Roosevelt, Franklin D.

▪ president of United States

Introduction

in full  Franklin Delano Roosevelt,  byname  FDR  

born January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York, U.S.

died April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia

 32nd president of the United States (1933–45). The only president elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as the New Deal, and he served as the principal architect of the successful effort to rid the world of German National Socialism and Japanese militarism. (For a discussion of the history and nature of the presidency, see presidency of the United States of America.)

Early life

      Roosevelt was the only child of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt. The family lived in unostentatious and genteel luxury, dividing its time between the family estate in the Hudson River Valley of New York state and European resorts. Young Roosevelt was educated privately at home until age 14, when he entered Groton Preparatory School in Groton, Massachusetts. At Groton, as at home, he was reared to be a gentleman, assuming responsibility for those less fortunate and exercising Christian stewardship through public service.

      In 1900 Roosevelt entered Harvard University, where he spent most of his time on extracurricular activities and a strenuous social life; his academic record was undistinguished. It was during his Harvard years that he fell under the spell of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt (Roosevelt, Theodore), the progressive champion who advocated a vastly increased role for the government in the nation's economy. It was also during his Harvard years that he fell in love with Theodore Roosevelt's niece, Eleanor Roosevelt (Roosevelt, Eleanor), who was then active in charitable work for the poor in New York City. The distant cousins became engaged during Roosevelt's final year at Harvard, and they were married on March 17, 1905. Eleanor Roosevelt would later open her husband's eyes to the deplorable state of the poor in New York's slums.

      Roosevelt attended Columbia University Law School but was not much interested in his studies. After passing the New York bar exam, he went to work as a clerk for the distinguished Wall Street firm of Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn, but he displayed the same attitude of indifference toward the legal profession as he had toward his education.

Early political activities

      Motivated by his cousin Theodore, who continued to urge young men of privileged backgrounds to enter public service, Roosevelt looked for an opportunity to launch a career in politics. That opportunity came in 1910, when Democratic (Democratic Party) leaders of Dutchess county, New York, persuaded him to undertake an apparently futile attempt to win a seat in the state senate. Roosevelt, whose branch of the family had always voted Democratic, hesitated only long enough to make sure his distinguished Republican relative would not speak against him. He campaigned strenuously and won the election. Not quite 29 when he took his seat in Albany, he quickly won statewide and even some national attention by leading a small group of Democratic insurgents who refused to support Billy Sheehan, the candidate for the United States Senate backed by Tammany Hall, the New York City Democratic organization. For three months Roosevelt helped hold the insurgents firm, and Tammany was forced to switch to another candidate.

      In the New York Senate Roosevelt learned much of the give-and-take of politics, and he gradually abandoned his patrician airs and attitude of superiority. In the process, he came to champion the full program of progressive reform. By 1911 Roosevelt was supporting progressive New Jersey governor Woodrow Wilson (Wilson, Woodrow) for the Democratic presidential nomination of 1912. In that year Roosevelt was reelected to the state senate, despite an attack of typhoid fever that prevented him from making public appearances during the campaign. His success was attributable in part to the publicity generated by an Albany journalist, Louis McHenry Howe. Howe saw in the tall, handsome Roosevelt a politician with great promise, and he remained dedicated to Roosevelt for the rest of his life.

      For his work on behalf of Wilson, Roosevelt was appointed assistant secretary of the navy in March 1913. Roosevelt loved the sea and naval traditions, and he knew more about them than did his superior, navy secretary Josephus Daniels (Daniels, Josephus), with whom he was frequently impatient. Roosevelt tried with mixed success to bring reforms to the navy yards, which were under his jurisdiction, meanwhile learning to negotiate with labour unions among the navy's civilian employees.

      After war broke out in Europe in 1914, Roosevelt became a vehement advocate of military preparedness, and following U.S. entry into the war in 1917, he built a reputation as an effective administrator. In the summer of 1918 he made an extended tour of naval bases and battlefields overseas. Upon his return, Eleanor Roosevelt discovered that her husband had been romantically involved with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. She offered him a divorce; he refused and promised never to see Mercer again (a promise he would break in the 1940s). Although the Roosevelts agreed to remain together, their relationship ceased to be an intimate one.

