Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
president of United States
in full Franklin Delano Roosevelt, byname FDR
born Jan. 30, 1882, Hyde Park, N.Y., U.S.
died April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Ga.
Main
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, Mass.
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, 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
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 Party leaders of Dutchess county, N.Y., 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 Party 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 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, 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.
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt, 1920
Paralysis to presidency
At the 1920 Democratic convention Roosevelt won the nomination for vice
president on a ticket with presidential nominee James M. Cox. Roosevelt
campaigned vigorously on behalf of American entry into the League of
Nations, but the Democrats lost in a landslide to the Republican ticket
of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. 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. 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, 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’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 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 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.)
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 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 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 first term » “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 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 first term » 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.)
The WPA, headed by Roosevelt’s close confidant Harry Hopkins, 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 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.
The second term » Supreme Court fight
Declaring in his Second Inaugural Address (see original text) 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.
The second term » 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.
The second term » 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.)
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.
Atlantic Charter Conference, 10-12 August 1941
Conference leaders during Church services on the after deck of HMS
Prince of Wales, in Placentia Bay, Newfoundland. President Franklin D.
Roosevelt (left) and Prime Minister Winston Churchill are seated in the
foreground.
Standing directly behind them are Admiral Ernest J. King (USN);
General George C. Marshall (U.S. Army); Field Marshal Sir John Dill
(British Army); Admiral Harold R. Stark (USN); and Admiral of the Fleet
Sir Dudley Pound (RN). At far left is Harry Hopkins, talking with W.
Averell Harriman.
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.
The Republican nominee, Wendell L. Willkie, 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.)
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). 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 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) 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.
The third and fourth terms » Attack on Pearl Harbor
Yet it was in the Pacific 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, on Dec. 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); 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.
Roosevelt signing the declaration of war
against Japan, December 8, 1941.
The third and fourth terms » 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 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. He,
Stalin, and Churchill seemed to get along well when they met at Tehrān
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.
Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin,
Yalta Conference, February 1945
The third and fourth terms » 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
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.)
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.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's funeral procession with horse-drawn
casket, Pennsylvania Ave, 14 April 1945
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.
Encyclopaedia Britannica
