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Franklin D. Roosevelt: A President's Disability

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A President’s Disability Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) is an important person in the history of America. He was elected as the thirty-second President of the United States and did so while having polio (Gregory 5). When he was thirty-nine years old, he got polio and became paralyzed from the chest down. Although the disease forced him to be in a wheelchair or to wear leg braces, he did not let this disability stop him. Franklin D. Roosevelt became a respected president who raised money and awareness to help stop the spread of polio. Polio was a contagious disease spreading fast in the 1900s. In 1921 FDR took a cold swim in Bay of Fundy and developed chills and knee malfunctions. Two days later he was paralyzed from the chest down (Degregorio …show more content…

Roosevelt was a famous man who achieved many things throughout his life. Before becoming president, he was the assistant secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920 (Degregorio 486). He was elected governor of New York in 1929 and was elected president in 1932 (Gregory 10). FDR was a well respected president who served for four terms. While in office, he started a program called The New Deal which provided federal relief to help get the country out of the depression (Degregorio 498). The person who influenced Franklin D. Roosevelt the most was his wife Eleanor. Eleanor helped him in many different ways. Although she was very shy, she made public appearances and gave speeches for FDR when he was having problems with his polio (Degregorio 485). She always traveled with her husband and nursed him back to health when he was ill (486). She was always FDR’s biggest supporter and pushed him to live an active life (487). Franklin D. Roosevelt helped many polio patients by raising money and increasing awareness of the disease. One of his most important contributions was creating the Warm Springs Foundation which provided a place for children to relieve muscle pain by soaking in the hot spring water (Orr 20). On January 30, 1934 on his birthday he sponsored a Birthday Ball to raise money for polio. The first Birthday Ball raised more than one million dollars that went towards supporting the Warm Springs Foundation (22). These Birthday Balls took place every year until his death

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Roosevelt was elected as the United States president. He took office with the country mired in the depths of The Great Depression. FDR immediately acted on this issue and thus was born the New Deal programs. The New Deal expanded the government’s role in the depression economy, and also enhanced laws that regulated Wall Street. FDR’s

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The best way to describe Theodore Roosevelt is an “Original”, a man like no other helping shape and influence American history for the better. Mostly known for serving two terms as president and being one of the youngest president’s to serve in history, but he was more than that. What made Theodore Roosevelt special was that he believed in peace but just because he wanted peace did not mean he would be a coward and be bullied by others. He has even won a noble peace prize for helping end the Russo-Japanese war. Being one of the few faces found on Mount Rushmore he has earned his right to be remembered throughout history.

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Franklin Roosevelt was a very influential and important president in American history who had an immense impact on the American economy and social policy during the 1930’s and 40’s and throughout the future of America, he also shared some ideas with the author John Steinbeck. He idolized Theodore Roosevelt, and took great inspiration from him. He has served as president for longer than any other president in history, serving for three terms instead of the usual two that is generally accepted as the maximum amount of time that a president can serve. He drove America out of the great depression and through the second world war.

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Polio: An American Story written by David Oshinsky highlights the journey to the discovery of a vaccine which would finally put an end to the once mysterious disease, Poliomyelitis. The journey begins in Otter Valley, Vermont, as it was the first Polio epidemic to be documented in the United States. Unknowingly, it would take years after the first epidemic in 1894 to find a solution for this frightening illness. The disease dates back to ancient time, with cases describing the victims to be left with disfigured limbs and some eventually to be paralyzed. Oshinsky identifies that the disease appeared in three phases: endemic, which occurs in a sporadically within a group of people, epidemic, in which it affected many people and spread rapidly,

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2. Theodore Roosevelt was considered to be the “First Modern President because he had a strong- firm personality, and showed aggressive actions towards others. Roosevelt believed that the President had the right to use all power unless they were denied to him. Also, that he has a responsibility to the people, and so challenged himself to avoid notions of limited government and individualism; the government he controlled should maintain as an agent who should give the people what they want. Roosevelt’s presidency opened up creativity of progressive movement, lending the prestige of the White House to welfare legislation, government regulation, and the conservation movement.

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FDR later started the Warm Springs Foundation and started the March of Dimes program to find a cure for polio for others and learn how to prevent people from catching it. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born January 30th, 1882 in Hyde Park, New

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Prior to losing the election of 1912, he helped the U.S with by doing anything he could to uphold America and its citizens. He also aided in American access to the Panama Canal. On economical terms, Roosevelt was the trust-buster, breaking all of the bad trusts in big businesses. He also was the president who enforced the Sherman Antitrust Act. Socially, he preserved millions of acres of land, entitling citizens to interact and have leisure time, and wildlife to prosper.

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The lifestyle of people during an outbreak was greatly affected. Everyone stayed away from swimming pools as it was thought that the polio virus was contracted through water. Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted polio after his visit to his vacation house in Canada, which had a lake. It was later shown in a study that chlorine rendered the poliovirus inactive. Many public areas were shut down such as camps, theaters, and schools, and many activities were abandoned.

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Theodore Roosevelt is one of the American presidents who are remembered for the changes that they brought or made in this nation. He was the 26th president of the United States and he is remembered for his transformations and important quotes which are useful today. Theodore Roosevelt was the most youthful president in the historical background of America amid that opportunity to be in office. He had not yet turned forty three years, the required age, when he got to be a president. He played a major role in transforming the federal government and the transformations made are still in effect today (viewpoint article; Beale).

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Franklin Roosevelt 's sudden death shook the American public to its roots. Though many had noticed that he looked exhausted in photographs and newsreels, no one seemed prepared for his passing. He had led the United States through an economic depression and the greatest war in human history. A whole generation of Americans had grown up knowing no other president. His social programs during the Great Depression redefined the role of government in Americans ' lives.

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Debate outline I. Introduction A. Did you know that president Roosevelt was not only a president but also created that national foundation for infantile paralysis when polio was on the rise as he too struggled with polio. This is now known as the March of Dimes. B. A fighting chance for every baby.

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Has there ever been a president as influential as Franklin Delano Roosevelt? Truly Roosevelt was a unique man that lead American through one of its hardest times. WWII threatened world peace and the Great Depression was actively wearing the U.S. away. Few other times in U.S history required someone of FDR's caliber to lead America through such a storm. Roosevelt was undoubtedly meant with much success and love.

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He was hit with polio in 1921, FDR spent much of his adult life in a wheelchair. A whole generation of Americans grew up knowing no other president, as FDR served four terms in office(16 years). Roosevelt’s social programs reinvented the role of government in Americans ' lives, while his presidency during World War II established the United States ' leadership on the world. A major tragedy during his time in office was the attack on pearl harbor, this devastated the US and took out many of the U.S.A.’s large warships, obviously the US and its President didn 't take to kindly to this, FDR the president at this time delivered a speech called “For a Declaration of war” which rallied and got the US in

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This helped in World War 2 to help get better naval weapons and better equipment for soldiers in battle. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second impact was that he used the invention of the radio to keep Americans hopes up during World War 2 and called his radio show “Fireside Chats” in which case he used to talk to people over the radio instead of revealing his paralysis, and in which case he earned great trust through this with America. And Franklin D. Roosevelt’s third and final impact was that he produced the “Alphabet Agencies” such as the AAA, Agricultural Adjustment Agency, to support farm prices by reducing agricultural production through subsidies. Or the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps, which employed young unmarried men to work refurbishing public lands

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