Paralysis to presidency

      At the 1920 Democratic convention Roosevelt won the nomination for vice president on a ticket with presidential nominee James M. Cox (Cox, James M). Roosevelt campaigned vigorously on behalf of American entry into the League of Nations (Nations, League of), but the Democrats lost in a landslide to the Republican ticket of Warren G. Harding (Harding, Warren G.) and Calvin Coolidge (Coolidge, Calvin). Roosevelt then became vice president of a bonding company, Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland, and entered into several other business ventures.

      In August 1921, while on vacation at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, Roosevelt's life was transformed when he was stricken with poliomyelitis (polio). He suffered intensely, and for some time he was almost completely paralyzed. His mother urged him to retire to the family estate at Hyde Park, but his wife and Howe believed it essential that he remain active in politics. For his part, Roosevelt never abandoned hope that he would regain the use of his legs.

      Unable to pursue an active political career as he recovered from polio, Roosevelt depended on his wife to keep his name alive in Democratic circles. Although initially very shy, Eleanor Roosevelt became an effective public speaker and an adroit political analyst under Howe's tutelage. As a result of her speaking engagements all over New York state, Roosevelt never faded entirely from the political scene, despite what seemed to be a career-ending affliction. In 1924 he made a dramatic appearance at the Democratic convention to nominate Alfred E. Smith (Smith, Al), governor of New York, for president, and he repeated his nomination of Smith at the 1928 convention. Smith, in turn, urged Roosevelt to run for governor of New York in 1928. Roosevelt was at first reluctant but eventually agreed.

      As he traveled by automobile around the state, Roosevelt demonstrated that his illness had not destroyed the youthful resilience and vitality that had led people such as Howe to predict great political success. He also showed that he had matured into a more serious person, one now with a keen appreciation for life's hardships. On election day Roosevelt won by 25,000 votes, even though New York state went Republican in the presidential election, contributing to Herbert Hoover (Hoover, Herbert)'s landslide victory over Smith.

      Succeeding Smith as governor, Roosevelt realized he had to establish an administration distinct from that of his predecessor. Accordingly, he declined to appoint Smith's cronies to state office and did not look to Smith, the “Happy Warrior,” for guidance. Smith, already stung by his defeat for the presidency, was hurt by Roosevelt's apparent lack of gratitude, and a breach developed between the two men.

      During his first term, Governor Roosevelt concentrated on tax relief for farmers and cheaper public utilities for consumers. The appeal of his programs, particularly in upstate New York, led to his reelection in 1930 by 725,000 votes. As the depression (Great Depression) worsened during his second term, Roosevelt moved farther to the political left, mobilizing the state government to provide relief and to aid in economic recovery. In the fall of 1931 he persuaded the Republican-dominated legislature to establish the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, which eventually provided unemployment assistance to 10 percent of New York's families. His aggressive approach to the economic problems of his state, along with his overwhelming electoral victory in 1930, boosted Roosevelt into the front ranks of contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932.

      Because winning the nomination then required a two-thirds vote in the Democratic convention, even a leading contender could be stopped with relative ease. It soon became apparent that Roosevelt's strongest opposition would come from urban and conservative Eastern Democrats still loyal to Smith; his strongest support was in the South and West. The opposition became stronger when John Nance Garner (Garner, John Nance) of Texas, speaker of the House of Representatives, won the California Democratic primary. But on the third ballot at the 1932 convention, Garner released his delegates to Roosevelt, who then captured the required two-thirds vote on the fourth ballot. Garner received the vice presidential nomination. Roosevelt then broke tradition by appearing in person to accept his party's nomination. In his speech before the delegates, he said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” (For a related campaign speech, see primary source document: Call for Federal Responsibility (Franklin D. Roosevelt: Call for Federal Responsibility).)

 With the depression the only issue of consequence in the presidential campaign of 1932, the American people had a choice between the apparently unsuccessful policies of the incumbent Hoover and the vaguely defined New Deal program presented by Roosevelt. While Roosevelt avoided specifics, he made clear that his program for economic recovery would make extensive use of the power of the federal government. In a series of addresses carefully prepared by a team of advisers popularly known as the Brain Trust, he promised aid to farmers, public development of electric power, a balanced budget, and government policing of irresponsible private economic power. Besides having policy differences, the two candidates presented a stark contrast in personal demeanour as well. Roosevelt was genial and exuded confidence, while Hoover remained unremittingly grim and dour. On election day, Roosevelt received nearly 23 million popular votes to Hoover's nearly 16 million; the electoral vote was 472 to 59. In a repudiation not just of Hoover but also of the Republican Party, Americans elected substantial Democratic majorities to both houses of Congress.

