franklin d. roosevelt: 32nd u.s. president (essential lives)
TRANSCRIPT
Essential Lives
Van
der
Ho
ok
Fran
klin
D. R
oo
sevelt
ABDO
Essential LivesEssential Lives introduces the people who have shaped the world, impacted humanity, and changed the course of history.
Biographies, historic events, and current debates are all an essential part of the curriculum. Readers can meet these needs with the Essential Library. The Essential Library is a well-researched, well-written, and beautifully designed imprint created specifically for the middle school reader.
The Essential Library offers tremendous research tools:· Primary research and sources· Maps, color images, and historic documents· Timelines· Essential Facts—an overview of each topic· Selected Bibliography· Further Reading· Web sites—to expand research· Places to Visit· Glossaries· Source notes by chapter· Index· Author Biography
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Essential Library Roosevelt
RRRRRRooseveltRooseveltR RRRR RRR RRoosevelt
RooseveltRooseveltR RRooseveltRFranklin D.
Essential Livesb y S u e V a n d e r H o o k
32nd U.S. Pr esiden t
Essential Lives
by Sue Vander HookContent Consultant:
Allan M. Winkler, Distinguished Professor of HistoryMiami University
Essential Lives
creditsPublished by ABDO Publishing Company, 8000 West 78th Street, Edina, Minnesota 55439. Copyright © 2008 by Abdo Consulting Group, Inc. International copyrights reserved in all countries. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. The Essential Library™ is a trademark and logo of ABDO Publishing Company.
Printed in the United States.
Editor: Patricia StocklandCopy Editor: Paula LewisInterior Design and Production: Nicole BreckeCover Design: Nicole Brecke
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataVander Hook, Sue, 1949— Franklin D. Roosevelt / Sue Vander Hook. p. cm. — (Essential lives) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-60453-041-4 1. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945—Juvenile literature. 2. Presidents—United States—Biography—Juvenile literature. I. Title.
E807.V36 2008 973.917092—dc22 [B] 2007030850
Essential Lives
• 5 •
table of contentsChapter 1 “Tora! Tora! Tora!” 6
Chapter 2 The First 14 Years 14
Chapter 3 Groton, Harvard, and Eleanor 22
Chapter 4 Doorway to Politics 34
Chapter 5 Stricken 44
Chapter 6 Governor Roosevelt 52
Chapter 7 The Road to the White House 62
Chapter 8 Prelude to War 72
Chapter 9 War! 86
Timeline 96
Essential Facts 100
Additional Resources 102
Glossary 104
Source Notes 106
Index 110
About the Author 112
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 6 •
Chapter
F ranklin Delano Roosevelt finished his
lunch and began working on his stamp
collection. It was a quiet Sunday on December 7,
1941. At 1:40 p.m., his phone rang. The White
House telephone operator apologized for bothering
1
The battleship USS Arizona belches smoke as it topples into the ocean during the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941.
“Tora! Tora! Tora!”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 7 •
him, but the caller insisted on talking to the
president of the United States. Roosevelt took the
call. On the other end was the urgent voice of Frank
Knox, secretary of the navy:
“Mr. President, it looks as if the Japanese have attacked Pearl
Harbor!”1
It was 8:40 a.m. in Hawaii, five hours earlier
than Washington, D.C. Across the island, air-raid
sirens were screaming, and masses of people were
scrambling for safety. More than 50 minutes had
passed since Japanese flight commander Mitsuo
Fuchida had radioed the first battle cry: “Tora! Tora!
Tora!” This was the code phrase for “torpedo attack.”
On cue at 7:53 a.m., the first wave of 183 Japanese
planes had dropped bombs on U.S. battleships
and airfields.
Roosevelt was on the phone with the governor of
Hawaii when the second wave of 167 planes swooped
over the island and blasted more ships and planes.
What Roosevelt heard was indeed
proof that Japan was carrying out a
massive surprise aerial attack on the
United States. The destruction would
last almost another hour.
Attack
The code word Tora was a combination of the first syllable of two Japanese words: tosugeki (mean-ing charge) and raigeki (meaning torpedo attack).
Essential Lives
• 8 •
Tremendous LossThat day, eight battleships were badly damaged.
Five of them sank. Damage to U.S. planes was
extensive: 188 destroyed and 159 damaged, most
while they were on the ground. The toll in lives
was greater: 2,403 dead (1,102 of them aboard the
battleship USS Arizona) and 1,178 wounded. Never
had so many Americans been killed in one attack.
Harry Hopkins, one of the president’s closest
advisers, could not believe Japan would attack the
United States. The two countries had been talking
about peace often for nine months.
Phone calls rolled in to the White
House. People poured through the
president’s office. Admiral Harold
Stark, chief of Naval Operations in
Hawaii, called regularly to update
Roosevelt on the damages. Outside
the White House, people crowded
against the tall iron fence. They
hoped to catch a glimpse of anything
that would answer their questions or
calm their fears. By dark, the crowd
had thinned. A few trembling voices
sang “God Bless America.”
Demoted
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Husband Edward Kimmel (1882–1968), commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, was re-moved from his duties and reduced in rank. Army Lieutenant General Walter Campbell Short (1880–1949), responsible for defending military in-stallations in Hawaii, was removed from the com-mand of Pearl Harbor and demoted. Both men were accused of being unpre-pared and charged with “dereliction of duty.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 9 •
At 8:30 p.m., Roosevelt met with his cabinet in
the Blue Room on the second floor of the White
House. The president described how bombs had
destroyed most of
the navy’s Pacific
Fleet. All of the
airfields at Pearl
Harbor had been
hit. He added
solemnly, “The
casualties, I am
sorry to say, were
extremely heavy.”2
When members
of his cabinet
left, he asked his
secretary to come
to his office. “Sit
down, Grace,” he
said. “I’m going
before Congress
tomorrow, and
I’d like to dictate
my message. It
will be short.”3 In
USS Arizona
The battleship Arizona suffered the most
damage of all the ships at Pearl Harbor. Four
times, the ship was hit directly by bombs weigh-
ing 1,764 pounds (800 kg) dropped by Japa-
nese aircraft. The last bomb blasted through the
deck and ignited one of the ship’s magazines,
which held ammunition. The enormous explo-
sion that followed broke the ship in two.
Although the Arizona was a total loss, the
remains have never been moved. The sunken
ship serves as a tomb for its crew. In 1950,
Admiral Arthur Radford, commander of the
Pacific Fleet, attached a flagpole to the broken
mast of the sunken ship. He began the tradition
of hoisting and lowering the flag each day. As
each U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Merchant
Marine vessel glides into port, crew members
stand at attention at their ship’s rail and salute
the Arizona.
In 1961, 20 years after the attack on Pearl
Harbor, a memorial building was erected over
the sunken battleship. The 184-foot (56-m)
structure spans the length of the sunken battle-
ship without touching it. Alfred Preis, architect
for the memorial, explained his design:
Wherein the structure sags in the center
but stands strong and vigorous at the ends,
[it] expresses initial defeat and ultimate
victory. … The overall effect is one of
serenity.4
Essential Lives
• 10 •
a calm voice, he did not hesitate as he dictated his
500-word speech.
Addressing the NationThe next day, while battleships in Hawaii still
burned, Roosevelt addressed Congress—and the
nation. Hundreds of people had gathered in the
Capitol. On the arm of his son James, Roosevelt
walked slowly to the podium amid constant applause.
Across the country, Americans sat spellbound
in front of their radios, waiting to hear what their
president was going to say. In a confident voice,
Roosevelt spoke:
Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in
infamy—the United States was suddenly and deliberately
attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. …
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused
severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret
to tell you that very many American lives have been lost.5
That same day, he told his audience, Japan also
attacked other nations. The audience was silent.
Then Roosevelt continued, his voice rising in
justified anger:
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 11 •
premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous
might will win through to absolute victory.6
The crowd roared with applause and shouts of
agreement. Roosevelt ended with these strong words:
I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost
but we will make it very certain that this form of treachery
shall never again endanger us. ... I ask that the Congress
declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by
Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has
existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.7
This draft of Roosevelt’s war message shows his penciled changes before he delivered it to Congress on December 8, 1941.
Essential Lives
• 12 •
The president had just asked Congress to declare
war on Japan. It did not take long for the House and
Senate to vote. Within 33 minutes, Congress voted
in favor of war. The United States was thrust into
World War II.
The United States joined Britain, France, the
Soviet Union, and other countries in the Grand
Alliance. Three days later, Germany and Italy
declared war on the United States. Together with
Japan and other countries, they made up the Axis
Powers. The worldwide conflict would continue for
almost four years.
Roosevelt would not live to see the end of World
War II. But he would build a military power that
would defeat the most aggressive enemy nations in
the world. By mobilizing industries and workers,
the United States would produce
millions of guns and hundreds
of thousands of tanks, ships, and
airplanes. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
would be remembered as the
president who presided over the most
extensive war in U.S. history.
Against the War
Jeanette Rankin (1880–1973) of Montana was the first woman to be elected to Congress and the only member to vote against the U.S. declara-tion of war on Japan. She had also voted against the United States entering World War I in 1917.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 13 •
On December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan.
• 14 •
R oosevelt was born a fighter. On January
29, 1882, his mother, 28-year-old Sara
Roosevelt, went into labor at the family’s Springwood
estate in Hyde Park, New York. Throughout the
night and the next day, she struggled to give birth
Chapter2
Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1885 at the age of three
The First 14 Years
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 15 •
to her first child. The pain was unbearable. Her
54-year-old husband, James, pleaded with the
doctor to ease her suffering.
Placing a cone over Sara’s face, the doctor
administered chloroform. But it did not relieve her
pain. The doctor gave her more. Sara’s lips turned
blue, her pulse grew faint, and she slipped into a
coma. James wondered if he was going to lose both
his wife and unborn child. This would not be the
first time he had lost someone dear to him. His first
wife, Rebecca, had died six years earlier. He was left
with their only son, also named James, who was now
28 years old with a family of his own.
It was an hour before Sara regained consciousness
and delivered a baby boy on January 30, 1882.
Eventually, the blue, motionless baby began to
move about and then released a strong, wailing cry
throughout the room. Mother and baby were going
to be fine.
A Life of LuxuryAlthough their wealth allowed them to have
nurses and nannies, Sara insisted on caring for the
baby herself. She was very protective, cautiously
watching out for her son’s well-being and giving him
Essential Lives
• 16 •
whatever he needed. Both Sara and
James were from wealthy families.
Sara had inherited more than
$1 million when her father died.
As a member of the aristocracy, James
was a country gentleman, with land-
holdings and other assets. Earlier
generations had immigrated to New
Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement
that became New York City. The
Roosevelt family eventually spread to other parts of
New York State. Some settled in Oyster Bay on the
northern shore of Long Island. Others lived around
Hyde Park, about halfway between New York City
and Albany.
Near Hyde Park, James purchased Springwood,
a large house along the Hudson River with a view
of the Catskill Mountains. James would eventually
own 1,300 acres (520 ha) of rolling, wooded land.
On his land, dairy cows grazed among fields of
grain surrounded by a low stone wall. His property
included a garden famous for its beautiful roses and
a first-rate horse stable. It was on this magnificent
estate that Sara brought their first—and only—child,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, into the world.
An Aristocrat
Franklin Roosevelt’s fa-ther, James, came from a wealthy Dutch fam-ily. James graduated from Union College in 1847 and Harvard Law School in 1851. As a squire and businessman, he was involved in a variety of enterprises—mostly coal and transportation.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 17 •
From the time he was born, Franklin led a
privileged life. He hunted, swam, boated, and
rode horses. At
a very young age,
Franklin began
traveling overseas
with his parents.
His father was a
firm believer in the
healing qualities of
mineral waters and
visited hot springs
all over the world.
Between the ages of
2 and 14, Franklin
made at least
eight transatlantic
voyages. He also
traveled by private
railroad car with
his father, who
held top positions
in two railroad
companies.
Signs of the Times
In the mid-1800s, adventurous Americans
made their way to the West on horseback and
in covered wagons to claim land and start a
new life. Whoever got to a piece of land first
could own 640 acres (259 ha) just by signing a
government document and building a founda-
tion. The nation was expanding after recover-
ing from the devastating Civil War.
In 1882, the year Roosevelt was born, the
United States was just over 100 years old. Sev-
enteen years had passed since the end of the
Civil War, and it was another five years before
the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitu-
tion would abolish slavery. The United States
consisted of 38 states with a population of
nearly 50 million. Most Americans had never
ventured west of the Mississippi River. The vast
territories of the West—Arizona, New Mexico,
the Dakotas, Oklahoma, Utah, Idaho, Wash-
ington, Wyoming, and Montana—were largely
unsettled.
