.
- Ryan, Halford Ross. Franklin D. Roosevelt's Rhetorical Presidency. Greenwood Press, 1988.
- Stelzner, Hermann G. "'War Message,' December 8, 1941: An Approach to Language." Communication Monographs 33 (1966): 419–437.
External links
Speeches and quotations: audio and transcripts
- Full audio of over 40 Roosevelt speeches (including a full set of fireside chats) via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)
- Roosevelt's Secret White House Recordings via the Miller Center of Public Affairs (UVa)
- famous quotes
- The American Presidency Project at University of California at Santa Barbara
- Public Papers of the Presidents: Franklin D. Roosevelt
- State of the Union Addresses
- 1934, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944
- State of the Union Written Messages
- Inaugural Addresses
- Fireside Chats
- Presidential Elections
- 32 Audio/Video Clips of FDR
- FDR - Day of Infamy video clip (2 min.)
- Audio clips of speeches
- First Inaugural Address, via Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
- Second Inaugural Address, via Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
- Third Inaugural Address, via Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
- Fourth Inaugural Address, via Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
- Court "Packing" Speech March 9, 1937
- University of Virginia graduating class speech ("Stab in the Back" speech) June 10, 1940
Other