Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in New York in 1882. He received his BA degree in history from Harvard in 1903 and then went on to study law school at Columbia. In 1905 he married a distant cousin and they ended up having five kids together (Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum). He entered politics in 1910 and became a Democrat in the New York State Senate. As his political career went on, he became the longest president in United States history, with his term going from 1933 up until his death in 1945. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most beneficial political leader in the 20th century because he strongly engaged with the United States Navy, the Great Depression, and World War I. In 1913, Woodrow Wilson appointed Roosevelt as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy. During this time, Roosevelt built office …show more content…
Naval base in Pearl Harbor, killing over 2,400 servicemen (Citino, Pearl Harbor Attack). After this happened, Franklin Delano Roosevelt decided to give one of his most famous speeches “Day of Infamy.” At the very end of this speech, Roosevelt asks that “Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire” (Roosevelt, Day of Infamy Speech). The attack on Pearl Harbor was one of the main reasons the United States ended up joining World War II and siding with the Allies. During WW2, the United States was considered to be defending democracy. No other country had a democracy and was successful, so that was a big goal for Roosevelt. Roosevelt created the Declaration of the United Nations and it was signed in 1942 by 26 governments around the world including the U.S., UK, USSR, China, and Australia. By signing this document, they agreed to use their resources against the Axis powers and to not make separate peace. Although Roosevelt was never able to live to see the end of World War II,