When Roosevelt was born, the most impor-
tant national concern was dealing with rapid
growth and development. Lesser issues, such
as how to care for the widows of two assas-
sinated presidents, also concerned the nation’s
leaders. Abraham Lincoln was killed in 1865
and James Garfield in 1881. Garfield’s vice-
president, Chester A. Arthur, was serving as
president of the United States when Roosevelt
was born.
Essential Lives
• 18 •
An Only ChildFranklin was educated at home during his first
14 years. Surrounded mostly by adults, he learned
to discuss grown-up ideas and charm older listeners
with his intelligence. Some of the adults he met held
important government positions. Franklin was only
five when he met President Grover Cleveland.
Occasionally, Franklin did have contact with
other children. The Roosevelt cousins sometimes
visited Springwood. Among the Oyster Bay cousins
was shy Anna Eleanor Roosevelt. She was the
daughter of Franklin’s fifth cousin Elliott Roosevelt.
Franklin, seen here on a donkey with his dog “Budgy,” in 1885, had a privileged childhood.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 19 •
She was also the niece of Theodore
Roosevelt, who would one day be
president.
When Franklin played with other
children, he ordered them about. His
mother suggested that he let others
give orders as well. But Franklin
replied, “Mummie, if I didn’t give
the orders, nothing would happen.”1
Franklin was confident and self-
assured.
Sara carefully structured her son’s
life. He got up at 7:00 a.m., ate breakfast at 8:00
a.m., and studied with a governess for two to three
hours. After free time and lunch, he studied again
until 4:00 p.m. Private tutors provided lessons in
German, French, and arithmetic.
Sara also strictly regulated how her son looked
and dressed. Franklin’s curly hair cascaded to his
shoulders, and until the age of five, he wore dresses—
which was common for young boys of affluent
families. After that, Sara outfitted him in Irish kilts
and sailor suits. Franklin was nearly eight years old
before he convinced his mother to let him wear
slacks.
Celebrating Politics
In 1892, Franklin Roosevelt experienced his first political celebra-tion. Outside his bed-room window, he saw a long line of people com-ing up the driveway with torches in their hands. Some walked, some rode horses, and others rode in farm wagons. Grover Cleveland had just been elected president of the United States, and Dem-ocrats were coming to Springwood to celebrate.
Essential Lives
• 20 •
Franklin did not seem to resent
his mother’s controlling style. In fact,
they had a warm, loving relationship.
He was also close with his father—
Popsy, as he called him—who taught
him how to hunt, fish, swim, sail,
and ride.
Nearly everything interested Franklin, from
old trees to toy boats, birds, and stamps. He was
also fascinated with the sea. At a very young age,
Franklin learned to take the helm of his father’s
yacht. He dreamed of attending the Naval Academy
at Annapolis, Maryland, and becoming a sailor.
School DaysWhen Franklin turned 14, James convinced Sara
to send their son to an exclusive boys’ boarding
school in Groton, Massachusetts. Although Sara
would have preferred to keep her son at home
forever, she agreed.
In September of 1896, James and Sara took
Franklin to Groton. There, they left him in the care
of the school. Four years of boarding school would
have a significant impact on the rest of Franklin’s
life.
A Mother’s Focus
Sara Roosevelt’s goal in raising her son was “keeping Franklin’s mind on nice things, on a high level; yet … in such a way that Franklin never real-ized that he was following any bent but his own.”2
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 21 •
Franklin at 13, the year before going to Groton
• 22 •
G roton was reserved for America’s most
established families. Only boys of high
social status were accepted. Parents often signed up
their sons at birth and sent them there at the age
of 12.
Chapter3
Franklin Roosevelt, bottom row, second from left, in the white sweater, in a school photo of football teams in Groton, Massachusetts
Groton, Harvard, and Eleanor
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 23 •
In fall of 1896, there was only one other new boy
in Franklin’s class. The rest were already comfortable
in their setting and had formed friendships. At
first, Franklin found it difficult to make friends, but
eventually he got to know other boys. He did what
he was told and tried out for nearly every activity the
school offered. He did particularly well in speech.
His clear speaking and ability to persuade made
him a valuable member of the debate team. He also
participated in choir, boxing, tennis, and golf.
The boys who stood out at Groton were involved
in team sports such as football and baseball. At 5 feet
3 inches (1.6 m) and 100 pounds (45 kg), Franklin
was too small to shine as an athlete. He played on the
seventh-string football team. His baseball team, the
Bum Baseball Boys, consisted of the worst players
at Groton. However, he did excel at one sport: the
high kick. He was champion at leaping high into the
air and kicking a tin pan that hung from the gym
ceiling.
A Structured LifeFranklin shared the other boys’ deep respect for
Endicott Peabody, the tall, military-like founder,
rector, and minister of the school. Peabody had been
Essential Lives
• 24 •
headmaster of Groton since 1884, when the school
was established. The students both loved and feared
this man who ruled with a commanding voice and
piercing eyes. Peabody believed that obedience came
before all else. He made sure the school maintained
high standards in all areas—moral, religious,
educational, athletic, political, and social. Peabody
held himself accountable for the future of his boys.
He said, “If some Groton boys do not enter political
life and do something for our land, it won’t be
because they have not been urged.”1
Life was strictly scheduled inside the school’s red
brick buildings. In the dormitory, each boy slept in a
small cubicle with the basic necessities and a curtain
for a door. A clanging bell woke them each morning
at 7:00 a.m. After a cold shower, they ate breakfast
and attended religious services in the chapel.
Peabody was their preacher, encouraging them
to serve their Lord, their country, and mankind.
Morning classes were held in the schoolhouse.
The noon meal was followed by more classes and
required sports. After another cold shower, the boys
dressed for supper in white shirts, ties, and shiny
black shoes. Peabody led evening chapel, which was
followed by study time.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 25 •
Cousin TeddyFranklin was impressed with the speakers who
came to Groton.
Among them
was Theodore
Roosevelt,
Franklin’s lively
cousin and newly
appointed assistant
secretary of the
navy. He made
quite an impression
on the boys with his
thrilling tales about
his former job
with the New York
Police Department.
Franklin greatly
admired Cousin
Teddy, and Teddy
liked Franklin.
Teddy once told
Sara, “I’m so fond
of the boy I’d be
shot for him.”2
The Influence of Peabody
Endicott Peabody (1851–1944) served as
headmaster and minister of Groton School for
Boys for 56 years, from its founding in 1884
until he retired in 1940. Thirty-four years after
his graduation from Groton, Roosevelt stated,
“As long as I live, the influence of Dr. Peabody
means and will mean more to me than that of
any other people next to my father and mother.”3
Peabody officiated at Roosevelt’s wedding and
conducted private religious services at family
occasions and for Roosevelt’s first three presi-
dential inaugurations. Roosevelt’s four sons at-
tended Groton. At the age of 86, Peabody was
still involved in Roosevelt’s life. At a reception
given in honor of his former student, Peabody
asked God’s blessing one last time “on Thy ser-
vant Franklin.”4
Today, Groton School is a coeducational,
five-year college preparatory school. Approxi-
mately 175 boys and 175 girls attend grades
8 through 12 at this private boarding school
located on 355 acres (144 ha) in Groton, Mas-
sachusetts. The school still emphasizes Endicott
Peabody’s founding original aims—intellectual,
moral, and physical excellence. As it was in the
late 1800s, the school accepts only students
whose academic records place them in the top
10 percent of the nation. The teachers follow
Peabody’s belief that a teaching profession is a
life’s work, and the faculty should take part in
students’ lives.
Essential Lives
• 26 •
In the summer of 1898, Teddy Roosevelt went
off to fight in the Spanish-American War. His fame
spread after his remarkable victories with his all-
volunteer cavalry that came to be known as the Rough
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt as a Rough Rider in 1898
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 27 •
Riders. Franklin and two of his classmates planned
to run away from Groton and enlist in the service.
But before they could carry out their plan, the group
came down with scarlet fever, a highly contagious
disease.
The boys recovered and returned to their school
activities. Franklin was rapidly growing in popularity
since Theodore Roosevelt was now governor of
New York. The students were wild with excitement
to know someone whose relative was head of an
important state such as New York. The next time
Theodore Roosevelt spoke to the boys at Groton,
he said:
If a man has courage, goodness, and brains, no limit can be
placed to the greatness of the work he may accomplish. He is
the man needed today in politics.5
Franklin was deeply impressed by his cousin’s words.
Impressed by EleanorDuring the 1898 Christmas break,
16-year-old Franklin returned to
Oyster Bay for the cousins’ annual
Christmas party. He again met shy
Eleanor Roosevelt, who was now 14.
”Granny”
Eleanor’s childhood was emotionally painful. Her beautiful mother, Anna Hall Roosevelt, was ashamed of her daugh-ter, who had a solemn face and protruding teeth. She called her daughter “Granny.”
Essential Lives
• 28 •
She clearly was uncomfortable in such
a festive setting. Both of her parents
had died, and she was being raised by
her overly strict grandmother, who
firmly insisted she wear long black
stockings and short dresses suitable
for a younger girl. Feeling plain,
awkward, and different, Eleanor painfully endured
the party.
Franklin, on the other hand, enjoyed the
festivities and socialized with ease, especially among
the young ladies. Feeling sorry for Eleanor, he asked
her to dance, something for which she would long be
grateful. Then he asked his parents to invite her to
a party at Hyde Park. He pointed out to his mother
that Cousin Eleanor had a very good mind.
Franklin’s last year at Groton was his best. He was
named prefect of his dormitory, a position that put
him in charge of younger students. He also acted
in the school play, averaged B grades, and actively
participated in religious and charitable groups.
After graduation, Franklin wanted to attend
the United States Naval Academy, but his parents
objected. They insisted he attend Harvard and then
law school. He already had earned 15 college credits
A Lonely Childhood
When Eleanor was eight, her mother died of diphtheria. Two years later, the father Eleanor adored also died. She went to live with stern Grandmother Hall.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 29 •
at Groton. He could complete his degree in three
years. Franklin’s last day at Groton was a mixture
of joy and sorrow. He would miss his friends and
Peabody. The headmaster, however, would always be
a part of his life. Peabody kept in touch with all of
his students, making sure they achieved Groton’s
high standards.
Harvard, Love, and MarriageIn September 1900, Franklin joined more than
500 other freshmen at Harvard in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. He began studying history and
government as well as English and public speaking.
Franklin’s studies were interrupted in December
when 72-year-old James Roosevelt died. It was a
difficult loss for Franklin. He had always admired
his father. Sara mourned her husband’s death with
courage. Before long, she moved into an apartment
in Boston in order to live closer to her son and to
minimize her loneliness.
Weekends for Franklin were filled with various
prominent social events in Boston and Cambridge.
He enjoyed parties, dances, and dinners. But
Franklin’s greatest enjoyment was working on the
Harvard Crimson. He often spent six hours a day writing
Essential Lives
• 30 •
Connections
Franklin was well known at Harvard due to his connection with Teddy Roosevelt. His reputation grew even more his first semester, when Cousin Teddy was elected vice president of the United States under William McKinley. Franklin wrote about his cousin for a front-page article in the school newspaper, the Harvard Crimson. The popular article secured him a coveted spot as one of the paper’s five editors. At the beginning of his second year, Franklin be-came even more famous. Theodore Roosevelt be-came president when McKinley was assassinat-ed in September 1901.
editorials and articles. In his third year, he moved up
from assistant managing editor to managing editor
and finally to president and editor in chief. His hard
work and long hours had paid off.
In 1902, during his third year at Harvard,
Franklin started seeing Eleanor Roosevelt. She was
no longer the shy, self-described ugly duckling.
For the past three years, she had studied at an elite
boarding school in Europe. Her
personality blossomed, and she
gained the courage to voice her
opinions and use her intelligence.
Instead of long stockings and short
skirts, Eleanor now wore stylish long
dresses and flamboyant large hats.
In his diary, Franklin noted when
he “lunched with Eleanor,” had “tea
with Eleanor,” or walked to the river
“in the rain.”6 He enjoyed hiking in
the woods, picnicking by the ocean,
and reading by a campfire with this
tall, thin girl with beautiful fair hair.
She was intelligent with a strength of
character that Franklin enjoyed.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 31 •
In 1903, Franklin’s third year
at Harvard came to an end; he
graduated a year early. However,
because he did not want to give up
his position on the Crimson staff,
he enrolled in Harvard’s graduate
school and returned in September
for a fourth year. He became totally
absorbed in his newspaper work and
continued to see Eleanor. He often
called on her at the Rivington Street Settlement
House in New York City, where she taught dancing
and calisthenics to poor children from the slums.
