Basic Information
Name: Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Nickname: FDR, New Delano, Lean-Mean-Franklin-Machine
Born: January 30th, 1882
Died: April 12th, 1945
Nationality: American
Hometown: Hyde Park, New York
WORK & EDUCATION
Occupation: Lawyer, NYS Senator, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, NY Governor, President
Education: Groton School for Boys, Harvard University, Columbia University Law School
FAMILY & FRIENDS
Parents: James Roosevelt and Sara Ann Delano Roosevelt
Spouse: Eleanor Roosevelt
Children: Anna Eleanor, James, Franklin, Elliott, Franklin Delano, Jr. and John Aspinwall
Friends: Louis Howe, Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Harry S. Truman
Foes: Adolf Hitler, Emperor Hirohito, Joseph Stalin, Benito Mussolini, Two Term Limits
Analysis
When you're sitting around the table with your friends, drinking iced tea with your pinkies in the air, stuffing your face with Cheetos, and contemplating the state of the world, you probably always wonder who in their right mind would ever want to be the one in charge of making all the decisions.
And that was especially true in 1932, when FDR became the 32nd President of the United States.
The U.S. was in the middle of an economic crisis, with millions of people out of work, and things weren't looking too good over in Europe, either. But from the moment he was elected, FDR went straight to work to take some of the pressure off the American public with his New Deal programs. Millions of people were able to go back to work, to feed their families, to survive, largely because of the jobs FDR's government created.
It wasn't the perfect solution, however. Unemployment was still crazy-high well into the 1930s, and while New Deal programs like the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration did provide lots of jobs, consistent economic growth didn't really start until World War II…or rather, when FDR gave his "Great Arsenal of Democracy" speech to mobilize U.S. industry to produce war materials.
But what FDR did provide, from his first term until his death in the middle of an unprecedented fourth term in 1945, was consistency. The American people looked to him to get them out of the Great Depression, and they counted on him to be the face of American policy during World War II.
FDR represented the ideal American president, because he did stuff. He made promises and did his best to keep them, both in relation to American economic policy and U.S. involvement in the war in Europe. People trusted him—rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, people who actually like eating candy corn and sane people—and that was crucial during this period in history, when so much was happening that threatened to tear everybody apart.
Can't get enough of our main man? Check out our full biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt.