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Franklin D. Roosevelt

Author profile

born

December 13, 1901 in Hyde Park, New York, The United States

died

April 12, 1945

gender

male

genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Nonfiction

About this author

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was the thirty-second President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. He was a central figure of the 20th century during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economic and banking systems. Although recovery of the economy was incomplete until almost 1940, many programs initiated continue to have instrumental roles in the nation's commerce, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FD...more Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to by his initials FDR, was the thirty-second President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms of office. He was a central figure of the 20th century during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Roosevelt created the New Deal to provide relief for the unemployed, recovery of the economy, and reform of the economic and banking systems. Although recovery of the economy was incomplete until almost 1940, many programs initiated continue to have instrumental roles in the nation's commerce, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). One of his most important legacies is the Social Security system.

Roosevelt won four presidential elections in a row, causing a realignment political scientists call the Fifth Party System. His aggressive use of the federal government re-energized the Democratic Party, creating a New Deal Coalition which dominated American politics until the late 1960s. He and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, remain touchstones for modern American liberalism. Conservatives vehemently fought back, but Roosevelt usually prevailed until he tried to pack the Supreme Court in 1937. Thereafter, the new Conservative coalition successfully ended New Deal expansion; during the war it closed most relief programs like the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps, arguing unemployment had disappeared.

After 1938, Roosevelt championed re-armament and led the nation away from isolationism as the world headed into World War II. He provided extensive support to Winston Churchill and the British war effort before the attack on Pearl Harbor pulled the U.S. into the fighting. During the war, Roosevelt, working closely with his aide Harry Hopkins, provided decisive leadership against Nazi Germany and made the United States the principal arms supplier and financier of the Allies who later, alongside the United States, defeated Germany, Italy and Japan. Roosevelt led the United States as it became the Arsenal of Democracy, putting sixteen million American men into uniform.

On the homefront his term saw the vast expansion of industry, the achievement of full employment, restoration of prosperity and new opportunities opened for African-Americans and women. With his term came new taxes that affected all income groups, price controls and rationing, and relocation camps for 120,000 Japanese and Japanese-Americans as well as thousands of Italian and German-Americans. As the Allies neared victory, Roosevelt played a critical role in shaping the post-war world, particularly through the Yalta Conference and the creation of the United Nations. Roosevelt's administration redefined American liberalism and realigned the Democratic Party based on his New Deal coalition of labor unions; farmers; ethnic, religious and racial minorities; intellectuals; the South; big city machines; and the poor and workers on relief.

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Books by Franklin D. Roosevelt

Average rating: 3.36 · 148 ratings · 18 reviews · 50 distinct works

	Looking Forward 3.73 avg rating — 15 ratings — 4 editions	My rating:
	Fireside Chats 3.54 avg rating — 13 ratings — published 1995 — 19 editions	My rating:
	Great Speeches by Franklin D. Roosevelt, John Grafton (Editor), Dover Thrift Editions 3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 1999	My rating:
	The President's Mystery Plot 2.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 1967	My rating:
	Life and Times of FDR 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	My rating:
	Roosevelt And Churchill, Their Secret Wartime Correspondence 3.50 avg rating — 2 ratings	My rating:
	The Happy Warrior: Alfred E. Smith 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1928	My rating:
	The Complete Fireside Chats of FDR 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2010	My rating:
	On Our Way 3.00 avg rating — 3 ratings — published 1934 — 2 editions	My rating:
	F.D.R.: His Personal Letters, Early Years by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Elliott Roosevelt (Editor) 3.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 1947 — 6 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt's First Inaugural Address

tags: fear

754 people liked it

“I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

tags: enemies , friendship , judgement

346 people liked it

“When you get to the end of your rope. Tie a knot and hang on.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

tags: insanity , misattributed , perseverance , sanity

228 people liked it

See all Franklin D. Roosevelt's quotes »

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