Eleanor felt a strong need to help people who were
less fortunate. Franklin had never been exposed
to such wretched conditions. He could not believe
people lived that way.
On a quiet Sunday in November 1903, the day
after a Harvard-Yale football game, Franklin asked
Eleanor to marry him. Eleanor did not answer him
right away and returned to New York. Four days
later, she wrote a long letter to Franklin and quoted
a poem by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:
Unless you can swear, “For life, for death!” Oh, fear
to call it loving!7
Allenswood
In 1900, at the age of 15, Eleanor attended Allens-wood, a girls’ boarding school in England. She called these three years the happiest years of her life. Although Eleanor would have preferred to stay in England, her grandmother brought her back to New York City so Eleanor could make her entrance into society.
Essential Lives
• 32 •
Eleanor soon accepted Franklin’s proposal.
In January 1905, Franklin enrolled at Columbia
Law School in New York City, which was close to
Eleanor. On March 17, 1905, Franklin and Eleanor
were married. Curious crowds gathered outside the
New York City townhouse where the ceremony was
held. They wanted to catch a glimpse of the wedding
couple and the famous guests. Among them was the
president, who arrived to loud cries of “Hooray for
Teddy!” President Thedore Roosevelt was there to
give away the bride.
Not only did Franklin’s headmaster from Groton
attend, the Reverend Endicott Peabody officiated.
After the vows were exchanged, Uncle Teddy
announced from the audience, “Well, Franklin,
there’s nothing like keeping the name in the
family.”8 The couple kissed and marched out of the
room.
The newlyweds spent their first week together at
Hyde Park. After Franklin finished his spring term
at Columbia, the couple boarded the lavish ocean
liner Oceanic to cross the Atlantic. For three months,
they toured Europe. The Roosevelt family was
just beginning. In a few years, so would Franklin’s
political career.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 33 •
Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt in Hyde Park in 1905, the year they were married
• 34 •
W hen the newlyweds returned to New
York City in the fall of 1905, they
settled into a house on fashionable East Thirty-
sixth Street. It was just three blocks from Sara’s
home. Franklin’s mother took charge of her son’s
Chapter4
James Cox and Franklin D. Roosevelt in Dayton, Ohio
Doorway to Politics
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 35 •
household. Eleanor, always striving to please her
mother-in-law, politely let her do it.
Franklin finished law school and passed his bar
exam in 1907. His law career began at the prestigious
Wall Street law firm of Carter, Ledyard, and
Milburn. The Roosevelt family was growing. Their
daughter, Anna, was born in May 1906, and James
was born in 1907. A son, Franklin Jr., was born in
1909 but died of pneumonia at eight months. Elliott
was born in 1910. Another son, also named Franklin
Jr., was born in 1914. John was born in 1916.
Sara increasingly became more involved in her
son’s family. She had two adjoining townhouses
built on posh East Sixty-fifth Street. They were
connected by unlocked sliding doors. One
townhouse was a Christmas present to Franklin
and Eleanor; the other was for Sara. In 1908, they
all moved in. Sara picked out her grandchildren’s
clothes and toys. She was in charge of
the servants, nurses, and governesses.
Eleanor sometimes disliked her
mother-in-law’s involvement, but
she quietly accepted it.
The Roosevelts and Sara often
spent weekends at Hyde Park.
Summer Camp
The Roosevelt family cab-in on Campobello Island was built in 1885. Frank-lin Roosevelt spent nearly every summer there for 36 years. His last visit to Campobello was in Au-gust 1939.
Essential Lives
• 36 •
Summers were spent on Campobello Island off the
coast of Maine. From the time he was one year old,
Franklin had vacationed on scenic Campobello
Island. Now Franklin went there with his own family
whenever he could, although work often kept him in
New York.
Changing JobsRoosevelt’s law career was going well, but he did
not plan to practice law forever. In truth, he was
bored and began talking about politics. He told
coworkers that he intended to follow in Cousin
Teddy’s footsteps and run for office at the first
chance.
In 1910, Roosevelt got that opportunity. Several
New York Democrats, who were impressed with his
ties to the prominent Roosevelts, asked Franklin to
run for New York’s state senator. Teddy Roosevelt
had held this position 30 years earlier. Franklin
Roosevelt enthusiastically campaigned and eagerly
met voters in New York’s twenty-sixth district. He
rode throughout the state by train or in a rented
bright red Maxwell touring car.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, and his campaign team
passed through every village and town. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 37 •
averaged ten speeches a day on the campaign trail.
Local farmers, townspeople, and reporters gathered
around the makeshift podium of this tall, likable
28-year-old lawyer. “My friends,” he always began.
He spoke slowly, sometimes with long pauses, but he
addressed the issues and promised a better approach.
Roosevelt won the election by a landslide. This
was his first doorway to politics, and he stepped
Franklin D. Roosevelt in the New York State Senate in 1910
Essential Lives
• 38 •
into the limelight. In 1912, he ran for reelection.
However, a bout of typhoid fever made him too ill to
go on the campaign trail. So he hired Louis Howe, a
newspaper reporter, to campaign for him. Roosevelt
was so popular with the local farmers that he won the
election without making a single appearance.
His second term as state senator was short-lived.
The newly elected president, Woodrow Wilson,
offered 31-year-old Roosevelt a position as assistant
secretary of the navy. This was a position Roosevelt
could not turn down. On March 17, 1913, he
walked into his new office at the Navy Department.
It was Teddy’s old office. Once again, Franklin was
following in his cousin’s footsteps.
Roosevelt was not one to stay behind the desk.
With his love for ships and the ocean, he routinely
inspected submarines and ships, gladly climbing the
riggings and touring the engine rooms. The sailors
and officers respected him and appreciated his
ability to cut through political red tape to improve
their circumstances.
The First WarIn 1914, World War I broke out in Europe.
Germany’s sophisticated submarines—called
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 39 •
U-boats—controlled the Atlantic. Roosevelt was
convinced that the United States should enter the
war. He advised Congress to build up the nation’s
military forces and
began filling naval
bases with supplies.
On April 6, 1917,
the United States
officially entered
World War I.
It joined Great
Britain and France
in their fight
against Germany.
Roosevelt
quickly helped
mobilize the navy.
He began with
65,000 men. By
the end of the war
in November 1918,
the navy was nearly
1 million strong.
This number
included 11,000
In the Navy
The U.S. Navy began hiring women in 1916
due to a clerical shortage in World War I. Since
the Naval Reserve Act of 1916 did not mention
gender as a condition of service, women began
enlisting in the navy in mid-March 1917. By
the end of April, 600 women—called yeomen
or yeomanettes—had joined the navy. By the
end of Word War I in 1918, that number had
increased to more than 11,000. Yeomanettes
primarily served as secretaries, processing the
huge volume of paperwork generated by the
war. Typically, they worked near their homes
and seldom served overseas. Once the war was
over, their numbers declined to approximately
4,000. By July 1919, all were released from ac-
tive duty.
Nearly all women except navy nurses disap-
peared from the navy until 1942, when women
were needed to serve in World War II. During
the war, one former yeomanette, Joy Bright
Hancock, became one of the first women na-
val officers. After receiving her private pilot’s
license and serving approximately ten years
with the navy, she was commissioned in 1942
as the lieutenant in the newly formed (WAVES)
Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency
Service. By the end of the war, she rose to the
rank of commander and finally to captain. Un-
der Hancock’s leadership, the WAVES achieved
status as part of the regular navy.
Essential Lives
• 40 •
yeomanettes, the first women to ever serve in
the navy.
In his typical hands-on style, Roosevelt visited
troops in Europe, inspected naval air stations,
and visited battlefields. To contend with German
U-boats, he developed what some called an
impossible idea—a 250-mile (402-km) wall of
underwater mines from Scotland to Norway. His
plan worked. Approximately 70,000 mines stopped
German U-boat access to British and American
ships. The strategy was called “one of the wonders of
the war.”1
After the war, Roosevelt joined President Wilson
in an unsuccessful attempt to convince Congress to
join the newly formed League of Nations. But the
United States would not participate
in this international peacekeeping
organization.
Greater GoalsRoosevelt soon began pursuing
greater political goals. In 1920,
the Democratic Party nominated
Ohio Governor James M. Cox for
president. Cox picked 38-year-old
U-boats
German submarines were called U-boats, from the German word Untersee-boot. During World War I, Germany had 29 U-boats. In the first ten weeks of war, they sank 50 British cruisers with their main weapon—the torpedo. On March 17, 1917, they sank three American mer-chant ships.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 41 •
Franklin Roosevelt as his vice-
presidential running mate. With
energy, enthusiasm, and charm,
Roosevelt again hit the campaign
trail. He traveled by train through
32 states, making more than
1,000 speeches. Eleanor was at her
husband’s side, undoubtedly making
an impression. That same year,
women won the right to vote with the passage of the
Nineteenth Amendment.
Roosevelt made U.S. membership in the League
of Nations an important campaign issue. Republican
presidential candidate Warren G. Harding and vice-
presidential candidate Calvin Coolidge opposed the
league but promised to bring an end to international
problems. A war-weary population that clearly
remembered the casualties of World War I elected
Harding by a landslide.
Undaunted by his defeat, Roosevelt said, “The
moment of defeat is the best time to lay plans for
future victories.”2 He reentered private life and
became a partner in the law firm of Emmet, Marvin,
and Roosevelt. He also was vice president of the
Fidelity & Deposit Company.
Secret Submarines
After the end of World War I, Germany was for-bidden to build subma-rines. However, before the start of World War II, Germany had secretly built U-boats and trained crews. By the start of the war, Germany already had several U-boats ready for battle.
Essential Lives
• 42 •
Roosevelt now had more time for his family. He
loved to spoil his daughter and four sons and took
them sailing at Campobello and horseback riding at
Hyde Park. His relationship with Eleanor, however,
was strained. Two years earlier, in 1918, Eleanor
discovered some letters that proved Franklin was
having a close relationship with another woman,
Lucy Mercer, who was Eleanor’s former social
secretary.
Eleanor and Franklin discussed divorce, but
Franklin’s mother, Sara, said it was out of the
question. It would ruin Franklin’s career and
the Roosevelt name. The couple decided to stay
together, but their relationship was scarred. Eleanor
became more independent. Their marriage became
somewhat of a partnership based largely on how they
could help each other succeed and avoid scandalous
talk.
The following year, 1921, Franklin faced an even
greater crisis. Misfortune would strike him during a
summer vacation at Campobello.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 43 •
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt in Campobello in 1920
• 44 •
M onday, August 8, 1921, was a warm,
sunny day on Campobello Island.
A crowd had gathered at the Roosevelt’s summer
home—Franklin, Eleanor, their five children,
several guests, the children’s tutor, and a number of
Chapter5
Franklin D. Roosevelt often enjoyed sailing at Campobello.
Stricken
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 45 •
servants. Sara Roosevelt was traveling in Europe and
would not be back until the end of August.
Franklin stayed busy all day, deep-sea fishing and
baiting other people’s hooks. He even fell overboard
into the always frigid waters of the Bay of Fundy.
Laughing it off, Roosevelt scrambled back onto the
boat, feeling a bit stunned by the coldness of the
water.
Two days later, the weather was still beautiful,
and Roosevelt wanted to be outdoors. Even though
he did not feel well and his body ached, he took
Eleanor and the children out on his sailboat. Early
that afternoon, the family spotted a forest fire on
another small island. They sailed to the island, went
ashore, and beat hot flames with evergreen branches
for hours until the fire was under control.
Returning to Campobello, Roosevelt suggested
a swim in a freshwater lake two miles (3 km) down a
dirt road. Although exhausted, the family jogged to
the secluded lake with its soft, sandy
beach. After a swim in the warm
lake water, they followed Roosevelt’s
typical routine and walked to the
Atlantic shore to take an icy plunge
in the salt water. This time, however,
Sailing
James Roosevelt taught his son to sail when Frank-lin was six years old. At 16, Franklin got his own sloop, the New Moon. It was a gift from his father.
Essential Lives
• 46 •
Roosevelt did not feel the usual exhilaration. The
family raced back to the cabin.
As Roosevelt sat on the porch in his wet swimsuit
reading a stack of newspapers, he felt a violent chill.
His muscles began to ache. Too tired to get dressed,
he went straight to bed. By morning, after a nearly
sleepless night, Roosevelt could not swing his legs
out of bed. His left leg dragged and nearly collapsed
when he tried to stand up. In great pain, he shaved
and then stumbled back to bed.
