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Franklin D. Roosevelt
32nd President of the United States
FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT was born on January 30, 1882 on his family’s
estate Hyde Park, in Dutchess County, New York. His father, James was descended
from Nicholas Roosevelt, whose father had emigrated from Holland in the 1640's.
One of Nicholas' two sons, Johannes, was an ancestor of President Theodore
Roosevelt. The other son, Jacobus, was James' great-great-grandfather. James had
graduated from Union College and Harvard Law School, married, had a son, and
took over his family's extensive holdings in coal and transportation. In 1880,
four years after the death of his first wife, James met and married Sara Delano
who was a sixth cousin and at 26 years, she was half her husband’s age. She
brought to the marriage a fortune that was a great deal larger than that of
James. The Delano family had prospered in trading with China and her father was
one of James’ business associates.
Young Roosevelt spent his early years in a pleasant and sociable home with
loving parents and congenial rather aristocratic companions at Hyde Park. His
half-brother was an adult when he was born and his childhood was secure and
tranquil. He was often taken on summers in Europe and spent much time at his
father’s vacation home on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada. Young
Roosevelt developed a love for natural history and sailing and was an expert
swimmer. His mother supervised his schooling with governesses and private tutors
until he was 14 and he was a voracious reader. In 1896, his parents sent him to
Groton School in Massachusetts, where most students were of the privileged
classes. His education there instilled him with a belief that children of the
upper classes had a duty to society.
Roosevelt entered Harvard in 1899, where he was an above average student and
devoted a great deal of his time to extracurricular activities. He completed his
course work for his B.A. in only three years and returned for the fourth year as
editor of the Crimson, the college newspaper. He joined a young Republican club
in 1900 in enthusiasm for Theodore Roosevelt, the vice-presidential candidate
and his distant cousin. While at Harvard, he fell in love with Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt, his fifth cousin once removed. She had had a difficult childhood,
being orphaned at the age of ten. She lived with her maternal grandmother and
felt rejected and ill at ease in society, thinking herself ugly. When Roosevelt,
a handsome Harvard man two years her senior, paid her attention, she was
flattered. In 1904, Roosevelt cast his first vote in a presidential election for
his cousin, who was running for reelection after having become president with
the assassination of President McKinley in 1901.
Roosevelt entered Columbia University Law School in New York City in 1904. He
passed the New York bar examination and began clerking for a Wall Street law
firm, Carter, Ledyard and Milburn, foregoing his degree from Columbia. On March
17, 1905, President Roosevelt gave his niece Anna Eleanor away in marriage to
Franklin D. Roosevelt. The marriage was successful on the surface, within the
next eleven years they produced six children (one of which died in infancy):
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1906 – 1975); James Roosevelt (1907 – 1991); Elliott
Roosevelt (1910 – 1990); Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. (1914 – 1988) and
John Aspinwall Roosevelt (1916 – 1981).
However, Sara Roosevelt’s possessive and domineering attitude toward her
son caused much strife early in their marriage. In addition, Eleanor’s later
discovery of Franklin’s affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer,
staggered her. Despite these problems, Eleanor remained a supportive spouse.
Roosevelt found work at the law firm tedious, much of the firm’s practice
was in corporate law and he felt irritated by the routine. In 1910, at the age
of 28, he was approached by the Democratic leaders to run for the New York State
Senate. They felt he would succeed because of his name, local prominence and his
wealth. Anxious to escape the law practice, he accepted, and campaigned hard,
stressing his deep personal interest in conservation and his strong support of
honest and efficient government. He showed skill at making himself agreeable to
voters, he was open and adaptable and he listened to the advice he was given by
political veterans. He won impressively and made an immediate impact in the
state legislature. He soon became a dedicated social and economic reformer and
was reelected in 1912, in spite of a case of typhoid fever that kept him from
campaigning. He entered national politics by taking part in Woodrow Wilson’s
campaign for the Democratic nomination for president. After Wilson was elected,
he appointed Roosevelt Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy. In 1913,
he resigned his state senate seat and moved to Washington to take the position
that his cousin, Theodore, had once held. His seven years of service gave him
administrative experience and he made many excellent contacts in Washington and
in the Democratic party. He remained in his post until August 1920, when he
resigned to campaign as the Democratic candidate for vice president. When
Harding and Coolidge decisively beat the Democrats in November, he returned to
private life. He had campaigned vigorously and made friends among Democratic
leaders across the country. He was a widely recognized public figure, and being
under the age of 40, he felt he could afford to wait.
He formed a law firm in New York City and became vice president of Fidelity
and Deposit Company of Maryland, a surety bonding company. At Fidelity, he was
in charge of the New York office of one of the most important companies handling
bonds for public officials. His wide circle of contacts continued to expand.
However, in August 1921, after an unfortunate delay, he was diagnosed with
poliomyelitis. Completely unable to walk and in great pain, Roosevelt seemed to
have reached the end of his political career. His domineering mother wanted him
to return to Hyde Park for a peaceful and quite life. Under the care of his wife
and his friend and campaign manager, Louis McHenry Howe, Roosevelt fought back.
