Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a large figure in 20th century American politics, leading the country during a time of economic turmoil and devastating war. But behind these massive achievements, who was this man?
Franklin grew up in well-educated in privileged household with a remote father and a dominating mother. He attended the elite Groton School and like most of his classmates, went on to attend Harvard University. None of his professors considered him an exceptional student. But Franklin distinguished himself by displaying a remarkable amount of leadership in becoming editor-in-chief of
The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper. While in Harvard, Franklin took inspiration from the president at the time, Theodore Roosevelt, who also happened to be his fifth cousin.
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| Franklin Roosevel's graduating class of Groton. Can you spot which one is Franklin? |
While attending Columbia law school, Franklin married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin once removed and niece of Theodore Roosevelt. They settled into the Roosevelt's family estate, where Franklin's mother, Sara, stopped by often. Eleanor was not pleased by her mother-in-law's frequent visits.
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| Eleanor Roosevelt |
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| Sara Roosevelt and a young Franklin Roosevelt, 1887 |
Following his cousin Theodore's footsteps, Franklin entered politics, winning a seat in the New York Senate in 1910. His political career progressed until 1921, when 39 year old Franklin contracted polio, a paralyzing and sometimes fatal disease. Though doctors told Franklin he was permanently paralyzed, Franklin fought to learn to walk again using braces and crutches. His political career continued to grow, with Franklin elected New York governor in 1928 and then subsequently winning the 1932 presidential election to become president of the United Sates during the worst years of the Great Depression. He would end up serving four terms, leading the country into World War II and dying one month before its end.
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| Franklin Roosevelt at his fourth inauguration |
The Roosevelts had six children, of whom five survived childhood. Franklin loved being a father and suffered enormously when his third son, Franklin Jr,, died of heart disease.
Franklin had several affairs. His earliest one was with Eleanor's secretary Lucy Mercer, whom Eleanor hired in 1914. When Eleanor found out in 1918, the betrayal severed their marriage. They remained married due to political and personal pressure, but no longer viewed each other as intimate partners, merely political ones. Other women who have been romantically linked to Franklin include his private secretary Missy LeHand and Princess Martha of Sweden, who lived in the White House for part of WWII.
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| Lucy Mercer |
On April 12, 1945, as WWII drew to a close, Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage while vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia. Lucy was with him at the time, though this fact was kept secret from the media.
Great post Katherine! I think it's also important to look at Roosevelt's impact even after his life and death, so I did a little research on his legacy. Roosevelt was an incredibly beloved president, with most surveys and polls finding him the second or third greatest president. He established the United States as an international leader, which has continued to this day. His old home is now a National Historic Site and his retreat in Georgia has been turned into a museum.
ReplyDeleteHis legacy has also been honored in an enormous number of ways. Washington D.C. has two memorials of him, one of which is the 7.5 acre Roosevelt Memorial, and the other is a block of marble in front of the National Archives. His face is on the dime, and he also appears on a number of US postage stamps. He also has tons of parks, schools, streets, and squares named after him, along with an aircraft carrier and a subway station in Paris.
Often times history textbooks and documentaries glorify great people (such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, George Washington, Martin Luther King) as powerful figures who have done amazing things to benefit America as a nation and should be the example that others should follow. However, I also feel that it's important to understand that these figures are real people with stories behind them other than their outstanding achievements in life. I thought your post did this extremely well :D As I was reading your post, I was wondering how his childhood and upbringing affected his ideologies as a president. What caused him to value lasting social reform more than economic recovery of big industries? Did it have anything to do with growing up in a privileged family? In Freedom From Fear, the author David M. Kennedy writes that Roosevelt requested the creation of a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) after witnessing families lighting up their cabins with kerosene lamps and cooking on wooden stoves, feeling that the difference in lifestyles was intolerable. What influence did his upbringing have on his creation of the New Deal? Many of the New Deal's programs still exist today. How did he come up with these amazing programs? Also, I thought it was interesting how none of this teachers considered him an exceptional student. He sure showed them, didn't he?
ReplyDeleteI think a huge part of Franklin Roosevelt's beliefs can be attributed to Teddy Roosevelt. Apparently, Franklin Roosevelt greatly admired his distant cousin. We know that Teddy was a progressivist, and worked to tackle the three C's: control of corporations, consumer protection, and conservation. I think that Franklin agreed with these policies, especially because he admired his cousin, and that this mindset stuck with him. Based on my reading from the source I linked below, I know he wasn't very popular at his boarding school, Groton, filled with rich kids. Maybe because of his lack of popularity he never really empathized with the wealthy, and wanted to make sure that living was fair for everyone.
Deletesource: http://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/essays/biography/2
While Franklin Roosevelt was a very successful president, I think it is important to account for Eleanor’s impact on him, as well as the nation. Eleanor came from an extremely dysfunctional family. Although she started as a woman who disliked politics, she started to become more involved when Franklin moved them to Washington. When his legs were paralyzed by polio, Eleanor became politically active, and traveled all over the United States meeting with politicians and speaking to the people. She sought to minimize the gap between the people and administration, and worked to hear the people’s desires. Although this is just one view, Franklin’s reelection can be largely attributed to this networking ability. She became very popular among the people, especially the women, children, and African Americans. In the New Deal, she oversaw that their rights be protected, as well as improved in the New Deal. She specifically shocked the nation when she invited young African American women into the White House. Eleanor did not care for the old, conservative era, and her progressive ideas symbolized a new hope for the underprivileged. After Franklin died, she worked in the United Nations and worked to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This document was very similar to the Bill of Rights, and mainly differed in one way—it declared rights for all humans, not just males.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/eleanor-roosevelt/
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml
Eleanor Roosevelt was his wife, by the way. Sorry, I just realized I never said that.
DeleteI also do want to add that while Eleanor had many supporters, I must say her extreme view did cause many criticisms, especially from the conservatives who felt threatened by her ideas.
DeleteVery nice post Katherine, I have some lingering questions about what Eleanor did after she left Franklin, and also how did the Franklin's child react to all of this soap opera fuel. These would be minor questions to the much greater one; did this have any impact on Roosevelt's political career as events like this had on Clinton, and Nixon.
ReplyDelete