User:Corporatelawyer

"To many Americans, the modern presidency is Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Conventional in his Beliefs in God, country, and capitalism, Roosevelt proved almost eerily flexible in considering economic responses to the Depression. He was inclined to view sound balanced budgets as moral imperatives, even while countenancing unprecedented deficits that in WW2 became the largest ever in relation to national production in the United States history."- (the American Presidency, 345)

His wife, Sara, could link Franklin to a dozen Mayflower passengers; the Vanderbilt’s earned the Roosevelt’s' aristocratic condescension. Franklins was a world elegantly separated from the harsh realities of the late 19th century- a world of genealogy and geniality. Franklin’s winsome manner served as emotional armor, shielding his ailing father from the unhappiness of the world in which they lived. His father passed when he was 18.

At Harvard, Franklin joined 17 other Grotonians in the class of 1904 and lived in a privately owned residence hall on "Gold Coast." He was later elected president of his school's daily paper- the Crimson.

After marrying his wife, she often felt trapped by her role as a mother and wife. Later, Franklin was caught having an affair with his secretary after Sara found their love letters. She wanted to leave him, but out of fearful respect for her Catholic upbringing she did not. Franklin, in turn, vowed to never see her again- this a promise he did not keep since they often met up when he became president. (American presidency)

Born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York--now a national historic site--he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School

Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but as a Democrat

He was elected President in November 1932, to the first of four terms. By March there were 13,000,000 unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. In his first "hundred days," he proposed, and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those in danger of losing farms and homes, and reform, especially through the establishment of the Tennessee Valley Authority. 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.

In his First Inaugural Address he stated, “We do not distrust the future of essential democracy. The people of the United States have not failed. In their need they have registered a mandate that they want direct, vigorous action. They have asked for discipline and direction under leadership. They have made me the present instrument of their wishes. In the spirit of the gift I take it. In this dedication of a Nation we humbly ask the blessing of God. May He protect each and every one of us. May He guide me in the days to come.”

Important Quotes: Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country. Yesterday, December 7, 1941 - a date which will live on in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.

The deficiencies of character that made Roosevelt a flawed human being: his deviousness, his disinclination to form intimate relationships, his lack of sentiment, his manipulativeness, his disregard for the truth when it suited him, and, above all, the way he used people, drew them to him, only to discard them when their shelf-life had run out. His wife once mused ruefully that Roosevelt had no time to love individuals, even his children. All his emotional energy went to "the people". F ranklin Delano Roosevelt, who was in office for an unprecedented four terms.

While in public life Roosevelt was basking in the upcoming victory of WWII, his personal life was lonelier than it had ever been. His mother, with whom he had always maintained a close relationship, had died in 1941. His four sons were all serving overseas. Missy LeHand, his faithful secretary, had suffered a serious stroke in 1941 and died in 1944, and Eleanor was traveling the country with her own social agenda.

Eleanor Roosevelt, She was the first socially conscious and active First Lady, and set a fine example for all presidential spouses after her to follow.

Roosevelt's seven years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy provided a strong groundwork for his tenure as a war president. He was in charge of procurement, civilian personnel, the budget, and management of yards and docks, giving him crucial administrative experience that he had previously lacked.

Tammany's power was formidable in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but its control over New York politics was diminished when Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt reduced its status to a county organization after it failed to support him in 1932. It further declined in power during the reform administrations of mayors Fiorello H. La Guardia (1933–45) and John V. Lindsay (1966–73).

In the summer of 1939, Albert Einstein was persuaded by his fellow scientists to use his influence and present the military potential of an uncontrolled fission chain reaction to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In February 1940, $6,000 was made available to start research under the supervision of a committee headed by L.J. Briggs, director of the National Bureau of Standards.