Volume 16 , Issue 9

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born into an upperclass family in Hyde Park, New York, in 1882, the fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, who served as the 26th U.S. President from 1901 to 1909.


President Franklin Roosevelt's 1933 Inauguration.

It was in 1905, Franklin Roosevelt, a student at Columbia University Law School, married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, the niece of Theodore Roosevelt. After three years as a lawyer, Franklin decided to follow his cousin Theodore's lead and sought public office, winning election to the New York State Senate in 1910 as a Democrat. Franklin soon won a reputation as a charismatic politician dedicated to social and economic reform.

In 1921, Franklin was stricken with poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio. Franklin spent several years recovering from what was at first nearly total paralysis, and his wife, Eleanor, kept his name alive in Democratic circles. Franklin never fully recovered and was forced to use braces or a wheelchair to move around for the rest of his life.

It was in 1924, Franklin returned to politics when he nominated New York Governor Alfred E. Smith for the presidency with a rousing speech at the democratic National Convention. In 1928, Franklin nominated Smith, and the outgoing New York governor urged Roosevelt to run for his gubernatorial seat. Roosevelt campaigned across the state by automobile and was elected even as the state voted for Republican Herbert Hoover in the presidential election.

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