Although never able to walk again without leg braces and canes, he became
president of the American Construction Council in 1924, while Howe remained
close, planning for his return to public life.
Roosevelt made an inspiring nominating speech for Alfred E. Smith at the 1924
Democratic National Convention in Madison Square Garden. In 1928 at Smith’s
urging and against the advice of Eleanor and Howe, Roosevelt agreed to run for
governor of New York. Roosevelt won by a narrow margin in an otherwise
Republican election year. During his two terms, he battled a Republican
legislature, naming skilled people to important positions. He was a leading
contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932 and he took the
nomination on the fourth ballot. In November, Roosevelt captured 22,821,857
votes to incumbent President Hoover’s 15,761,841 and 472 Electoral College
votes to 59.
Inaugurated at the height of the Depression, Roosevelt inspired Americans. He
launched the “New Deal” instituting social security and unemployment
benefits, giving hope to the have-nots and restoring confidence in the
government. His public works projects included the Tennessee Valley Authority,
the Civilian Conservation Corps, and the Works Progress Administration.
Congress, following his lead, sponsored reform measures such as The Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insured deposits and The Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC), which began regulation of the stock exchanges. His
mobility hampered by polio, he reached millions by radio in his “fireside
chats” while Eleanor tirelessly toured the country.
He was reelected in 1936, an unprecedented third term in 1940 and once again
in 1944. In 1940 he responded to Hitler’s aggression in Europe by sending the
British 50 destroyers in exchange for military bases, followed by massive
“Lend-Lease” aid. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and
America entered World War II. With Stalin and Churchill, Roosevelt laid the
groundwork for the post-war world, and the creation of the United Nations.
During Roosevelt’s campaign for his fourth term in 1944, he was pale, thin
and old. His doctors knew that he was suffering from heart disease, hypertension
and cardiac failure. His advisers persuaded him to accept the U.S. Senator from
Missouri, Harry Truman for the vice presidency, feeling him suited for the
presidency. His campaign and election were a strain on Roosevelt and in the
early spring of 1945, he went to Warm Springs, Georgia in an effort to recapture
his flagging health. He died there on April 12, 1945 of a massive cerebral
hemorrhage. Harry Truman took the oath of office to become president that same
day.
Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center Museum - Website
Roosevelt's legacy is
"an inspiration"
Union Station houses FDR museum By: Pamela H. Sacks -- T&G STAFF -
Edited by: StanKlos.com
WORCESTER- Nick R. Roosevelt, a great-grandson of former
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stood by with a wide, Kennedy-esque smile
yesterday as his uncle, James R. Roosevelt Jr., cut the ceremonial gold ribbon
opening the Franklin D. Roosevelt American Heritage Center Museum in Union
Station.
The snip of the scissors capped a patriotic ceremony
attended by about 220 people, many of them veterans of World War II, for whom
FDR is more a vivid memory than a historical figure. The event started with the
posting of the colors by the Vernon Hill American Legion Post 435 Color Guard.
Speakers included U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern,
D-Worcester; Stanley L. Klos Author and Historian, Robert Bullock, director of
institutional advancement at the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute in
Hyde Park, N.Y.; state Rep. Robert P. Spellane, D-Worcester; City Councilor
Thomas P. White; and Edward Augustus, Democratic candidate for Worcester's
Second District Senate seat.
Author and workingman's hero Studs Terkel, 92, addressed
the audience by video, calling FDR "an inspiration of mine" and "the
best president of the last century."
Presidential scholar and author Stanley
L. Klos last night gave the keynote address for the event. In a telephone
interview earlier in the week, Mr. Klos said that the FDR center and its museum
are important because "history is a crystal ball of the future."
"What were the challenges of the past and what worked
and what didn't?" Mr. Klos said. "No 20th Century President went through
more perilous times than FDR."
Mr. Klos said that "He always saw Roosevelt as
'The Technology President'and the most overlooked accomplishment of FDR was the electrification
of America. When he took office, 90 percent of rural homes had no electricity,
prompting people to forsake rural areas for the cities. FDR created the Rural
Electrification Administration, which along with Tennessee Valley Authority Act,
Grand Coulee, and Hoover Dam brought power to the countryside and formed the
backbone of the National Electrical Grid."
"He understood the key to prosperity was inexpensive
and plentiful power," Mr. Klos said. "He bottled up the natural
resources."
FDR also was the impetus behind the Manhattan Project,
which split the atom, led to the development of the atom bomb and ultimately
harnessed nuclear power as an energy source. Today, Mr. Klos said, demands on
energy and oil are skyrocketing, as people around the world seek to have
disposable income and the type of life we know in the United States, with
automobiles and other modern conveniences.
"The United Germany is only third behind us in oil
consumption," Mr. Klos said. "If China reaches the proportion of people
with cars that we have in the U.S., that will exhaust OPEC's oil reserves. As
the world's needs grow for more and more energy, we are going to be in an
extremely competitive field."
What would Roosevelt do?