The children left that morning for a three-day
camping trip with friends of the family. Eleanor
stayed with Franklin, who had a temperature of
102° Fahrenheit (39° C). That day, the pain in
his legs and back became worse, and Eleanor sent
for a doctor. The doctor diagnosed
Roosevelt’s ailment as an unusually
bad cold. Roosevelt knew it was
more serious. The stabbing pain
that spread throughout his entire
body was different than he had ever
experienced.
Eleanor called another doctor,
who suggested deep massage. For
hours at a time, Eleanor and
Belly Punch
Roosevelt maintained a cheery outlook on his disease. One of his visi-tors at the hospital was visibly shaken to see him paralyzed. Roosevelt told him to come closer and punched him in the stom-ach. Jokingly, he added that he was not an invalid, but rather someone who could “knock you out.”1
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 47 •
Louis Howe took turns massaging
Roosevelt’s limp legs. It was an
agonizing experience for Roosevelt,
whose body had become extremely
sensitive to touch.
The paralysis spread quickly. By
late Thursday on August 11, Roosevelt
could barely stand. On Friday, he
was unable to get up and had lost the
ability to move his legs. The muscles
in his back, shoulders, arms, and
fingers were nearly useless. His fever continued to
climb. The man who loved life and pursued noble
dreams now fell into utter despair. He later admitted
that he had temporarily lost his strong faith in God.
He had been convinced that God had chosen him to
play an important role in history. But now, he felt
God had abandoned him. His belief in himself as
God’s special instrument was fading away. Hour after
painful hour, he felt utterly alone and useless.
When his children returned from their camping
trip, Roosevelt courageously tried to calm their
fears and shock over what had happened to him. For
several weeks, 39-year-old Franklin Roosevelt lay
paralyzed from the waist down.
Side Effects
For some polio victims, new problems arose later in life. Some struggled with less endurance and fatigue as well as new joint and muscle pain. Muscles grew weaker, and breathing became more difficult. Some peo-ple required more braces, canes, or a wheelchair. Roosevelt may have been afflicted with these late effects of polio in the mid-1940s before he died.
Essential Lives
• 48 •
PolioFinally, a specialist from Boston correctly
diagnosed
Roosevelt. He
had contracted
a virus called
poliomyelitis—
commonly known
as infantile
paralysis or polio.
The disease usually
struck children.
Some were
paralyzed for the
rest of their lives;
others died. It was
the most dreaded
disease at that
time in the United
States.
On September
13, Roosevelt
traveled to a New
York City hospital.
But his condition
Polio
The highly contagious polio virus randomly
struck and suddenly crippled thousands of
victims each year. Most were young children.
In 1926, Roosevelt founded the Warm Springs
Foundation, which raised millions of dollars
for polio treatment and research. It would later
be known as the National Foundation for In-
fantile Paralysis. Outbreaks of polio increased
in the 1930s. In 1934, the city of Los Angeles
reported 50 new cases a day. Polio reached
epidemic proportions in the 1940s and 1950s.
In 1955, scientist Jonas Salk discovered a polio
vaccine. A nationwide vaccination program
was quickly carried out. In 1962, the Salk vac-
cine was replaced by the longer lasting Sabin
oral vaccine.
At Roosevelt’s time, individuals with disabili-
ties were usually kept at home by families who
were ashamed of them. Even doctors viewed
people disabled by polio as a burden to the
community. Believing that the nation would not
accept a “cripple” as its president, Roosevelt
rarely appeared in public in his wheelchair.
Some referred to it as his “magnificent decep-
tion.” Only a few of the thousands of photos of
Roosevelt show him in his wheelchair. How-
ever, Roosevelt’s illness had a major impact on
the public’s view of people with disabilities.
Audiences cheered for him as he struggled to
walk and admired his determination to over-
come his physical limitations.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 49 •
did not improve. Finally, Roosevelt
decided that he would not remain
helpless for the rest of his life. His
strength and optimism returned. He
began to concentrate on his muscles,
one at a time. Focusing on the muscle
in his big toe, he tried to move it.
Then he focused on the muscles in
his feet, legs, and back. When he
left the hospital on October 28, his
chart noted, “Not improving.”2 But Roosevelt told
a friend, “I’ll be walking on crutches in a few weeks.
The doctors say there is no question but that by this
spring, I will be walking without any limp.”3
Determined to SucceedBy spring 1922, Roosevelt had regained the use
of his upper body, so only his legs remained unable
to move. He spent much of his time in a wheelchair.
But, on occasion, he donned steel and leather leg
braces to support the dead muscles in his legs. With
the braces and the help of crutches, he could stand.
He made up his mind that he would learn to walk,
even if it meant having his son—or someone else—
assist him on either side.
Mental Muscle
In order to remove any fears his children had about his disease, Roosevelt made it into a game. He rewarded them for memorizing the names of his damaged muscles. Whenever he success-fully moved a muscle, the children joined him in a cheer.
Essential Lives
• 50 •
With the help of Louis Howe,
Roosevelt put his political career back
in motion. Howe had successfully
kept it alive by taking care of
Roosevelt’s political and business
affairs. Howe encouraged Eleanor
to participate in Democratic Party
events so she could tell her husband what was going
on. Eleanor often spoke in her husband’s place at
conferences and conventions. She also kept up with
her work for the League of Women Voters and the
Women’s Trade Union League.
By 1924, Roosevelt was again ready for an active
role in politics. He emerged from his disease a
different man. He was stronger, more courageous,
and possessed endless patience and determination.
He often laughed heartily at his crippling disease and
called it a turning point in his life. His keen mind
and speaking ability would raise him up above his
disability to the heights of his political life.
Newfound Courage
Eleanor Roosevelt would one day call her hus-band’s polio “a blessing in disguise, for it gave him a strength and courage he had not had before.” 4
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 51 •
Franklin D. Roosevelt, seated at right, is shown with his campaign manager, Louis Howe, standing.
• 52 •
O n June 26, 1924, Franklin Roosevelt
gave his first public speech since being
stricken with polio three years earlier. The occasion
was the Democratic National Convention at Madison
Square Garden in New York City. He was asked
Chapter6
Franklin D. Roosevelt, left, speaks with other Democrats in Hyde Park, New York, after his return to politics.
Governor Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 53 •
to give the nomination speech for Democratic
presidential hopeful, Alfred E. Smith.
Sixteen-year-old James escorted his father to
the platform. It was a struggle to make it through
the people and down the aisle. Roosevelt held on
tightly to his son’s arm and gripped his crutches with
his other hand. Sweat beaded on his brow, and his
breathing became labored. His braces, which made
him unable to bend his knees, clanked as he walked
stiff-legged past the silent delegates.
James and his father finally reached the stage.
Now it was time for Roosevelt to walk the rest of
the way alone. He placed a crutch under each arm,
smiled at the hushed crowd, and began the agonizing
journey to the front of the platform. He reached the
podium at last, leaned forward, raised his hand, and
waved to the people. The crowd cheered and roared
for several minutes. He was a popular man, more
popular now than he had ever been before.
His eloquent speech praised Smith, calling him
the Happy Warrior of the political battlefield. Smith
failed to get the nomination. But Roosevelt had
shown that he had returned to political life. The New
York Herald Tribune said it was Roosevelt who stood out
that day as the real hero of the convention.
Essential Lives
• 54 •
Warm SpringsAlthough Roosevelt had returned to politics, he
still needed physical therapy. That fall, Franklin and
Eleanor traveled to Warm Springs, Georgia, to visit
a run-down resort. Warm water high in minerals
flowed from a nearby spring on the Pine Mountain
hillside. Roosevelt remembered his father’s belief
in the healing properties of mineral springs. The
water maintained a constant year-round temperature
of 88 degrees Fahrenheit (31°C). When Roosevelt
first sank into the therapeutic pool, he described a
“heavenly warmth” that flowed over his legs. In 1926,
convinced that the water would help him walk, he
purchased the resort and 1,200 acres (486 ha) of
surrounding land. He restored the buildings and
turned them into a treatment center for people
with polio. He hired doctors, nurses, and physical
therapists to treat polio victims who came to Warm
Springs from all over the world. Most of them were
children.
In New York, Howe kept up with Roosevelt’s
political matters. In 1928, Alfred Smith won the
Democratic nomination for president. In order to
win against Republican candidate Herbert Hoover,
Smith needed a strong supporter in New York.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 55 •
He was convinced that a popular
Democrat in the governor’s race
would help him win the large New
York vote. Roosevelt refused to run
for governor. But Smith would not
take “no” for an answer. Roosevelt
also realized that if he ever again
wanted the support of the Democratic
Party, he would have to help Smith.
Once more, Roosevelt hit the campaign trail. He
won a close race for governor. However, Smith lost
the presidential election to Herbert Hoover in the
biggest landslide victory of any presidential election.
Eleanor made arrangements to move into the
governor’s mansion in Albany. By now, all of their
children were out on their own. Anna was married
and had a child. Elliott, Franklin Jr., and John were
all at Groton. James was at Harvard.
Franklin Roosevelt immediately worked on
economic and social reforms in New York. He asked
lawmakers to spend more money on schools, parks,
and hospitals. And he championed the cause of
the elderly, working people, and the unemployed.
Unemployment was not only a state issue. The entire
country was in an economic crisis.
A Second White House?
Roosevelt reportedly spent two-thirds of his personal wealth on the renova-tion and expansion of Warm Springs. He spent so much time there that after he became presi-dent, it became known as the second White House.
Essential Lives
• 56 •
The CrashOn October 24, 1929, about nine months after
Roosevelt became governor, prices on the New York
Stock Exchange drastically dropped. Five days later,
the stock market collapsed. Panicked stockholders
tried desperately to sell their shares at any price. The
nation’s economy nearly shut down. People were
afraid to spend their money, and factories slowed
down production. The nation’s economy sank into
what came to be called the Great Depression.
In 1930, there were 4 million jobless Americans.
By 1931, the number had increased to 6 million. Just
one year later, 12 million people were out of work.
One quarter of the workforce was unemployed, while
another quarter was underemployed,
working fewer hours than before.
The United States did not have
programs such as unemployment
insurance or Social Security to help
its citizens. People depended on
relatives and charitable organizations
to survive. Across the country, people
waited in bread lines and outside
soup kitchens for free or cheap food.
Countless homeless people lived in
Hoovervilles
In the 1930s, shantytowns appeared in cities all over the nation. Shanties were makeshift houses made of any material available—metal, plastic, plywood, and cardboard. These areas were sometimes called “hobo jungles” or “Hoovervilles” because people blamed the Great Depression on President Hoover.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 57 •
tents or abandoned cars. Others built makeshift
ramshackle shanties.
As conditions worsened, Roosevelt pressed
harder for reform in New York. To promote his
ideas, he used a new technology—radio. Millions of
Americans had radios in their homes. In a series of
radio programs, Roosevelt encouraged citizens to
write letters to their lawmakers. Many of Roosevelt’s
proposals were passed. In 1930, he won another
term as governor, this time by a huge margin.
Migrant families looking for work often lived in abandoned cars.
Essential Lives
• 58 •
The Roosevelts had grown comfortable in the
governor’s mansion. The ornate house where Grover
Cleveland and Theodore Roosevelt had once lived
was frequently filled with visitors. The nine guest
rooms were usually
occupied, and the
Roosevelt children
and grandchildren
often visited and
brought their
friends. Books
and magazines
were plentiful,
and movies were
shown frequently
in the third-floor
hallway. A large
German shepherd
named Chief and
a black Scottish
terrier named
Murray romped
throughout the
house.
The Governor’s Mansion
The New York governor’s mansion sits atop
a hill overlooking the Hudson River in Albany.
Officially, the residence is called the Empire
State’s Executive Mansion. The building, con-
structed in 1856, was originally a banker’s pri-
vate home. Since 1875, the mansion has been
the residence of New York governors.
Each of the 29 governors who has lived in
the mansion has had an impact on the build-
ing. Alfred Smith had a zoo built, and Theodore
Roosevelt constructed a gymnasium. In 1922,
Franklin Roosevelt put in a heated swimming
pool as therapy for his polio. Later, it was filled
in and converted to a greenhouse. Nelson
Rockefeller added the tennis courts and direct-
ed restoration of the first floor after a 1961 fire.
The greenhouse was restored to a pool under
Governor Mario Cuomo. There also has been
a tradition of planting memorial trees on the
grounds. The weeping elm in back of the man-
sion was planted by Governor Charles Whit-
man on the birth of his son. The grove of apple
trees was planted by Governor Hugh Carey to
mark his stay. In the 1990s, donations made it
possible for the Executive Mansion Preserva-
tion Society to restore the building. The kitchen
was remodeled, some windows were replaced,
and central air conditioning was installed.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 59 •
Large groups joined the
Roosevelts for lunch, dinner, or
grand state receptions. Eleanor, no
longer a shy, insecure woman, hosted
the numerous social activities. She
also had her own teaching career,
took an active part in politics, and
defended women’s rights. Often, she
filled in for her husband when he was
physically unable to participate.
However, while joyful guests
enjoyed the elegant affairs at the
governor’s mansion, the people of
the nation were becoming more
destitute. President Hoover believed
it was the responsibility of local
governments and charities, not the
federal government, to help the
unemployed. He felt the economy
would one day correct itself. At first,
Roosevelt agreed with Hoover. But as time went
on and conditions grew worse, he realized that if
Hoover would not help the nation, then at least the
state of New York must help its own citizens.
The “Kingmaker”
Louis McHenry Howe (1871–1936) has often been called “the man behind Roosevelt” or the “kingmaker.” His dedication to Roosevelt was strong and long last-ing. For 20 years before Roosevelt became presi-dent, Howe mentored him, campaigned for him, and kept his political ma-chine running.
As Roosevelt’s closest adviser, Howe had great inner strength. His char-acter, however, did not match his outward ap-pearance. He was fragile, sickly looking, and un-tidy. Howe and Roosevelttalked daily. Howe’s con-stant advice influenced what Roosevelt said and did and greatly affected the course of Franklin’s long political career.
Essential Lives
• 60 •
Before the state legislature,
Roosevelt declared:
One of these duties of the State is that of
caring for those of its citizens who find
themselves the victims of such adverse
circumstances as makes them unable to
obtain even the necessities for mere existence
with the aid of others.1
In 1931, Roosevelt asked the state
legislature to designate $20 million
for a Temporary Emergency Relief
Administration (TERA). The agency
would attempt to provide jobs for the
unemployed. If work could not be found, then food,
clothing, and shelter would be provided for the
needy. Roosevelt’s plan was passed, and he quickly
gained national status as the governor doing the most
to deal with unemployment. By 1932, TERA was
helping approximately one in every ten needy New
York families. A presidential election was coming up
that year. The successful Governor Roosevelt would
emerge as a prime candidate.
Hoover’s Deeds
Although the Great De-pression was blamed largely on President Her-bert Hoover (1929–1933), he did make important progress during his term. He cracked down on gangsters, preserved 3 million acres (1.2 million ha) for national parks, and built the San Francisco Bridge. Hoover also en-couraged tax breaks for low-income Americans, reorganized the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and insti-tuted prison reform.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 61 •
Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1932
• 62 •
F ranklin Roosevelt—“FDR,” as he was
commonly called—knew he could
not win the presidential race alone. He needed
knowledgeable people to advise him. Louis Howe
was still his top adviser. Roosevelt also depended on
Chapter7
Roosevelt leaving Chicago by train in 1932, bound for St. Paul.
The Road to the White House
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 63 •
Raymond Moley, a bright professor from Columbia
University with good sense and political experience.
Sam Rosenman, a shrewd lawyer and one of
Roosevelt’s closest consultants, wanted to bring in a
few professors to discuss problems Roosevelt might
face as president.
Soon, brilliant Columbia law professors began
traveling to Albany to have dinner with Roosevelt.
After the meals, Roosevelt would shoot questions at
new advisers. When news of Roosevelt’s intellectual
advisory group made the papers, a reporter dubbed
it the Brain Trust.
One outcome of the sessions was a strategy to
attack Hoover’s “trickle-down” economic policy.
Hoover had declared: “If we help big business,
everyone will benefit—the trickle-down effect
will help everyone get back to work.”1 Roosevelt
stated that government should not help just banks
and corporations. It must also come to the aid of
farmers, small business owners, and homeowners.
He called for government leaders to “put their faith
once more in the forgotten man at the bottom of the
economic pyramid.”2
That year, 1932, the Democratic Convention was
held in Chicago. Roosevelt did not attend but kept
Essential Lives
• 64 •
in close contact with Howe and other supporters at
the convention. On the fourth ballot, after a tough
battle, Roosevelt won the Democratic nomination
for president. Immediately, he chartered an airplane
to fly to Chicago. He was going against tradition by
accepting the nomination in person. But he felt his
candidacy needed to start off with dramatic fanfare.
Flying HighAirplane travel was still in its infancy. It had
only been five years since Charles Lindbergh had
made his historic transatlantic flight. No American
president or presidential candidate had ever traveled
by plane. But Roosevelt did not have
the time to travel by train. He had to
get to Chicago before the convention
adjourned. On July 2, 1932,
Roosevelt arrived at the convention.
“The whole hall was electrified
as he came in on his son’s arm,”
recalled one conventioneer. “People
were crying and hugging each other,
even if they didn’t really like him, just
because it was so exciting.”3 Roosevelt
again made his way to the platform
Flying to Great Heights
In 1933, after an elegant formal dinner, Eleanor Roosevelt accompanied famous female pilot Ame-lia Earhart on a round-trip flight from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Mary-land, and back.
In 1940, on a visit to Tuskegee flying school, Eleanor flew with pilot C. Alfred “Chief” Anderson. The First Lady’s willing-ness to fly with a black pi-lot brought great publicity and support to Tuskegee’s pilot training program.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 65 •
with the help of his son James. Then
he walked alone to the podium and
addressed the delegates. He ended
with these words:
I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal
for the American people. … This is more
than a political campaign; it is a call to
arms. Give me your help, not to win votes
alone, but to win in this crusade to restore
America to its own people.4
The words “new deal” quickly
became Roosevelt’s campaign slogan.
He traveled throughout the country
during some of its darkest days.
Franklin campaigned for hope—to
end the Depression and for a bright
future. Few doubted that he would
defeat Hoover, a man who had
become a symbol of the Depression.
Roosevelt won by more than 7
million votes and carried 42 of the
48 states in the electoral college. But
he had to wait four months to take
office as the thirty-second president
Understanding the Electoral College
The electoral college is made up of electors who indirectly elect the presi-dent. The number of elec-tors equals the total of both houses of Congress (100 senators and 435 representatives) plus three electors designated for Washington, D.C. A pres-idential candidate must receive a majority of elec-toral votes (270) in order to win the election. Since the most populous states have the most members in Congress, they also have the most electors. Currently, California has the most (55), followed by Texas (34), and New York (31). On four occasions—1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000—the presidential candidate who received the most individual votes did not become presi-dent because he did not receive at least 270 elec-toral votes.
Essential Lives
• 66 •
The CCC and the TVA
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was
created during the Hundred Days in 1933
to provide jobs for men. The CCC hired only
single unemployed men between the ages of
18 and 25. Under the supervision of the army,
the men worked for the Forest and National
Park Services in southeastern states. Men were
divided into groups of approximately 200 and
sent off to camps for six months at a time. By
1935, there were more than 500,000 men at
1,500 camps throughout the nation. Their work
included improving parks, beaches, and his-
toric sites. They also worked on flood control,
built fire observation towers, and cleared and
planted forests.
Another agency, the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), was created to restore the
flooded Tennessee Valley basin. This huge
area snaked through seven states in the South,
where floods regularly ravaged the valley.
Farmers went without electricity, and disease
was widespread. Families had scarcely enough
to eat. Many survived on a diet of pork and
cornmeal. The purpose of the TVA was to pro-
duce and distribute electricity to residents and
farmers. The workers built dams and hydro-
electric projects that produced electric power
for factories, farms, and homes. These projects,
also designed to control flooding, brought
jobs and improvement to one of the nation’s
poorest areas.
of the United States. This was a dismal time, as the
Great Depression took its toll on the nation.
Skies over
midwestern states
were black with
smoke from crop
fires. Farmers had
set their own fields
ablaze when no one
would buy their
crops. Automobile
workers rioted in
Detroit, Michigan,
and hunger
marches broke out
in New York and
Chicago. Factories
lay empty, and all
across the country,
banks failed as
frightened people
withdrew their
money. By January
1933, people were
starving. Overseas,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 67 •
a Japanese army was advancing on
China. On January 30, 1933, as
Roosevelt celebrated his fifty-first
birthday, crowds in Germany cheered
for their new chancellor—Adolf
Hitler.
On March 4, 1933, outside the
U.S. Capitol, Roosevelt took his oath
of office. As a light drizzle fell, a
confident FDR turned and spoke to
approximately 100,000 people:
This great Nation will endure as it has
endured, will revive and will prosper. So,
first of all, let me assert my firm belief that
the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.5
People in the crowd wept as their new leader gave
them courage and direction. By radio, Americans
heard Roosevelt explain his plan to put people back
to work and restore hope.
The Hundred DaysThe next day, Sunday, was typically a day of rest,
but Roosevelt and his administration went to work.
On Monday, banks were ordered to close down for
Assassination Attempt
On February 15, 1933, Giuseppe Zangara, an unemployed bricklayer, took aim at President-elect Roosevelt in Miami, Florida. As he shot, he shouted “Too many peo-ple are starving to death!” He missed Roosevelt but fatally wounded Chicago Mayor Anton Cernak. Zangara later said, “I don’t hate Mr. Roosevelt personally. ... I hate all officials and everybody who is rich.”6
Essential Lives
• 68 •
three days. This “bank holiday” would stop people
from withdrawing and hoarding money.
On March 9, Roosevelt began to work with a
special session of Congress. It was the beginning of
what would be called the “Hundred Days,” a period
of rapid-fire legislation to deal with the Great
Depression. The first law Congress passed was the
Emergency Banking Act. On March 12, Roosevelt
spoke by radio to as many as 60 million Americans.
In this first Fireside Chat, as they were called, he
began,
My friends, I want to talk for a few minutes with the people
of the United States about banking. … It is safer to keep your
money in a reopened bank than it is under the mattress. 7
Millions of people did what their president
suggested. Within a month, seven out of every ten
banks were open. Americans had deposited $31
billion. Nearly every day, Congress passed a new bill.
New agencies such as the Tennessee Valley Authority
(TVA) to provide public power and the Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) to help preserve the
environment sprang up. In time, the Works Progress
Administration (WPA) also provided jobs as part
of a massive relief program. It employed millions
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 69 •
of people to build schools, playgrounds, libraries,
hospitals, roads, airports, and post offices. Doctors
were hired to set up clinics, and teachers taught adult
education classes. Artists, musicians, and writers
were employed for special projects such as painting
murals, performing concerts and plays, and writing
books.
Some people criticized the programs for wasting
government money. They called the New Deal the
President Roosevelt sits at the head of a mess table for lunch at CCC Camp Fechner in Big Meadows, Virginia.
Essential Lives
• 70 •
“Raw Deal” and claimed that big
spending was going to bankrupt the
country. The president’s New Deal
was changing the way people worked,
farmed, and banked. The plan’s three
main goals—the “three Rs” of Relief,
Recovery, and Reform—were working
despite criticism.
In June 1933, the Hundred Days
were over, and Roosevelt turned
his attention to foreign affairs. Hitler blamed
Germany’s problems on its Jewish citizens. In
1935, Germany passed the Nuremburg Laws, which
classified Jews as German subjects instead of citizens.
Signs proclaiming “No Jews Allowed” dotted streets
and business windows. Hitler, who wanted a racially
“pure” Germany, did not tolerate Jewish people.
The United States had an isolationist policy—it
would not get involved in foreign affairs. But
Hitler’s army had grown dramatically. On March 7,
the German army marched on the Rhineland, the
first of many German occupations. Other countries
were also set to expand through force. Roosevelt
did not believe the United States should remain
isolated.
Hard Times and a New Deal
The New Deal was a set of federal laws and pro-grams designed to help people survive and to re-vive the economy. Some of these programs—for example, the Securities and Exchange Commis-sion (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corpo-ration (FDIC)—still exist today.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 71 •
Roosevelt often addressed the nation through Fireside Chats.Roosevelt often addressed the nation through Fireside Chats.
• 72 •
Chapter8
Franklin D. Roosevelt during the 1936 election year
Prelude to War
N ovember 1936 was an election month.
Franklin Roosevelt was running for
a second term against Kansas Governor Alfred
M. Landon. Roosevelt’s campaign focus was the
economy, and he defended government spending.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 73 •
Almost every newspaper criticized him, but most
Americans strongly supported him. “He gave me a
job,” some shouted on his campaign trail. Others
yelled, “He saved my home.” Signs proclaimed,
“Thank God for Roosevelt.” Roosevelt kept the
presidency by the biggest landslide in the history of
the nation.
Roosevelt began his second term with a
strengthened economy and support of the people.