      In the four months between the election and Roosevelt's inauguration, President Hoover (Hoover, Herbert) sought Roosevelt's cooperation in stemming the deepening economic crisis. But Roosevelt refused to subscribe to Hoover's proposals, which Hoover himself admitted would mean “the abandonment of 90 percent of the so-called new deal.” As a result, the economy continued to decline. By inauguration day—March 4, 1933—most banks had shut down, industrial production had fallen to just 56 percent of its 1929 level, at least 13 million wage earners were unemployed, and farmers were in desperate straits.

The first term

 In his inaugural address (see original text (Franklin D. Roosevelt: First Inaugural Address)) Roosevelt promised prompt, decisive action, and he conveyed some of his own unshakable self-confidence to millions of Americans listening on radios throughout the land. “This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and prosper,” he asserted, adding, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

“The Hundred Days”

      Roosevelt followed up on his promise of prompt action with “The Hundred Days”—the first phase of the New Deal, in which his administration presented Congress with a broad array of measures intended to achieve economic recovery, to provide relief to the millions of poor and unemployed, and to reform aspects of the economy that Roosevelt believed had caused the collapse. Roosevelt was candid in admitting that the initial thrust of the New Deal was experimental. He would see what worked and what did not, abandoning the latter and persisting with the former until the crisis was overcome.

      His first step was to order all banks closed until Congress, meeting in special session on March 9, could pass legislation allowing banks in sound condition to reopen; this “bank holiday,” as Roosevelt euphemistically called it, was intended to end depositors' runs, which were threatening to destroy the nation's entire banking system. The bank holiday, combined with emergency banking legislation and the first of Roosevelt's regular national radio broadcasts (later known as “fireside chats”), so restored public confidence that when banks did reopen the much-feared runs did not materialize.

      Two key recovery measures of The Hundred Days were the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) and the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA). The AAA established the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, which was charged with increasing prices of agricultural commodities (agricultural economics) and expanding the proportion of national income going to farmers. Its strategy was to grant subsidies to producers of seven basic commodities—wheat, corn (maize), hogs, cotton, tobacco, rice, and milk—in return for reduced production, thereby reducing the surpluses that kept commodity prices low. The subsidies were to be generated from taxes on the processing of the commodities. When the Supreme Court invalidated the tax in 1936, Roosevelt shifted the focus of the AAA to soil conservation, but the principle of paying farmers not to grow remained at the core of American agricultural policy for six decades. Although quite controversial when introduced—especially because it required the destruction of newly planted fields at a time when many Americans were going hungry—the AAA program gradually succeeded in raising farmers' incomes. However, it was not until 1941 that farm income reached even the inadequate level of 1929.

      The NIRA was a two-part program. One part consisted of a $3.3-billion appropriation for public works, to be spent by the Public Works Administration (PWA). Had this money been poured rapidly into the economy, it might have done much to stimulate recovery. Since Roosevelt wanted to be sure the program would not invite fraud and waste, however, the PWA moved slowly and deliberately, and it did not become an important factor until late in the New Deal.

      The other part of the NIRA was the National Recovery Administration (NRA), whose task was to establish and administer industrywide codes that prohibited unfair trade practices, set minimum wages and maximum hours, guaranteed workers the right to bargain collectively, and imposed controls on prices and production. The codes eventually became enormously complex and difficult to enforce, and by 1935 the business community, which at first had welcomed the NRA, had become disillusioned with the program and blamed Roosevelt for its ineffectiveness. In May of that year the Supreme Court invalidated the NRA, which by that time had few supporters in Congress or the administration.

      Another important recovery measure was the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a public corporation created in 1933 to build dams and hydroelectric power plants and to improve navigation and flood control in the vast Tennessee River basin. The TVA, which eventually provided cheap electricity to impoverished areas in seven states along the river and its tributaries, reignited a long-standing debate over the proper role of government in the development of the nation's natural resources. The constitutionality of the agency was challenged immediately after its establishment but was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1936.