"He would realize that the world is now a global
economy, and there is a war of economics," Mr. Klos said. "Yes, we're in
a terrorist war right now, but the global war has shifted to a competition for
natural resources and quality of life."
In Mr. Klos' view, FDR would realize the key is weaning
ourselves off oil and its importation. He would be aware that the electrical
grid he put together wastes enormous amounts of energy because it has not been
upgraded and fails to make use of superconductivity.
"An updated electrical grid would increase electrical
delivery by 40% without increasing product while allowing us to transmit power
over greater distance. We could do what Japan, France and Germany have done and
build the next the generation of breeder reactors we created that are so
efficient and wean us off fossil fuels," Mr. Klos said. "FDR would be
calling another Manhattan Project to see, with our greatest minds, if we could
find a third form of energy and supply the needs of the United States and
prepare the country for the oil shortage that is coming in the next 20 years."
Mr. McGovern noted that FDR stopped at Union Station two
times, so it seemed a perfect choice for the location of the museum. He
mentioned that, in his office in the nation's capital, he has hanging on a wall
FDR's four freedoms, as depicted by Norman Rockwell: Freedom from fear, freedom
from want, freedom of speech and freedom to worship.
The congressman said that FDR demonstrated that government
can be a force for good, pointing out that Social Security makes up half the
income of more than 60 percent of senior citizens.
"I look forward to bringing my children to this
museum," Mr. McGovern said, gesturing to his 3-year-old daughter. "As she
gets older, I want to teach her about the legacy of FDR."
Stanley Bockstein of Holden was among the World War II
veterans who made up the audience. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in
India, among other locations, and is a member of the China, Burma and India
Association. He described the museum as "very important, very appropriate."
"As a child of the 20th century, I want to know as much
as I can about the era I lived through," said Mr. Bockstein, 81.
The museum is the brainchild of Dr. Joseph J. Plaud, who,
inspired by his grandmother, started collecting FDR and New Deal memorabilia
when he was a teenager.
Dr. Plaud, a 39-year-old forensic psychologist from
Whitinsville, has since amassed what is widely considered to be finest
collection of its kind in private hands. It includes hundreds of unique signed
documents, photographs and artifacts, which will be on display on a rotating
basis in the museum's quarters - not far from the jazz club, Union Blues.
Admission to the museum is free; donations are accepted.
Dr. Plaud, who keeps encyclopedic knowledge of FDR in his
head, said in his remarks that the former president greatly valued museums and
libraries. He quoted FDR as saying: "We must believe in the past, we must
believe in the future, and we must believe in the capacity of people to learn so
that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future lives."
In that spirit, Dr. Plaud said, he worked for two years to
open the museum under the auspices of his nonprofit center dedicated to FDR's
legacy. A component of the museum, which is administered by archivist Cyrus D.
Lipsitt, will be educational programs for children in the Worcester public
schools. Scholars and students at the city's colleges and universities will be
able to use the rich cache of historical materials.
Each of the speakers touched on the role FDR played in
lifting the country out of the Great Depression. When he took office in 1933,
FDR inspired hope with his fireside chats and created great public works
projects to put people back to work.
"He had the courage and compassion to realize what a man
needed was a hand and not a handout," said Mr. White.
Mr. Bullock remarked that interest in the Roosevelts has
not diminished over time, and he anticipates years of collaboration between the
institute in Hyde Park, once the seat of the Roosevelt family, and the new
museum.
As the morning's activities drew to a close, Worcester
writer and photographer Idamay Arsenault was presented with a Certificate of
Special Congressional Recognition by Mr. McGovern. Through her photography, Mrs.
Arsenault is credited with spearheading the renaissance at Union Station. Mr.
McGovern also presented Dr. Plaud with a flag flown over the Capitol.
Later, as guests milled around munching doughnuts and
cookies, Nick Roosevelt stood to one side while his uncle signed autographs. The
young Mr. Roosevelt is 18 and grew up in Berkeley, Calif. He was headed to the
Democratic National Convention in Boston to serve as a volunteer. He is entering
the University of Pennsylvania in the fall and intends to major in history and
government.
"All the Roosevelts, we all love history," he said.
Franklin
D. Roosevelt Library and Museum - Repository of the records of President
Franklin Roosevelt and his wife Eleanor Roosevelt, managed by the National
Archives and Records Administration.
Dwight
D. Eisenhower Presidential Library - preserves and makes available for
research the papers, audiovisual materials, and memorabilia of Dwight and Mamie
D. Eisenhower
The United Colonies 1st
government began in a Philadelphia Tavern
and the United States 1st federal government ended in a
NYC Tavern!
The Founders convened the government in 11 different capitol buildings and
experienced 15 years of challenges that
included war,
hyper-inflation, a failed
constitution, judicial corruption, armed citizen and U.S. Army rebellions.
Forgotten Founders Historic Documents and Coins of Freedom - By Stanley
L. Klos
Which U.S. President adopted
the Philadelphia Constitutional Convention
resolution, enacted the Northwest Ordinance, and backed George Washington,
James Madison and Nathaniel Gorham's resolution to submit the new U.S.
Constitution to the States for ratification without Congressional
alterations?
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