Franklin Delano Roosevelt, commonly known as FDR, was the 32nd president who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II. He expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal. He was stricken with polio in 1921 and spent most of his adult life in a wheelchair. Roosevelt was the only president to spend four terms in office.
Franklin Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. His parents were James and Sara Ann Delano Roosevelt, who made their fortune in real estate and trade. He had a half-brother named James Roosevelt Roosevelt. Franklin was born into a wealthy family, and was surrounded by privilege and self importance.
Roosevelt was educated
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In 1940, after he was elected for the third time, he began a series of measures to help defend France and Britain from Nazi aggression, including the Lend-Lease Act that Congress passed in 1941. Roosevelt stated that even though the nation was neutral, he did not expect America to stay inactive in the face of Nazi aggression. However, hopes of keeping the United States out of war ended on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor.
A few months after declaring war, President Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066, ordering everyone of Japanese descent to leave the West Coast. As a result, 120,000 people - many of whom were American citizens - were transported to internment located inland. Almost all of the Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forced to quit their jobs and sell their properties and businesses. Families were only given a few days to leave their homes and neighborhoods and be transported to the internment camps.
In, 1942, Roosevelt worked to create a “grand alliance” against the Axis powers through “The Declaration of the United Nations”. In this declaration all nations fighting the Axis powers agreed not to make a separate peace and pledged themselves to a peacekeeping organization upon victory, which is now the United
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Dewey of New York. He won the election by around three million votes. But Roosevelt was literally worn out by the unending stress and strain of the war. He had also been suffering from advanced arteriosclerosis for the past few years. Although his physicians had placed him on a strict plan of diets and medications, the pressures of war and politics had wore him out.
In April of 1945, Roosevelt visited his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia to rest. On the afternoon of April 12, while sitting for a portrait, he suffered a massive stroke, and died a few hours later. He was 63 years old. With him at his death were two of his cousins and Lucy Mercer, his former mistress. President Roosevelt was buried in the Rose Garden of his estate in Hyde Park, New York. Hours after Roosevelt’s passing, his Vice President, Harry S. Truman took the oath of office at the White House.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt served as President from March of 1933 and April of 1945. He was the only president in United States history to serve four terms. He had done many things in those 12 years to change American society and politics. The Great Depression and World War II were beyond Roosevelt’s control, but his responses to the challenges he faced made him a significant figure in American