 The Hundred Days also included relief and reform measures, the former referring to short-term payments to individuals to alleviate hardship, the latter to long-range programs aimed at eliminating economic abuses. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) granted funds to state relief agencies, and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) employed hundreds of thousands of young men in reforestation and flood-control work. The Home Owners' Refinancing Act provided mortgage relief for millions of unemployed Americans in danger of losing their homes.

      Reform measures included the Federal Securities Act, which provided government oversight of stock trading (later augmented by establishment of the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC]), and the Glass-Steagall Banking Reform Act, which prohibited commercial banks from making risky investments and established the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect depositors' accounts.

The “Second New Deal”

      By the fall of 1934, the measures passed during The Hundred Days had produced a limited degree of recovery; more importantly, they had regenerated hope that the country would surmount the crisis. Although the New Deal had alienated conservatives, including many businessmen, most Americans supported Roosevelt's programs. That support manifested itself in the congressional elections of 1934, in which Democrats added to their already substantial majorities in both houses.

      Yet by 1935 Roosevelt knew he had to do more. Although the economy had begun to rise from its nadir during the winter of 1932–33, it was still far below its level before the stock market crash of 1929. Millions of Americans were still unemployed—many had been jobless for several years—and the destitute were beginning to listen to demagogues who criticized the New Deal for not going far enough. Roosevelt foresaw the possibility that in the 1936 presidential election he would face a significant third-party challenge from the left.

      To meet this threat, Roosevelt asked Congress to pass additional New Deal legislation—sometimes called the “Second New Deal”—in 1935. The key measures of the Second New Deal were the Social Security Act, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and the Wagner Act. The Social Security Act for the first time established an economic “safety net” for all Americans, providing unemployment and disability insurance and old-age pensions. (See primary source document: A Program for Social Security (Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Program for Social Security).) The WPA, headed by Roosevelt's close confidant Harry Hopkins (Hopkins, Harry L), aimed to provide the unemployed with useful work that would help to maintain their skills and bolster their self-respect. Between 1935 and 1941 it employed a monthly average of 2.1 million workers on a variety of projects, including the construction of roads, bridges, airports, and public buildings; natural-resource conservation; and artistic and cultural programs such as painting public murals and writing local and regional histories. The Wagner Act (officially the National Labor Relations Act) reestablished labour's right to bargain collectively (which had been eliminated when the Supreme Court had invalidated the NRA), and it created the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to adjudicate labour disputes. In addition to these hallmark measures, Congress also passed a major tax revision—labeled by its opponents as a “soak-the-rich” tax—that raised tax rates for persons with large incomes and for large corporations.

The second term

  Roosevelt ran for reelection in 1936 with the firm support of farmers, labourers, and the poor. He faced the equally firm opposition of conservatives, but the epithets hurled at him from the right merely helped to unify his following. The Republican nominee, Governor Alfred M. Landon (Landon, Alf) of Kansas, a moderate, could do little to stem the Roosevelt tide. Landon received fewer than 17 million votes to Roosevelt's nearly 28 million, and Roosevelt carried every state except Maine and Vermont.

Supreme Court (Supreme Court of the United States) fight

 Declaring in his Second Inaugural Address (see original text (Franklin D. Roosevelt: Second Inaugural Address)) that “I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished,” Roosevelt was determined to push forward with further New Deal reforms. With large Democratic majorities in both houses of Congress, there remained only one obstacle to his objectives: the Supreme Court. During Roosevelt's first term, the court, which consisted entirely of pre-Roosevelt appointees, had invalidated several key New Deal measures, and cases challenging the Social Security Act and the Wagner Act were pending. To make the court more supportive of reform legislation, Roosevelt proposed a reorganization plan that would have allowed him to appoint one new justice for every sitting justice aged 70 years or older. Widely viewed as a court-packing scheme (even by Roosevelt's supporters), the reorganization bill provoked heated debate in Congress and eventually was voted down, which handed Roosevelt his first major legislative defeat. Meanwhile, the fight over court packing seemed to alter the Supreme Court's attitude toward the New Deal, and both the Social Security Act and the Wagner Act were upheld.

End of the New Deal

      By 1937 the economy had recovered substantially, and Roosevelt, seeing an opportunity to return to a balanced budget, drastically curtailed government spending. The result was a sharp recession, during which the economy began plummeting toward 1932 levels. Chastened by the recession, Roosevelt now began to pay more attention to advisers who counseled deficit spending as the best way to counter the depression. Late in 1937 he backed another massive government spending program, and by the middle of 1938 the crisis had passed.

