FDR Biography by Steven Bennett

Biography

Franklin D. Roosevelt, FDR, was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. He was born to James Roosevelt and Sara Ann Delano and was their only child. He grew up in an atmosphere of privilege and wealth. When he was a boy he went to Groton School in Massachusetts and was an overall “B” student during school. When he graduated from Groton School, he attended Harvard College, where he was a “C” student and the editor-in-chief of The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper. In 1904, Roosevelt entered Columbia Law School, but dropped out when he passed the New York State Bar exam in 1907. In 1902, he met and was engaged to Eleanor Roosevelt. On March 17, 1905, they married despite the fierce resistance of his mother. In 1913, Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by Woodrow Wilson. While in this position, he founded the United States Navy Reserve and helped get rid of the taylor stop-watch system, which was opposed by the union of shipbuilders. In 1914, Roosevelt decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat for New York but was defeated by James W. Gerard. In March 1917, Roosevelt asked permission to fit the naval fleets with submarines to combat the Germans after they had initiated their submarine warfare campaign, but was declined. In August 1921, Roosevelt contracted a deadly disease known as polio, while he was vacationing at Campobello Island in Canada. This disease caused his permanent paralysis; however, he refused to believe that he was permanently paralyzed. With polio, Roosevelt tried different therapies and in 1926 he bought a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia, in which he founded the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation. Even with all this going on, Roosevelt managed to become governor of New York from 1929-1932. Then in 1932, he ran for president and won the election and served as president for four terms, 1933-1945. When he became president in 1933, he helped to get America out of the Great Depression, establish new policies including, The New Deal, Foreign Trade Commission, and Social Security, to name a few. He also, led the United States during World War II and declared war on the Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as well as, the allies along with Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin. On March 29, 1945, the polio disease finally took his life while he was at his resort in Warm Springs, Georgia.