The stock market was strong and unemployment had
dropped. Income for farmers had nearly doubled.
Social Security was underway.
Roosevelt enjoyed the presidency, and he enjoyed
people, even those who opposed him. With a relaxed
smile and a friendly greeting, he welcomed reporters
and visitors. They interviewed him as he swam in
the White House pool, while he got ready in the
morning, or during lunch at his desk. The White
House was a comfortable place where the president’s
grandchildren and Scottish terrier, Fala, ran about
freely. In the evenings, the president watched movies
in the wide second-floor hallway. He also liked to
work on his sizable stamp collection.
Roosevelt vacationed often at Warm Springs and
Hyde Park, which he considered home. As always,
Essential Lives
• 74 •
Four Terms
Franklin Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to serve more than two terms. He was elected four times, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. On February 2, 1951, the Twenty-second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed, setting a limit of no more than two four-year terms for presidents.
Sara was deeply involved in her
son’s affairs. She enjoyed her role as
mother of the president.
The First Lady was also involved
in her husband’s affairs, but she was
making her own mark on the world.
For the first time, a president’s wife
was playing a major political role.
Eleanor worked for human rights
and justice, traveling throughout
the world on speaking tours. She
reached millions all over the world with her views
on equal rights for women and blacks. Although
Eleanor never quite got over her husband’s affair
with Lucy Mercer, Franklin and Eleanor still
respected and cared for each other. Franklin was
enormously proud of Eleanor and even approved of
the occasional controversies she stirred up. “You go
right ahead and stand for whatever you feel is right,”
he once told her.1
Roosevelt also supported his children, who
led tumultuous lives. However, the president’s
concerns for his family often took a back seat to
what was happening in the nation. Despite some
improvement, unemployment remained a problem,
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 75 •
and farm prices were falling. The New Deal was
receiving strong criticism, and the president found
himself defending his program and his ideals.
Workers were striking, and companies were fighting
back. Violent quarrels broke out on picket lines, and
police were called in to stop the bloody beatings. The
gruesome clash in Chicago on Memorial Day 1937—
called the Memorial Day Massacre—was the worst.
Troubled TimesThe nation’s problems paled in light of what
was going on in the rest of the world. Germany and
Italy had formed an alliance that would later include
Japan and several smaller countries. The Axis
Powers, as they were called, planned to dominate
Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific Islands. Japan
invaded China that year. And on November 5, 1937,
Hitler held a secret meeting and declared his plans to
acquire “living space” for the German people. The
slogan for the Nazi Party confirmed its goal: “Today
Germany—Tomorrow the World.”
The concerned president attempted to build up
the nation’s military. But his critics accused him
of focusing on international events to cover up his
failures at home. Congress protested and insisted on
Essential Lives
• 76 •
isolation—to stay neutral and not take sides with the
aggressor or the victim.
As 1938 began, Roosevelt requested more than
$1 billion to bolster what he called an inadequate
national defense. In March, Hitler occupied Austria
and stepped up his persecution of the Jews. Roosevelt
sent a personal telegram to Hitler, stating that war
was unnecessary and unjustifiable. Hitler did not
answer.
On November 10, 1938, the Nazis burned 195
synagogues, herded 25,000 Jews to concentration
camps, and shattered windows in 8,000 Jewish
shops. It was called Kristallnacht—Night of Broken
Glass. Roosevelt told the press, “I myself could
scarcely believe that such things could occur in a
twentieth-century civilization.”2 Then he ordered
Hugh Wilson, U.S. ambassador to Germany, to
return to the United States.
On January 4, 1939, Roosevelt warned Americans
that isolationism was no defense against aggression.
While Roosevelt tried to convince Congress to end
the nation’s neutrality, Hitler struck again. This
time, the Nazis marched into Czechoslovakia. One
month later, Italy conquered Albania, and the
Japanese moved closer to the Philippines.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 77 •
Roosevelt was angry. He asked the German,
Italian, and Japanese dictators not to attack a list of
31 independent nations for a period of ten years.
His request was received with ridicule. One German
leader implied that Roosevelt had a brain disorder.
Mussolini said the message was absurd and likely a
result of creeping paralysis. Hitler’s response was
mocking and sarcastic.
The World at WarAt 3:00 a.m. on September 1, 1939, the
American ambassador to France woke Roosevelt
A pedestrian looks at the wreckage of a Jewish shop in Berlin, Germany, on November 10, 1938, the day after the Kristallnacht rampage.
Essential Lives
• 78 •
with a telephone call. German troops were invading
Poland, fighting was fierce, and bombers were over
Warsaw, Poland. The president replied, “… it’s come
at last. God help us all.”3
France and England promised to support Poland
and declared war on Germany. More and more
countries—collectively known as the Allies—began
joining the fight against the Axis Powers. The
president knew his country could not remain
neutral. But the Neutrality Act of 1935, which
prohibited the United States from selling arms to
any warring powers, made it impossible for him to
sell war supplies to fighting nations, even friends.
In January 1940, FDR gave his annual State of
the Union address. Without hesitation, he voiced his
concern over the United States’ attitude toward the
war:
There is a vast difference between keeping out of war and
pretending that this war is none of our business. For it becomes
clearer and clearer that the future world will be a shabby and
dangerous place to live in—yes, even for Americans to live
in—if it is ruled by force in the hands of a few.4
Soon, the world did indeed become a more
dangerous place to live. On April 9, 1940, Hitler
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 79 •
Royalty
In the summer of 1939, England’s King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the
United States. It was the first time English roy-
alty had visited. On a sweltering afternoon, the
Roosevelts hosted a large garden party for the
couple, followed by an elegant state dinner
and reception at the White House. Before the
festivities began, Eleanor waited with Diana—
the young daughter of one of the president’s
closest advisors—in the second-floor hallway
of the White House to see the queen. When
Queen Elizabeth emerged in her white gown,
precious jewels, and glistening tiara, Diana
gasped that she had just seen the Fairy Queen.
After visiting Mount Vernon and the Tomb
of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington, Virginia,
the royal couple traveled by car to Hyde Park.
At Springwood, Roosevelt took the opportunity
for a long private discussion with the king about
the world situation. Both men thought war was
unavoidable. Roosevelt promised to be helpful
and even hinted that the United States might
enter the war if London were attacked. The roy-
al visit ended with an old-fashioned American
picnic. It was the first time the king and queen
had ever eaten hot dogs. Eleanor’s heart was
heavy when she thought of the cloud that hung
over the royal couple and what their country
would likely face. In just 11 weeks, Britain was
at war with Germany.
invaded Denmark and Norway. Four weeks later,
German tanks rolled through the Netherlands,
Belgium, and Luxembourg, and made their way to
Paris. On June 22,
France surrendered
to Nazi power.
The American
people were
stunned. Roosevelt
immediately
proposed a massive
increase of military
and naval forces
and the production
of 50,000
airplanes a year. A
record $1.7 billion
was earmarked for
military growth.
In the
president’s
fifteenth Fireside
Chat—one of his
regular radio
addresses to the
• 80 •
Essential Lives
American people, he declared:
Tonight over the once peaceful roads of
Belgium and France millions are now
moving, running from their homes to
escape bombs and shells and fire and
machine gunning, without shelter, and
almost wholly without food. … I speak to
you of these people because each one of
you that is listening to me tonight has a
way of helping them.”5
He warned the American people
that no longer could the nation live
in isolation from the rest of the
world. He reminded them that the country must
build its defenses and defend its freedom.
One More TermAfter months of indecision, Roosevelt decided
to run for a third term as president. No U.S.
president had ever served more than two terms. As
the campaign heated up, the war raged in Europe.
Britain was now being attacked by the Nazis. From
July to August 1940, Nazi planes tried to destroy
the Royal Air Force (RAF) in daytime air raids over
Growing the Military
Between 1933 and 1940, the U.S. Navy fight-ing personnel rose from 79,000 to 145,000. The army nearly doubled from 1933 to 1940. It was also equipped with modern weapons and 5,640 air-planes, including long-range bombers and fast pursuit planes. The num-ber of pilots nearly tripled to more than 3,200 of the best fighter pilots in the world. The number of modern tanks and ar-mored cars increased from 48 to 1,700.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 81 •
the English Channel. In September, the Germans
began a weeklong bombing of London and other
British cities. But on September 15, 1940, just two
days before Hitler’s plan for an all-out invasion of
Britain, the RAF shot down 60 German aircraft.
The Nazis retreated, but only briefly. They began
nighttime air raids that continued into 1941.
Britain’s prime minister, Winston Churchill,
pleaded for help from the United States. Churchill
requested American destroyers to patrol the Atlantic
Ocean and protect Britain’s supply routes. Sending
the ships was a risk for Roosevelt. Isolationists
would see it as U.S. involvement in the war. But the
president was convinced that even a day’s delay in
helping Britain could mean the end of civilization.
He bypassed Congress and issued an executive order
to send 50 old destroyers to Britain in return for a
number of military bases. The act clearly ended the
nation’s neutrality.
Helping BritainRoosevelt won the presidential election in
November and stepped up his aid to Britain. The
British did not have enough money to pay for U.S.
supplies and ships, so Roosevelt came up with a plan.
• 82 •
Essential Lives
Why not just provide the war supplies and equipment
to Britain and worry about payment later? Roosevelt
reasoned:
Suppose my neighbor’s home catches on fire, and I have a length
of garden hose four or five hundred feet away. If he can take
my garden hose and connect it up with his hydrant, I may
help him put out the fire. Now what do I do? I don’t say to
him before that operation, “Neighbor, my garden hose cost
me fifteen dollars; you have to pay me fifteen dollars for it.”
No! What is the transaction that goes on? I don’t want fifteen
dollars—I want my garden hose after the fire is over.6
Roosevelt assured Congress that the Lend-Lease
Act, as he called it, was not an act of war. The debate
in Congress was fierce. Mail poured into the White
House. Isolationist groups staged sit-ins. A huge
rally was held in Madison Square Garden to protest
the United States’ involvement in the war. After two
months of deliberation, Congress passed the Lend-
Lease Act by an overwhelming margin.
U.S. involvement, however, did not stop Hitler.
Germany soon occupied Greece and Yugoslavia
and invaded Russia, its former ally. Sophisticated
German U-boats attacked ships carrying supplies to
Britain. To protect ships in the Atlantic, Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 83 •
transferred ships from the U.S.
Navy’s Pacific Fleet even though he
was worried about taking ships from
the Pacific. It might encourage the
Japanese to invade more countries.
A Secret MeetingFor three days in early August,
Roosevelt and Churchill met secretly
off the coast of Newfoundland,
Canada. The meeting resulted in
the Atlantic Charter—a vision of
freedom in the post-World War
II world, in which the two leaders
pledged themselves to the ideals of
self-determination, free trade, and
defeat of the Axis powers. But that
summer, Germany was closing in on
Moscow, and Japan was threatening
the Philippines. Roosevelt urged
Japan to retreat, but his message
was ignored. He then issued an
executive order to cut off trade with
Japan. Meanwhile, the U.S. Army
broke Japan’s secret code and began
The Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter, issued on August 14, 1941, included the fol-lowing principles:1. No territorial gainswould be sought by theUnited States or Britain.2. Territorial adjustmentswould agree with thewishes of the peopleconcerned.3. Nations should have the right to self-determi-nation.4. Nations should strive for global economic co-operation and advance-ment.5. Nations should have freedom from want and fear.6. The seas should be free.7. Any aggressor nations should be disarmed and there should be common postwar disarmament.
Although the charter was created between the United States and Brit-ain, many other countries eventually adopted the principles of the charter. It proved to be the first step in the establishment of the United Nations.
Essential Lives
• 84 •
intercepting messages. Something big was about to
happen. But Roosevelt did not have enough navy to
protect both oceans.
On September 7, 1941, in the midst of great
international uncertainty, 86-year-old Sara
Roosevelt died suddenly. Franklin Roosevelt deeply
mourned his mother’s death but quickly turned his
attention back to the war and the nation’s defense.
Roosevelt attempted to negotiate, but Japanese
Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto already had a secret
plan in place—a surprise attack on the U.S. fleet in
Hawaii. Leaders in Washington, D.C., knew some
cruel plan was in motion, but no one knew how
to stop it. On December 6, 1941, Roosevelt made
a personal appeal to Japan’s Emperor Hirohito.
He urged friendship between the two countries to
prevent further death and destruction in the world.
Hirohito rejected Roosevelt’s plea. “This means
war,” the president declared.7
A few hours later, at 7:53 a.m. Hawaiian time,
and as Roosevelt worked quietly on his stamp
collection at the White House, Japanese bombs fell
on U.S. ships and planes. On December 8, 1941,
the United States declared war on Japan and entered
World War II.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 85 •
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is greeted by Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard the British battleship HMS Prince of Wales.