      By 1938 the New Deal was drawing to a close. Conservative Southern Democrats openly opposed its continuation, and Roosevelt's attempt to defeat several of them in the 1938 Democratic primaries not only proved unsuccessful but also produced charges that the president was a dictator trying to conduct a “purge.” In the congressional elections that year the Republicans gained 80 seats in the House and 7 in the Senate. Despite continued Democratic majorities in both houses, an alliance of Republicans and conservative Democrats now blocked any further reform legislation.

Foreign policy

      By 1939 foreign policy was overshadowing domestic policy. From the beginning of his presidency, Roosevelt had been deeply involved in foreign-policy questions. Although he refused to support international currency stabilization at the London Economic Conference in 1933, by 1936 he had stabilized the dollar and concluded stabilization agreements with Great Britain and France. Roosevelt extended American recognition to the government of the Soviet Union, launched the Good Neighbor Policy to improve U.S. relations with Latin America, and backed reciprocal agreements to lower trade barriers between the U.S. and other countries. (See primary source document: The Good Neighbor Policy (Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Good Neighbor Policy).)

      Congress, however, was dominated by isolationists who believed that American entry into World War I had been mistaken and who were determined to prevent the United States from being drawn into another European war. Beginning with the Neutrality Act of 1935, Congress passed a series of laws designed to minimize American involvement with belligerent nations. Roosevelt accepted the neutrality laws but at the same time warned Americans of the danger of remaining isolated from a world increasingly menaced by the dictatorial regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan. Speaking in Chicago in October 1937, he proposed that peace-loving nations make concerted efforts to quarantine aggressors. Although he seemed to mean nothing more drastic than breaking off diplomatic relations, the proposal created such alarm throughout the country that he quickly backed away from even this modest level of international involvement. Then, in December, the Japanese sank an American gunboat, the USS Panay, on the Yangtze River in China. Most Americans feared that the attack would lead to war, and they were pleased when Roosevelt accepted Japan's apologies.

      When World War II broke out in Europe in September 1939, Roosevelt called Congress into special session to revise the neutrality acts to permit belligerents—i.e., Britain and France—to buy American arms on a “cash-and-carry” basis; over the objections of isolationists, the cash-and-carry policy was enacted. When France fell to the Germans in the spring and early summer of 1940, and Britain was left alone to face the Nazi war machine, Roosevelt convinced Congress to intensify defense preparations and to support Britain with “all aid short of war.” In the fall of that year Roosevelt sent 50 older destroyers to Britain, which feared an imminent German invasion, in exchange for eight naval bases.

The third and fourth terms

  The swap of ships for bases took place during the 1940 presidential election campaign. Earlier in the year the Democrats had nominated Roosevelt for a third term, even though his election would break the two-term tradition honoured since the presidency of George Washington (Washington, George). The Republican nominee, Wendell L. Willkie (Willkie, Wendell L.), represented a departure from the isolationist-dominated Republican Party, and the two candidates agreed on most foreign-policy issues, including increased military aid to Britain. On election day, Roosevelt defeated Willkie soundly—by 27 million to 22 million popular votes—though his margin of victory was less than it had been in 1932 and 1936. Roosevelt's support was reduced by a number of factors, including the court-packing scheme, the attempted “purge” of conservative Democrats in 1938, the breaking of the two-term tradition, and fears that he would lead the nation into war. (See primary source document: Third Inaugural Address (Franklin D. Roosevelt: Third Inaugural Address).)

      By inauguration day in 1941, Britain was running out of cash and finding it increasingly difficult—owing to German submarine attacks—to carry American arms across the Atlantic. In March 1941, after a bitter debate in Congress, Roosevelt obtained passage of the lend-lease Act, which enabled the United States to accept noncash payment for military and other aid to Britain and its allies (see primary source document: Proposal for Lend-Lease (Franklin D. Roosevelt: Proposal for Lend-Lease)). Later that year he authorized the United States Navy to provide protection for lend-lease shipments, and in the fall he instructed the navy to “shoot on sight” at German submarines. All these actions moved the United States closer to actual belligerency with Germany.

