Franklin D. Roosevelt's Biography

FDR was born on January 30th,1882 in Hyde Park, New York. His parents are James Roosevelt and Sara Delano Roosevelt. They educated him with tutors who taught him almost all of his education. He then started to attend Groton, a private school in Massachusetts for the rich, wealthy Americans from 1896-1900.

After he went to Harvard and received an undergraduate’s degree. While he was there he became the editor of the student newspaper, the Crimson. He was only at Harvard for three years, 1900-1903. While he was at Harvard he declared himself in the democratic party and still sympathetic to Theodore Roosevelt. In Roosevelt’s second year at Harvard University, he proposed to Alice Sohier. She declined his request, so he went to his cousin Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. They started to fall in love but Franklin’s mother was so doubtful that she would have never approved of them being together, but in 1904 Franklin told his mom he was in love with Eleanor and they wanted to get married. His mother requested they wait a year before getting married, they did not say no to her request but the married on March 17, 1905, in New York. In the years 1906-1916, the couple had six children, but one had died as an infant.

A few months before Franklin got married, he started to attend Columbia University for law school. He attended Columbia University for two years and never graduated or showed passion for law. He did pass the class and started to work at the New York City law firm of Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn for a few years, however in 1910 democrats asked FDR to run for office. Roosevelt agreed. Even though people did not know Roosevelt’s reasons for entering politics, his reasons were very precise. First, he never truly liked being, he disliked it. Second, politics offered him an opportunity to become a leader, which made his understanding fit for taking a role in the world. Third, he enjoyed meeting new people and accepting challenges which were perfect for becoming a president. Also, Franklin was inspired and determined to take the role of becoming a president and becoming a great leader in America. Turns out he was actually one of the greatest presidents in some people’s eyes because of his courage and effort put in.

Roosevelt’s start in politics is to run for the state senate of Dutchess County in New York, a place where most Republicans live. FDR was a good candidate because his family was well known and had a lot of money. FDR won the election by over a thousand votes. While being the state senator, Roosevelt proved a staunch defender of the farmers in his district. Roosevelt’s politics in these years were mostly progressive. Like his relative President Theodore Roosevelt, he relied on that the government had to display a role in creating a fair and honest society in America. In the year of 1912, Franklin won the position of state senate again. He also produced a friendship with the political journalist Louis Howe. Louis Howe would later actually become his chief political adviser over the next twenty years. Franklin did not finish his term however, Roosevelt had backed up Woodrow Wilson, in his successful election for president in 1912.

Wilson remembered FDR’s support and wanted to find a place for Roosevelt in his cabinet. When Wilson’s secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, needed an assistant he asked Franklin and he immediately said yes to this opportunity. FDR loved being assistant secretary of the Navy, and with Louis Howe as his assistant, Roosevelt managed the daily business of the Department of the Navy. He managed the ceremonial activities, and Franklin loved doing this. But FDR also tried to shape the development of U.S. naval policy more commonly. FDR was seen as an advocate of a “big Navy”, which won him his group of supporters, including retired Navy personnel. During the world war in Europe (World War II), FDR kept arguing that the United States needed to advance its military’s ability to defend and fight. This position put him at odds in Wilson’s cabinet. But in 1917, FDR rose up as a forceful defender of U.S. entry into the war. Once the United States got involved, FDR watched and helped lead a lot of the Navy’s input to the Allies side of the war. During the war, Franklin was the president also known as the 32nd president, and he also helped the United States through the Great Depression. His term was 1933-1945, he died in the year of 1945 which ended his term as president.