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is greeted by Britain’s Prime Minister
• 86 •
Chapter9
U.S. Army recruiting station staff gather around a radio to listen to President Roosevelt’s special message about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
War!
T he president immediately mobilized more
than 15 million members of the military.
But the United States was not prepared for war. As
thousands of the nation’s men went to war, women
joined the workforce to fill positions previously
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 87 •
held by men. The nation began to mass produce
military supplies and weapons. Roosevelt called
for the immediate manufacture of 60,000 planes,
25,000 tanks, and 20,000 antiaircraft weapons.
The following year, the president increased those
numbers.
Pressure on Roosevelt was mounting to end the
suffering of Jewish people in concentration camps
throughout Europe. As the existence of the camps
was exposed, some officials wanted to bomb the rail
lines that led to them. The Allies, however, focused
on defeating Germany in order to ultimately help
the Jews.
By the end of 1942, the Allies had made progress.
Victories were won against Japan, and Russia had
Germany under siege at Stalingrad, Russia. In North
Africa, the British sent the Nazis retreating with
many casualties. U.S. troops landed in Morocco and
Algeria, trapping Hitler’s forces.
Churchill and Roosevelt met nine times during
the war, sometimes for weeks at a time at the White
House or Hyde Park. Conferences also included
other Allied leaders such as Russia’s Joseph Stalin
and China’s Chiang Kai-shek. Roosevelt, Churchill,
and Stalin became known as the “Big Three.”
Essential Lives
• 88 •
By the end of 1943, Allied countries were on the
offensive. The Nazi army was pushed out of Africa,
and Italy surrendered. Russia stopped Germany
from taking Stalingrad, and U.S. forces took
Guadalcanal from
Japan in a brutal
battle.
Marching Toward Victory
The march to
victory started on
June 6, 1944. U.S.
General Dwight
D. Eisenhower
led Allied
forces across the
English Channel
and swarmed
the beaches of
Normandy, France.
On D-Day, as it
was called, 2,700
Allied vessels
deposited more
Internment Camps
The atmosphere in the United States was
not good for Japanese Americans during World
War II. Fear of Japanese people increased
greatly after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in
December 1941. In February 1942, Roosevelt
gave in to public pressure and approved the
confinement of 120,000 Japanese people in
the United States. Although ethnic origin was
not mentioned in the president’s executive or-
der, it was understood that the order targeted
Japanese Americans. Eleanor Roosevelt told
her husband of her serious misgivings about his
decision. But Roosevelt asked her not to bring
up the subject again.
Japanese Americans were sent to ten intern-
ment camps in remote desert areas in the West.
Most of these Japanese Americans remained
there until the end of the war. Conditions were
poor, and the barracks were crowded. There
were no plumbing or cooking facilities and little
heat. Residents of the camps had to buy their
own food, which was rationed out and served
in a mess hall. Eventually, Japanese people
were allowed to leave the relocation centers if
they enlisted in the army. Approximately 1,200
chose to join. In 1944, before the end of World
War II, Roosevelt withdrew his order. All the
camps closed down by the end of 1945.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 89 •
than 170,000 soldiers on French shores. In one
of the bloodiest battles of the war, 1 million Allied
troops pushed their way into France. By the end of
August, the Allies had liberated Paris.
In the midst of these brutal battles, Roosevelt
knew that victory was at hand. But the 62-year-
old president was tired and in poor health. His
third term as president was almost over, and he
did not want to run again. At that time, there was
no limit to the number of terms someone could
serve as president. Roosevelt wanted to return to
private life at Hyde Park, but he left the decision
up to the American people. To the chairman of the
Democratic Party, he wrote:
If the people command me to continue in this office and in
this war I have as little right to withdraw as the soldier has to
leave his post in the line. For myself I do not want to run. …
I repeat that I will accept and serve in this office, if I am so
ordered by the Commander in Chief of us all—the sovereign
people of the United States.1
Roosevelt won the election by more than 3.5 million
votes.
German troops were now being pushed back into
their own country. Allied bombs were devastating
• 90 •
Berlin. In February 1945, a weary Roosevelt met
with Churchill and Stalin at the eight-day Yalta
Conference. The leaders discussed ways to restore
worldwide peace after the war.
A Tired LeaderWhen Roosevelt returned to Washington,
D.C., members of Congress were shocked at his
appearance. In a joint session of Congress on March
2, 1945, Roosevelt arrived in his wheelchair and
spoke sitting at a table. He had never done either
Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin, seated left to right, were known as the Big Three.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 91 •
before. In a shaky voice, the president reported on
the plan for future peace and said he was looking
forward to the United Nations Conference, aimed at
setting up a world organization.
The war had sapped the president’s strength. He
told Vice President Harry S. Truman that he was
going to the Little White House, as it was called, in
Warm Springs. He arrived on March
30, exhausted and thin.
News of imminent victory in the
war encouraged him. But on the
morning of April 12, 1945, Roosevelt
woke with a headache and a stiff neck.
That day he pored through official
documents, signed a bill, and wrote
an upcoming speech. With a shaky
hand, he penned the last sentences:
The only limit to our realization of tomorrow
will be our doubts of today. Let us move
forward with strong and active faith.2
At about 1:00 p.m. Roosevelt’s
cousin Daisy Suckley noticed that the
president had his head forward at his
desk. When she approached to find
The United Nations
The United Nations, Roosevelt’s brainchild, was established after Roosevelt died and after the end of World War II. Its purpose was to help nations settle their con-flicts and avoid war.
The term “United Na-tions” was first used by Roosevelt and Churchill to refer to the Allies dur-ing World War II. In April 1945, about two weeks after FDR’s death, the United Nations Confer-ence on International Or-ganizations was held in San Francisco, California. Two months later, 50 na-tions signed the Charter of the United Nations. Cur-rently, the United Nations is made up of 192 mem-ber nations.
• 92 •
out what was wrong, Roosevelt put his left hand to
the back of his head and said in a low voice, “I have
a terrific headache.”3 Then his arm fell, and his
unconscious body slumped over. Roosevelt’s doctor
tried to revive him, but at 3:55 p.m., the 63-year-
old president of the United States was pronounced
dead.
Churchill and other world leaders mourned the
death of this great man. However, in Berlin, Nazis
celebrated. When Hitler received the news, he was
hiding in his underground bunker beneath the
bombed ruins of Berlin.
On April 13, 1945, a funeral procession led by
an army band and 1,000 infantry wound its way
through Warm Springs. Behind the hearse, Eleanor
Roosevelt rode in an open car with their dog Fala at
her feet. To the beat of a drum, the procession made
its way to the presidential train. Roosevelt’s flag-
draped coffin was lifted into the rear railroad car
and guarded by four servicemen.
As the train made its way north, Americans lined
the way to wave, sing, and kneel in respect for their
departed president—and their dear friend. A strange
mixture of grief and fear sank in as they realized
their leader was gone—and the war was not yet over.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 93 •
In Washington, D.C., Roosevelt’s coffin was taken
to the White House, where leaders and lawmakers
crowded in for the funeral. Eleanor, Anna, and
Elliot were there. James, Franklin Jr., and John were
overseas serving in the military.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was buried in his
mother’s rose garden at Hyde Park. Now, just a short
distance from the room where he was born, he was
laid to rest—back home at his beloved Springwood
estate in Hyde Park.
Franklin D. Roosevelt funeral processional in Hyde Park, New York
Essential Lives
• 94 •
Sad News
Russian leader Joseph Sta-lin was deeply moved by news of Roosevelt’s death. He made the unusual decision to allow the U.S. president’s picture to be printed on the front pages of Russian newspapers.
When Roosevelt died, Winston Churchill said he felt as though he had been struck a physical blow. He broke down when he shared the news of Roosevelt’s death in a speech to Britain’s House of Commons.
Two weeks later, on April 30, 1945, Hitler shot
himself in his underground bunker. On May 7,
Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.
In August, President Truman ordered the first
atomic bombs to be dropped on the Japanese cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On August 14, Japan
surrendered unconditionally.
Roosevelt did not live to see the end of World
War II, but he led his country and the Allies to
victory. He was considered one of the greatest
presidents of the United States who won the most
devastating war in the history of humanity. The
United States now took its place as a
world superpower.
Oddly, a man who once
considered himself useless and could
not walk without braces was the one
who brought the nation to that status.
He had identified with the American
people and transformed a suffering
nation that had lost hope. Although
physically limited, Roosevelt left a
legacy of strength.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 95 •
President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his White House office, June 20, 1936President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his White House office, June 20, 1936
• 96 •
Timeline
Essential Lives
1907 1909 1910 1910 1912 1913
Son James is born. Son Franklin Jr. is born (dies at eight
months old).
Son Elliott is born. Roosevelt is elected as New York state
senator.
Roosevelt is reelected as New York state
senator.
Roosevelt accepts position as assistant secretary of the navy
in March.
1882 1896 1900 1905 1906 1907
Frankin Delano Roosevelt is born on
January 30.
Franklin attends Groton School,
starting on September 17.
Roosevelt attends Harvard University,
starting in September.
Roosevelt attends Columbia Law School,
starting in January. He marries
Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17.
Daughter Anna Eleanor is born
in May.
Roosevelt passes the bar exam. He begins
a law career with Carter, Ledyard, and
Milburn.
• 97 •
Franklin D. Roosevelt
1907 1909 1910 1910 1912 1913
Son James is born. Son Franklin Jr. is born (dies at eight
months old).
Son Elliott is born. Roosevelt is elected as New York state
senator.
Roosevelt is reelected as New York state
senator.
Roosevelt accepts position as assistant secretary of the navy
in March.
1882 1896 1900 1905 1906 1907
Frankin Delano Roosevelt is born on
January 30.
Franklin attends Groton School,
starting on September 17.
Roosevelt attends Harvard University,
starting in September.
Roosevelt attends Columbia Law School,
starting in January. He marries
Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17.
Daughter Anna Eleanor is born
in May.
Roosevelt passes the bar exam. He begins
a law career with Carter, Ledyard, and
Milburn.
• 98 •
Timeline
Essential Lives
1936 1940 1941 1941 1945 1945
Roosevelt is reelected to second term as
president.
In November, Roosevelt is reelected
to a third term as president of the United States.
Roosevelt secretly meets with Churchill in August and drafts the Atlantic Charter.
On December 8, the U.S. Congress
declares war on Japan and enters World
War II.
Roosevelt attends the Yalta Conference in February and drafts
the idea for the United Nations.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs,
Georgia, on April 12. He is buried in Hyde
Park, New York.
1914 1916 1921 1926 1928 1932
Son Franklin Jr. is born.
Son John is born. Roosevelt is stricken with polio during a
summer visit to Campobello Island.
Roosevelt purchases a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia,
which he later nicknames “the Little
White House.”
Roosevelt wins elec-tion for governor of
New York.
Roosevelt wins elec-tion as the thirty-sec-ond president of the
United States.
• 99 •
Franklin D. Roosevelt
1936 1940 1941 1941 1945 1945
Roosevelt is reelected to second term as
president.
In November, Roosevelt is reelected
to a third term as president of the United States.
Roosevelt secretly meets with Churchill in August and drafts the Atlantic Charter.
On December 8, the U.S. Congress
declares war on Japan and enters World
War II.
Roosevelt attends the Yalta Conference in February and drafts
the idea for the United Nations.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies at Warm Springs,
Georgia, on April 12. He is buried in Hyde
Park, New York.
1914 1916 1921 1926 1928 1932
Son Franklin Jr. is born.
Son John is born. Roosevelt is stricken with polio during a
summer visit to Campobello Island.
Roosevelt purchases a resort at Warm Springs, Georgia,
which he later nicknames “the Little
White House.”
Roosevelt wins elec-tion for governor of
New York.
Roosevelt wins elec-tion as the thirty-sec-ond president of the
United States.
Essential Lives
• 100 •
Essential Facts
Date of Birth
January 30, 1882
Place of Birth
Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York
Date of Death
April 12, 1945
Parents
James and Sara Roosevelt
Education
Groton; Harvard; Columbia Law School
Marriage
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, married March 17, 1905
Children
Anna (1906), James (1907), Franklin Jr. (1909), Elliott (1910), Franklin Jr. (1914), John (1916)
Residences
Hyde Park, New York; Groton, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Washington, D.C.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 101 •
Career Highlights
Won election as New York state senator in 1910; reelected in 1912. Became assistant secretary of the navy in March 1913. Elected New York governor in 1928; reelected by a landslide in 1930. Became the thirty-second president of the United States on March 4, 1933. Crafted the New Deal—a program to deal with the ravages of the Great Depression. Declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, ushering the United States into World War II.