      In August 1941, on a battleship off Newfoundland, Canada, Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Churchill, Sir Winston) issued a joint statement, the Atlantic Charter, in which they pledged their countries to the goal of achieving “the final destruction of the Nazi tyranny.” Reminiscent of the Four Freedoms (see original text (Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Four Freedoms)) that Roosevelt outlined in his annual message to Congress in January 1941, the statement disclaimed territorial aggrandizement and affirmed a commitment to national self-determination, freedom of the seas, freedom from want and fear, greater economic opportunities, and disarmament of all aggressor nations.

Attack on Pearl Harbor (Pearl Harbor attack)

      Yet it was in the Pacific (World War II) rather than the Atlantic that war came to the United States. When Japan joined the Axis Powers of Germany and Italy, Roosevelt began to restrict exports to Japan of supplies essential to making war. Throughout 1941, Japan negotiated with the United States, seeking restoration of trade in those supplies, particularly petroleum products. When the negotiations failed to produce agreement, Japanese military leaders began to plan an attack on the United States. According to one school of thought, this was exactly what Roosevelt wanted, for, by backing Japan into a corner and forcing it to make war on the United States, the president could then enter the European war in defense of Britain—the so-called “back door to war” theory. This controversial hypothesis continues to be debated today. (See Sidebar: Pearl Harbor and the “back door to war” theory.)

  By the end of November, Roosevelt knew that an attack was imminent (the United States had broken the Japanese code), but he was uncertain where it would take place. To his great surprise, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (Pearl Harbor attack), on December 7, 1941, destroying nearly the entire U.S. Pacific fleet and hundreds of airplanes and killing about 2,500 military personnel and civilians. On December 8, at Roosevelt's request, Congress declared war on Japan (see primary source document: Request for a Declaration of War (Franklin D. Roosevelt: Request for a Declaration of War)); on December 11 Germany and Italy declared war on the United States.

 At a press conference in December 1943, Roosevelt asserted that “Dr. New Deal” had been replaced by “Dr. Win the War.” The many New Deal agencies designed to provide employment during the Great Depression rapidly disappeared as war mobilization created more jobs than there were people to fill them. Full economic recovery, which had resisted Roosevelt's efforts throughout the 1930s, suddenly came about as a consequence of massive government spending on war production in the early 1940s.

Relations with the Allies

 From the start of American involvement in World War II, Roosevelt took the lead in establishing a grand alliance among all countries fighting the Axis powers. He met with Churchill in a number of wartime conferences at which differences were settled amicably. One early difference centred upon the question of an invasion of France. Churchill wanted to postpone such an invasion until Nazi forces had been weakened, and his view prevailed until the great Normandy Invasion was finally launched on “D-Day,” June 6, 1944. Meanwhile, American and British forces invaded North Africa in November 1942, Sicily in July 1943, and Italy in September 1943.

 Relations with the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) posed a difficult problem for Roosevelt. Throughout the war the Soviet Union accepted large quantities of lend-lease supplies but seldom divulged its military plans or acted in coordination with its Western allies. Roosevelt, believing that the maintenance of peace after the war depended on friendly relations with the Soviet Union, hoped to win the confidence of Joseph Stalin (Stalin, Joseph). He, Stalin, and Churchill seemed to get along well when they met at Tehrān (Tehrān Conference) in November 1943. By the time the “Big Three” met again at the Yalta Conference in the Crimea, U.S.S.R., in February 1945, the war in Europe was almost over. At Yalta, Roosevelt secured Stalin's commitment to enter the war against Japan soon after Germany's surrender and to establish democratic governments in the nations of eastern Europe occupied by Soviet troops. Stalin kept his pledge concerning Japan but proceeded to impose Soviet satellite governments throughout eastern Europe.

Declining health and death

 Roosevelt had been suffering from advanced arteriosclerosis for more than a year before the Yalta Conference. His political opponents had tried to make much of his obviously declining health during the campaign of 1944, when he ran for a fourth term against Governor Thomas E. Dewey (Dewey, Thomas E.) of New York. But Roosevelt campaigned actively and won the election by a popular vote of 25 million to 22 million and an electoral college vote of 432 to 99. (See primary source document: Fourth Inaugural Address (Franklin D. Roosevelt: Fourth Inaugural Address).) By the time of his return from Yalta, however, he was so weak that for the first time in his presidency he spoke to Congress while sitting down. Early in April 1945 he traveled to his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia—the “Little White House”—to rest. On the afternoon of April 12, while sitting for a portrait, he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage, and he died a few hours later. With him at his death were two cousins, Laura Delano and Margaret Suckley, and Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd (by then a widow), with whom he had renewed his relationship a few years before.

