Franklin D. Roosevelt (born January 30, 1882,Hyde Park, New York, U.S.—died April 12, 1945,Warm Springs, Georgia) was the 32ndpresident of theUnited States (1933–45). The onlypresident elected to the office four times, Roosevelt led the United States through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: theGreat Depression andWorld War II. In so doing, he greatly expanded the powers of the federal government through a series of programs and reforms known as theNew Deal, and he served as the principal architect of the successful effort to rid the world of GermanNational Socialism and Japanese militarism.

(Read Eleanor Roosevelt’s Britannica essay on Franklin Roosevelt.)

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 theHudson River valley of New York state and European resorts. Young Roosevelt was educated privately at home until age 14, when he enteredGroton Preparatory School inGroton, Massachusetts. At Groton, as at home, he was reared to be a gentleman, assuming responsibility for those less fortunate and exercising Christianstewardship through public service.

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In 1900 Roosevelt enteredHarvard 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, Pres.Theodore Roosevelt, 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, who was then active in charitable work for the poor inNew York City. The distant cousins became engaged during Roosevelt’s final year at Harvard, and they were married on March 17, 1905. Eleanor would later open her husband’s eyes to thedeplorable state of the poor in New York’s slums.

Roosevelt attendedColumbia 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 distinguishedWall Street firm of Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn, but he displayed the same attitude of indifference toward thelegal profession as he had toward his education.

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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, whenDemocratic Party leaders ofDutchess county,New York, persuaded him to undertake an apparentlyfutile 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 distinguishedRepublican Party relative would not speak against him. He campaigned strenuously and won the election. Not quite 29 when he took his seat inAlbany, 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 theUnited States Senate backed byTammany 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.

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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 progressiveNew Jersey Gov.Woodrow Wilson for theDemocratic presidential nomination of 1912. In that year Roosevelt was reelected to the state senate, despite an attack oftyphoid 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 secretaryJosephus Daniels, 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 labor unions among the navy’s civilian employees.

After war broke out in Europe in 1914, Roosevelt became avehement 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 anintimate one.