Transcript FDR Project - Garrett Thelen

Franklin D. Roosevelt
January 30, 1882-April 12, 1945
Background Information (Life)
• Born-January 30, 1882,
Hyde Park, New York
• Full Name-Franklin Delano
Roosevelt
• Nickname- “FDR”
• Death- April 12, 1945, Warm
Springs, Georgia
• Died of cerebral
hemorrhage (led to stroke)
Background Information (Presidency)
• 32nd President of the
United States.
• First and only president
to serve four terms
• Presidency- President
from March 4, 1933 –
April 12, 1945
• Had polio during
presidency
• Political partyDemocratic
Background Information (Family)
• Marriage-March 17, 1905, to
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–
1962)
• Children-Anna Eleanor (1906–
1975), James (1907–1991),
Franklin Delano Jr. (1909),
Elliott (1910–1990), Franklin
Delano Jr. (1914–1988), John
Aspinwall (1916–1981)
• Only full child of his parents.
• Half brother- James Roosevelt
Jr.
• Parents- James Roosevelt Sr.
and Sara Delano Roosevelt
President Franklin Roosevelt poses
with his 13 grandchildren on his
fourth inaugural, January 20, 1945.
(Courtesy of http://georgewbushwhitehouse.archives.gov)
Background Information
• Cousin to Theodore
Roosevelt. He, also
served as president.
• Teddy helped inspire
Franklin to enter public
services, which helped
lead to presidency.
• Religion-Episcopalian
• Education- Harvard
College (graduated
1903), Columbia Law
School
Major Accomplishments (Presidency)
• 32nd president
• Only president to serve
more than two terms
• Roosevelt's "First 100
Days" concentrated on
the first part of his
strategy: Immediate
relief.
– sent Congress a record
number of bills
• Most passed too
• Most effective president
Major Accomplishments (Great
Depression)
• Major contributor of getting
America out of the great
depression
– Fireside chats
• Let America and him bond
• Set up the “new deal”
– The Civilian Conservation
Corps (CCC)
• Hired 250,000 young men
– Works Progress Administration
(WPA)
• Employed Two Million
Family Heads.
Major Accomplishments (WWII)
• Declare war on Japan
• led America to victory in
world war 2
– Died because of polio before
Japan surrendered
• Able to unite the world
post-war.
• Led America in the war
– Made the toughest decisions
• Reelected for 4th term
– Only president elected more
than two terms
Major Accomplishments
• Started Social Security
• Ending Prohibition
• U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC)
was formed on June 6, 1934
under FDR
• Started in office on March
4, 1933 and ended April 12,
1945
– Longest period of any
president
Life Experience (Presidency)
• Created many New Deal Programs
– Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
– Civil Works Administration (CWA)
– Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
– Federal Emergency Relief Act (FERA)
– Glass-Steagall Act (FDIC)
– National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)
– National Youth Administration (NYA)
– Public Works Administration (PWA)
– Rural Electrification Administration (REA)
– Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
– Social Security Act
– Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA)
– Wagner Act
– Works Progress Administration (WPA)
– Many more too!!
• These programs were important factors of getting America out of the
Great Depression. This also shows how great of a president he was!
Life Experience (school)
• Went to exclusive private school
at age 14
– Groton School
• Went to Harvard College
– Received average grades
– Did many extracurricular
activities in college
• Asked Alice Sohier to marry him
in college. She turned him down
– Which, led to him marrying
Eleanor Roosevelt.
• Law school at Columbia
University, before wedding.
– Attended for two years, but
never graduated!
– Disliked being a lawyer.
Life Experience (Family)
• Father: James Roosevelt, Sr., 1828-1900, businessman from a wealthy
family; inherited a large fortune.
• Mother: Sara Ann Delano, 1854-1941, also from a wealthy family, also
inherited a large fortune.
• Half-brother: James "Rosy" Roosevelt, Jr., 1854-1927, his mother was
James's first wife, Rebecca Brien Howland.
• Wife: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962, also FDR's fifth cousin once
removed.