Assessment

 During his lifetime Franklin D. Roosevelt was simultaneously one of the most loved and most hated men in American history. His supporters hailed him as the saviour of his nation during the Great Depression and the defender of democracy during World War II. Opponents criticized him for undermining American free-market capitalism, for unconstitutionally expanding the powers of the federal government, and for transforming the nation into a welfare state. It is generally accepted by all, however, that he was a brilliant politician, able to create a massive coalition of supporters that sustained the Democratic Party for decades after his death. There is also little argument that he was a talented administrator, able to retain leaders of diverse views within the executive branch. At his death most Americans were plunged into profound grief, testimony to the strong emotional attachment they felt for the man who had led them through two of the darkest periods in the nation's history. Although much of that emotion has dissipated over the years, Roosevelt's standing as one of the few truly great American presidents seems secure.

Frank Freidel Ed.

Cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt

       Cabinet of President Franklin D. Roosevelt Cabinet of President Franklin D. RooseveltThe table provides a list of cabinet members in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Additional Reading

Samuel I. Rosenman (ed.), The Public Papers and Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, 13 vol. (1938–50, reprinted 1969), contains official statements. Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy (eds.), FDR's Fireside Chats (1992), offers transcripts of Roosevelt's radio broadcasts.James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt, 2 vol. (1956–70, reissued 1989); and Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt, 4 vol. (1952–73), are among the most detailed biographies. Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Roosevelt, 3 vol. (1957–60), is a brilliant survey both of the man and of the years 1919–36. Other biographical studies include Kenneth S. Davis, FDR (1972– ); Joseph Alsop and Roland Gelatt, FDR, 1882–1945: A Centenary Remembrance (1982), highlighted by many photographs; Nathan Miller, FDR (1983), an excellent popular biography; Otis L. Graham, Jr., and Meghan Robinson Wander (eds.), Franklin D. Roosevelt: His Life and Times: An Encyclopedic View (1985), an alphabetized collection of biographical and topical articles; Ted Morgan, FDR (1985); Geoffrey C. Ward, Before the Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt, 1882–1905 (1985), and A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt (1989), presenting accounts of the young Roosevelt on through his middle years; and Frank Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny (1990), which focuses on Roosevelt the president. Richard Thayer Goldberg, The Making of Franklin D. Roosevelt: Triumph Over Disability (1981), examines the effects of poliomyelitis on Roosevelt, the man and the politician. Hugh Gregory Gallagher, FDR's Splendid Deception, rev. ed. (1994), is also of interest on the topic.The New Deal is explored in Albert U. Romasco, The Politics of Recovery: Roosevelt's New Deal (1983); and in two works by William E. Leuchtenburg, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940 (1963), an authoritative brief account, and The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy (1995), while his The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Roosevelt (1995) deals with Roosevelt's plan to “pack” the court. Foreign relations are discussed in Robert Dallek, Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy: 1932–1945 (1979); Wayne S. Cole, Roosevelt & the Isolationists, 1932–45 (1983), an examination of the change from isolationism to internationalism during his presidency; Frederick W. Marks III, Wind Over Sand (1988), which criticizes his diplomacy; Warren F. Kimball, The Juggler: Franklin Roosevelt as Wartime Statesman (1991), assessing his role as diplomat in World War II; and John Lamberton Harper, American Visions of Europe: Franklin D. Roosevelt, George F. Kennan, and Dean G. Acheson (1994), which shows how Roosevelt helped shape American foreign policy. Waldo Heinrichs, Threshold of War: Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Entry into World War II (1988), treats the events of 1941. The relationship between Roosevelt and Winston Churchill and the resulting wartime and postwar decisions are the focus of Keith Sainsbury, Churchill and Roosevelt at War: The War They Fought and the Peace They Hoped to Make (1994). Cornelis A. Van Minnen and John F. Sears (eds.), FDR and His Contemporaries: Foreign Perceptions of an American President (1992), is a collection of essays.Among numerous studies dealing with Eleanor Roosevelt are Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt (1992– ), a detailed look at her life; Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt (1994), on their relationship during the wartime years; and Allida M. Black, Casting Her Own Shadow: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Shaping of Postwar Liberalism (1996), which focuses on her career in politics.Frank Freidel Ed.

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