Franklin D. Roosevelt
The longest serving U.S. president, Franklin D. Roosevelt led America out of the Great Depression and through the darkest days of World War II. Born into a prominent family, he was a distant cousin of Theodore Roosevelt. He began his own political career in 1910 by winning a seat in the New York State Senate and in 1913 President Woodrow Wilson appointed him assistant secretary of the navy.
In 1920 he was the Democratic vice-president candidate, and although his ticket lost, he gained national attention. In 1921 he withdrew briefly from politics when he contracted polio- the effects of which he always did from the public. He revitalized his career, thanks to his wife, Eleanor, and was elected governor of New York in 1928, and president of the U.S. in 1932.
His New Deal program offered much relief, but it was actually involvement in World War II that finally put an end to the unemployment in the U. S. During the war he worked closely with Winston Churchill and cooperated with Joseph Stalin. He died in office only for weeks before Allied Victory in Europe . [UP] |
