Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. He was a member of the Democratic Party and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. His initial two terms were centered on combating the Great Depression, while his third and fourth saw him shift his focus to America's involvement in World War II. A member of the Delano family and Roosevelt family, after attending university, Roosevelt began to practice law in New York City. He was elected a member of the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913 and was then the assistant secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. Roosevelt was James M. Cox's running mate on the Democratic Party's ticket in the 1920 U.S. presidential election, but Cox lost to Republican nominee Warren G. Harding. In 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness that permanently paralyzed his legs. Partly through the encouragement of his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, he returned to public office as governor of New York from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated Republican president Herbert Hoover in a landslide. During his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt spearheaded unprecedented federal legislation and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing the New Deal in response to the most significant economic crisis in American history. He also built the New Deal coalition, realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System and defining American liberalism throughout the mid-20th century. Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the "good neighbor" policy, transforming the Monroe Doctrine from a unilateral American manifesto into arrangements for mutual action against aggressors. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. As the war progressed, he became a close ally of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, leading the Allies against the Axis powers. On the home front, he increased taxes, mobilized millions of workers and soldiers, rationed commodities, and regulated prices. He also initiated the Manhattan Project, which led to the development of the first atomic bombs. In 1944, he won his fourth term in the White House, but suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died in office in April 1945, shortly after the Yalta Conference. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in American history, and his legacy has influenced the development of the modern welfare state in the United States and around the world.