• Daughter: Anna Roosevelt Halstead, 1906-1975, writer,
newspaper/magazine editor, philanthropist.
• Son: James Roosevelt, 1907-1991, military officer, businessman, and
politician.
• Son: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., 1909-1909, died in infancy.
• Son: Elliot Roosevelt, 1910-1990, military officer and author.
• Son: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr., 1914-1988, military officer and
politician.
• Son: John Aspinwall Roosevelt, 1916-1981, businessman and politician.
Life Experiences (Pre-Presidency)
• After 1912, he became assistant
secretary of the navy (7 years).
• Major contributor of WWI
• In 1920, FDR was nominated as
Democratic candidate for vice
president
– Under James Cox of Ohio (they lost)
• August of 1921 he came down with
Polio
– He would never walk again unaided
• 1927, he established an old resort
hotel at Warm Springs
– Later became pioneering center of
rehabilitation of polio patients.
• 1928, became governor of New York
– Brought tax relief to farmers and
advocating cheap electrical power
Failures
• Failure to unite the country in a
time of war (see Thomas Fleming
"New Dealers War")
• Hostility to the British Empire
• Failure to build up the US Air Corps
and Navy prior to June 1940.
• Failure to plan for the German Uboat attack in 1942. Refused Navy
advise to build DE's prior to Pearl
Harbor.
– http://rcocean.blogspot.com/2
007/10/list-of-fdrs-failures-inww-ii.html
Failures
• Failure to adequately provide for
the defense of Pearl Harbor.
• Endorsement of the Morganthau
plan.
• Failure to build Aircraft Carriers
instead of Battleships prior to
12-7-1941.
• Endorses Marshall's absurd
"Sledgehammer" plan.
• Refuses to negotiate with
Mussolini or Italian Military prior
to July 1943.
– http://rcocean.blogspot.com/2007/10
/list-of-fdrs-failures-in-ww-ii.html
Failures
• Refused to delay start of Pacific
War by compromising with the
Japanese. We could have delayed
the start of the war by 3-6 months
which would have given us time to
prepare for the attack.
• Policy of Unconditional Surrender
• Appointment of Communists to
high positions
• Appeasement of Stalin.
• Refusal to plan for the postwar
world
– http://rcocean.blogspot.com/2007
/10/list-of-fdrs-failures-in-wwii.html
Failures
• Didn’t enjoy law school.
– Didn’t want to become a
lawyer
• Failed at becoming a layer
• Only received average
grades in college.
• Continuously appeased
Hitler.
– Allie powers let Hitler take
land over.
• Failed to stack the
supreme court.
Top Accomplishments
• Leader of getting America out of
the Great Depression.
– F.D.R was a major contributor of
helping America get out of the
depression.
– One of the worst times in
America’s history for the people.
– America may have failed if it
wasn’t for his new deal programs
• People believed and trusted him
– Fireside chats
– Known as one of the best
presidents because of this
Top Accomplishments
• Led America to victory in
WWII.
– Americans trusted him, which
let him do what he needed to
do to succeed.
– Made important decisions in
crunch time!
• Turned out good usually
– Acts to prevent future war.
• Unable to enjoy the victory of
WWII because of his death
– Before bombing of Japan
– Couldn’t continue his 3rd term
Top Accomplishments
• Only president to serve more
than two terms
– Voted for a 4th term
• Due to cerebral hemorrhage, F.D.R
couldn’t continue and eventually
passed away three months in.
– After death, rule was made
presidents could only serve up
to two terms.
– Felt it was his duty to continue
helping the country.
– Served during the most difficult
years of the United States.
• Great Depression and WWII
Sources
• "Franklin D. Roosevelt." 2013. The Biography
Channel website. Mar 04 2013, 10:25
• H.W. Brands, Traitor to His Class: The Privileged
Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, New York: Doubleday, 2008
• Jean Edward Smith, FDR, New York: Random
House, 2007
• David M. Kennedy, Freedom From Fear: The
American People in Depression and War, 19291945 (Oxford, 1999)
• Robert S. McElvaine, The Great Depression:
America 1929-1941 (New York: Times, 1984)