Societal Contribution
Roosevelt spent much of his life proposing legislation and creating programs that aided those experiencing economic and social disadvantages.
Conflicts
In his attempt to pull the nation out of the Great Depression, Roosevelt was criticized by many for wasting government money on New Deal programs. Roosevelt was later criticized for supporting U.S. involvement in World War II. Roosevelt also struggled with polio and went to great lengths to downplay the debilitating effects of the disease from the public.
Quote
“This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”—Franklin D. Roosevelt
Essential Lives
• 102 •
Additional Resources
Select Bibliography
Alter, Jonathan. The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006.
Black, Conrad. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom. New York: Public Affairs, 2003.
Buhite, Russell D. and David W. Levy, eds. FDR’s Fireside Chats. Norman,: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.
Burns, James MacGregor. Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox. San Diego, CA: Harcourt, 1956, 1984.
Jenkins, Roy. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New York: Times Books, 2003.
Lash, Joseph P. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1971.
Leuchtenburg, William E. The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997.
Lippman, Theo Jr. The Squire of Warm Springs: FDR in Georgia, 1924–1945. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977.
Miller, Nathan. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Double-day & Company, 1983.
Morgan, Ted. FDR: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985.
Winkler, Allan M. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Making of Modern America. New York: Perason/Longman, 2006.
Further Reading
Feinberg, Barbara Silberdick. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gallant President. New York: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Books, 1981.
Freedman, Russell. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New York: Clarion Books, 1990.
Haugen, Brenda. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The New Deal President. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2006.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 103 •
Web Links
To learn more about Franklin D. Roosevelt, visit ABDO Publishing Company on the World Wide Web at www.abdopublishing.com. Web sites about Franklin D. Roosevelt are featured on our Book Links page. These links are routinely monitored and updated to provide the most current information available.
Places To Visit
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial West Basin Drive, Washington, DC 20024 202-426-6841 www.nps.gov/fdrm/ Spread over 7.5 acres (3 ha), the FDR Memorial gives tribute to Roosevelt and also depicts the era in which he served as president of the United States.
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt and FDR Presidential Library and Museum 4097 Albany Post Road, Hyde Park, NY 12538 800-FDR-VISIT (800-337-84748) www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/ The Springwood estate in Hyde Park, New York, where Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born, includes the FDR Presidential Library and Museum.
National World War II Memorial 17th Street (between Constitution and Independence Avenues), Washington, DC 20036 202-619-7222 www.wwiimemorial.com Located on the Washington National Mall, the memorial honors the 16 million who served in the U.S. Armed Forces, the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home in World War II.
Essential Lives
• 104 •
Glossary
aggression The practice of launching attacks.
aristocracy A group or class considered superior to others.
bread line A line of people waiting to receive food given by a public agency or charitable organization.
fleet A number of warships operating together under one command.
internment The act of confining people, especially in wartime.
isolationism A national policy of staying out of political or wartime relations with other countries.
magazine A storeroom on a warship where ammunition is kept.
Nazi A member of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, founded in Germany in 1919 and brought to power in 1933 under Adolf Hitler.
neutrality The policy of not taking sides and not participating in war.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) The place in New York City where stock reports are displayed and trading is conducted by stockbrokers.
offensive An attitude or position of attack.
persecution Poor treatment of people, especially because of race, religion, gender, or beliefs.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 105 •
picket line A group or line of people protesting a business or public policy.
poliomyelitis (polio) A highly infectious viral disease that leads to paralysis, muscular deterioration, and deformity.
prefect A student monitor, especially in a private school, who is in charge of discipline.
rector The head of a school, college, or university.
shanty A crudely built, often ramshackle, structure or shack.
soup kitchens Places where food is offered free or at a very low cost to the needy.
squire A country gentleman and landowner.
stock market A market that sells stocks and bonds.
strike A temporary stoppage of work by employees who demand higher pay or improved conditions.
yeomanette A female petty officer in the U.S. Navy or Coast Guard assigned to secretarial and clerical duties.
Essential Lives
• 106 •
Source Notes
Chapter 1. “Tora! Tora! Tora!” 1. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 2. James MacGregor Burns. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970. 164. 3. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 479. 4. USS Arizona Memorial. National Park Service, Department of the Interior Web site. 10 Feb. 2007 <http://www.nps.gov/archive/usar/ExtendWeb1.html>. 5. James MacGregor Burns. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970. 165–166. 6. Ibid. 166. 7. Ibid. 166–167.
Chapter 2. The First 14 Years1. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 20. 2. Ibid. 15.
Chapter 3. Groton, Harvard, and Eleanor 1. Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site. 27 Mar. 2007 http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/peabody-endicott.htm>. 2. Ted Morgan. FDR: A Biography. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985. 61. 3. Conrad Black. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom. New York: Public Affairs, 2003. 24. 4. Ibid. 933. 5. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 239. 6. Joseph P. Lash. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1971. 102. 7. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “A Woman’s Shortcomings.” About.com: Women’s History. 15 Oct. 2007 <http://womenshistory.about.com/library/etext/poem1/blp2_browning_shortcomings.htm> 8. Joseph P. Lash. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1971. 141.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 107 •
Chapter 4. Doorway to Politics1. Russell Freedman. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New York: Clarion Books, 1990. 38. 2. Ibid. 43.
Chapter 5. Stricken1. Kenneth S. Davis. FDR: The Beckoning of Destiny: 1882–1928. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1972. 666. 2. Russell Freedman. Franklin Delano Roosevelt. New York: Clarion Books, 1990. 53. 3. Conrad Black. Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom. New York: Public Affairs, 2003. 141. 4. Ibid. 142.
Chapter 6. Governor Roosevelt1. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 254–255.
Chapter 7. The Road to the White House1. Kai Stinchcombe. “Hoover: How to Deal.” The Standard Daily. 5 Oct. 2004. 31 Mar. 2007 <http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2004/10/5/hooverHowToDeal>. 2. Jonathan Alter. The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. 90. 3. Ibid. 118. 4. Roosevelt’s Nomination Address, Chicago, Ill., July 2, 1932. Words of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 31 Mar. 2007 <http:// newdeal.feri.org/speeches/1932b.htm>. 5. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 4. 6. New Deal Network. “Assassination Attempt on President-Elect Roosevelt!” 2003. 2 Oct. 2007 <http://newdeal.feri.org/timeline/1933d.htm>. 7. Franklin D. Roosevelt. “On the Bank Crisis.” First Fireside Chat. Radio address. 12 Mar. 1933. 2 Oct. 2007 <http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/031233.html>
Essential Lives
• 108 •
Source Notes Continued
Chapter 8. Prelude to War 1. Joseph P. Lash. Eleanor and Franklin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1971. 457. 2. “Singular Attitude.” Time. 28 Nov. 1938. Time Web site. 5 Apr. 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771186,00.html?promoid=googlep>. 3. “The U.S. & the War.” Time. 29 Apr. 1940. Time Web site. 6 Apr. 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,794960-3,00.html>. 4. Annual Message to the Congress: January 3, 1940. The American Presidency Project, University of California Santa Barbara. 7 Apr. 2007 <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/ index.php?pid=15856>. 5. Russell D. Buhite and David W. Levy, eds. FDR’s Fireside Chats. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. 153. 6. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 460. 7. Ibid. 476.
Chapter 9. War!1. “As a Good Soldier …” Time. 24 July 1944. 7 Apr. 2007 <http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,791534,00.html>. 2. Nathan Miller. F.D.R.: An Intimate History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983. 509. 3. James MacGregor Burns. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970. 600.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 109 •
Albany, New York, 55, 58, 63 Allies, 78, 87–90, 94 atomic bombing, 94 Axis Powers, 12, 75, 78, 83
Bum Baseball Boys, 23
Campobello Island, 35, 36, 42, 44–45 Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn law firm, 35 Churchill, Winston, 81, 83, 87, 90, 91, 92, 94 Civilian Conservation Corps, 66, 68 Columbia Law School, New York, 32 Cox, James M., 40
Eisenhower, Dwight D., 88 Elizabeth, Queen, 79 Emergency Banking Act, 68 Emmet, Marvin, and Roosevelt law firm, 41
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 70 Fidelity & Deposit Company, 41 Fireside Chat, 68, 79
Great Depression, 56–57, 65, 68 Groton School, Massachusetts, 20, 22–24, 27, 28–29
Harvard Crimson, 29, 31 Harvard University, 29–31, 55 Hiroshima, Japan, 94 Hirohito, Emperor, 94 Hitler, Adolf, 67, 70, 75–77, 78, 81–82, 92, 94 Hoover, Herbert, 55, 56, 59, 60, 63, 65 Hopkins, Harry, 8 Howe, Louis, 38, 47, 50, 54, 59, 62 “Hundred Days” legislation, 66, 67–70 Hyde Park, New York, 14, 16, 28, 35, 42, 73, 87, 93
Knox, Frank, 7 Kristallnacht, 76
League of Nations, 40–41 Lend-Lease Act, 82
McKinley, William, 30 Memorial Day Massacre, 75 Moley, Raymond, 62–63
Nagasaki, Japan, 94 Naval Academy, 28 Naval Reserve Act, 39 Navy, 9, 38–39, 83 Neutrality Act, 78 New Deal, 65, 69–70, 74 New York City, New York, 16, 31, 32, 52
Index
Essential Lives
• 110 •
Index Continued
Normandy, France, 88
Oyster Bay, New York, 16, 18, 27
Peabody, Endicott, 23–24, 25, 29 Pearl Harbor, 7–10 polio, 47, 48–49, 50, 52, 54
Rivington Street Settlement House, New York, 31 Roosevelt, Anna (daughter), 35, 55, 93 Roosevelt, Eleanor (wife), 18, 27–28, 30–32, 35, 41–42, 45–46, 50, 55, 59, 64, 74, 79, 88, 92–93 Roosevelt, Elliott (son), 35, 55, 93 Roosevelt, Franklin D. assistant secretary of the Navy, 38 birth, 14–15 childhood, 15–20 death, 91–92 education, 22–24, 29–31, 32 governor, 55, 57, 58–60 law career, 35, 41 marriage, 32, 42, 74 paralysis, 47–50 presidential terms, 64–65, 73, 80 state senator, 36–37
Roosevelt, Franklin Jr. (son, first), 35 Roosevelt, Franklin Jr. (son, second), 35, 55, 93 Roosevelt, James (son), 10, 35, 53, 55, 64, 93 Roosevelt, James (father), 15–17, 20, 29 Roosevelt, John (son), 35, 55, 93 Roosevelt, Sara (mother), 14–17, 29, 34–35, 42, 74, 84 Roosevelt, Theodore (cousin), 25–27, 30, 32, 36 Rosenman, Sam, 63
scarlet fever, 27 Securities and Exchange Commission, 70 shantytown, 56 Social Security, 56 Spanish-American War, 26 Springwood estate, 14, 16, 18, 94 Stalin, Joseph, 87, 90 Stark, Harold, 8
Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, 60 Tennessee Valley Authority, 66, 68
Franklin D. Roosevelt
• 111 •
trickle-down economics, 63 91, 94 Truman, Harry S., 91, 94 Tuskegee flying school, 64
U-boat, 38, 40, 41, 82 United Nations, 91 USS Arizona, 8, 9
Warm Springs, Georgia, 48, 54, 73, 91, 92 Wilson, Woodrow, 38, 40 Works Progress Administration, 68 World War I, 38–40 World War II. 86–89. See also Pearl Harbor declaration of war, 10–12 State of the Union address, 78–79 end of war, 94
Yalta Conference, 90 yeomanette, 39
Zangara, Giuseppe, 67
Essential Lives
• 112 •
About the Author
Photo Credits
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library & Museum, cover, 3, 13, 14, 21, 22, 34, 43, 44, 52, 57, 61, 71, 72, 93, 96, 97 (top), 98 (top); AP Images, 6, 11, 26, 33, 51, 62, 69, 77, 86, 90, 99; National Archives/AP Images, 18; Brown Bros./AP Images, 37, 97 (bottom); British Official Photo/AP Images, 85, 98 (bottom); Harris and Ewing/AP Images, 95
Sue Vander Hook has been writing and editing books for more than 15 years. Although her writing career began with several nonfiction books for adults, Her main focus is educational books for children and young adults. She especially enjoys writing about historical events and biographies of people who made a difference. Her published works also include a high school curriculum and several series on disease, technology, and sports. Sue lives with her family in Minnesota.