Franklin D. Roosevelt

32nd US president who led the nation through the Great Depression and World War II.

On January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born to James Roosevelt I and his second wife, Sara Ann Delano.^[1] While vacationing at Campobello Island in August 1921, Roosevelt fell ill and was diagnosed with polio, resulting in permanent paralysis from the waist down.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Order

32nd

Office

President of the United States

Vice president

John Nance Garner (1933–1941)
Henry A. Wallace (1941–1945)
Harry S. Truman (Jan–Apr 1945)

Left office

April 12, 1945

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Roosevelt served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 to 1920, overseeing the Navy's civilian employees.^[3] He was the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1920, running with Governor James M. Cox.^[4] He was elected governor of New York in 1928 and re-elected in 1930.^[5][6] He established the New Deal coalition, which included small farmers, Southern Whites, Irish Catholics, labor unions, and northern Black Americans.^[7]

Following the path of most Groton classmates, Roosevelt attended Harvard College, where he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson.^[8]

What the cited sources add

Political observers in the early 1930s were of decidedly mixed opinion about the possible presidential candidacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt.^[9] Walter Lippmann observed acidly of Roosevelt: "He is a pleasant man who, without any important qualifications for the office, would very much like to be president"^[9] Roosevelt consulted a group of college professors, dubbed the "Brains Trust," for policy advice in preparation for his presidential bid.^[9] The outcome of the 1932 presidential contest between Roosevelt and Hoover was never greatly in doubt.^[9]

Roosevelt in 1933 took America off the gold standard, and the Banking Act of 1935 gave the country a central banking mechanism for the first time.^[10] Roosevelt shut the CWA after only four months because it was so costly.^[10] As Theodore Roosevelt is the father of forest conservation, Franklin Roosevelt is the father of soil conservation.^[10]

Life and worked

Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were married on March 17, 1905; because Eleanor's father had died, her uncle, then-President Theodore Roosevelt, gave her away.^[11]

References

Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burns 1956, p. 30; Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Brinkley, "Roosevelt, Franklin Delano", February 2000; Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Brinkley, "Roosevelt, Franklin Delano", February 2000; Smith 2007, p. 5–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Smith 2007, p. 5–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Dallek 2017, p. 38–39; Dallek 2017, p. 38–39; Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Smith 2007, p. 5–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Burns 1956, p. 30 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burns 1956, p. 30; Dallek 2017, p. 38–39; Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Dallek 2017, p. 38–39; Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Smith 2007, p. 5–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burns 1956, p. 30 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ritchie 2007, p. 3–4; Leuchtenburg 1998, p. 183–196; Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Ritchie 2007, p. 3–4; Campbell, "Party Systems and Realignments in the United States, 1868–2004", Social Science History, 2006, p. 359–386; Sternsher, "The Emergence of the New Deal Party System: A Problem in Historical Analysis of Voter Behavior", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Summer 1975, p. 127–149 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith 2007, p. 5–7; Gunther 1950, p. 176; Brands 2009, p. 32; Burns 1956, p. 30; Smith 2007, p. 5–7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Leuchtenburg, "FDR: Campaigns and Elections", University of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs, October 4, 2016. facts only, no text reused. millercenter.org
Leuchtenburg, "FDR: Domestic Affairs", Univ. of Virginia Miller Center of Public Affairs, October 4, 2016. facts only, no text reused. millercenter.org
Wikipedia, "Franklin D. Roosevelt" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brinkley, "Roosevelt, Franklin Delano", February 2000; Burns 1956, p. 30; Rowley 2010, p. 3–6 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Franklin D. Roosevelt (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.