Franklin D. Roosevelt: Difference between revisions

| successor1          = Harry S. Truman

| party              = Democratic

A member of the prominent [[Delano family|Delano]] and [[Roosevelt family|Roosevelt]] families, Roosevelt was elected to the [[New York State Senate]] from 1911 to 1913 and was then the [[assistant Secretary of the Navy]] under President [[Woodrow Wilson]] during World War I. Roosevelt was [[James M. Cox]]'s running mate on the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]]'s ticket in the [[1920 U.S. presidential election]], but Cox lost to [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominee [[Warren G. Harding]]. In 1921, Roosevelt [[Paralytic illness of Franklin D. Roosevelt|contracted a paralytic illness]] that permanently paralyzed his legs. Partly through the encouragement of his wife, [[Eleanor Roosevelt]], he returned to public office as [[governor of New York]] from 1929 to 1933, during which he promoted programs to combat the Great Depression. In the [[1932 United States presidential election|1932 presidential election]], Roosevelt defeated president [[Herbert Hoover]] in a [[landslide victory]].

Roosevelt's father died in 1900, distressing him greatly.{{Sfn|Dallek|2017|pp=28–29}} The following year, Roosevelt's fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt became U.S. president. Theodore's vigorous leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and hero.{{sfn|Burns|1956|p=24}} He graduated from Harvard in three years in 1903 with an [[Bachelor of Arts|A.B.]] in history.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.fdrlibrary.org/fdr-biography |title=FDR Biography |publisher=[[Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum]]}}</ref> He remained there for a fourth year, taking graduate courses.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://millercenter.org/president/fdroosevelt/life-before-the-presidency |title=Franklin D. Roosevelt: Life Before the Presidency |first= William E. |last=Leuchtenburg |date=October 4, 2016 |author-link= William Leuchtenburg |publisher=[[Miller Center of Public Affairs]]}}</ref> Like his cousin Theodore, he was a member of [[The Explorers Club]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=DECEASED members 1904 to 23 May 2007 - The Explorers Club |url=https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/33936119/deceased-members-1904-to-23-may-2007-the-explorers-club |access-date=October 19, 2024 |publisher=YUMPU}}</ref>

In the election against Landon and a third-party candidate, Roosevelt won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except [[Maine]] and [[Vermont]].{{sfn|Burns|1956|p=284}} The Democratic ticket won the highest proportion of the [[List of United States presidential elections by popular vote margin|popular vote]].{{Efn|The [[1964 United States presidential election|1964]] Democratic ticket of Lyndon B. Johnson and [[Hubert Humphrey]] would later set a new record, taking 61.1% of the popular vote}} Democrats expanded their majorities in Congress, controlling over three-quarters of the seats in each house. The election also saw the consolidation of the New Deal coalition; while the Democrats lost some of their traditional allies in big business, they were replaced by groups such as organized labor and African Americans, the latter of whom voted Democratic for the first time since the Civil War.{{Sfn|Smith|2007|pp=373–75}} Roosevelt lost high-income voters, especially businessmen and professionals, but made major gains among the poor and minorities. He won 86 percent of the Jewish vote, 81 percent of Catholics, 80 percent of union members, 76 percent of Southerners, 76 percent of blacks in northern cities, and 75 percent of people on relief. Roosevelt carried 102 of the country's 106 cities with a population of 100,000 or more.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mary E. Stuckey|title=Voting Deliberatively: FDR and the 1936 Presidential Campaign|url={{GBurl|id=OootCgAAQBAJ|pg=PT19}}|year=2015|publisher=Penn State UP|page=19|isbn=978-0-271-07192-3}}</ref>

To command the invasion of France, Roosevelt chose General Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had successfully commanded a multinational coalition in North Africa and Sicily.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=596–97}} Eisenhower launched [[Operation Overlord]] on June 6, 1944. Supported by 12,000 aircraft and the largest naval force ever assembled, the Allies successfully established a beachhead in [[Normandy]] and then advanced further into France.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=598–99}} Though reluctant to back an unelected government, Roosevelt recognized [[Charles de Gaulle]]'s [[Provisional Government of the French Republic]] as the de facto government of France in July 1944. After most of France had been liberated, Roosevelt granted formal recognition to de Gaulle's government in October 1944.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=613–17}} Over the following months, the Allies liberated more territory and [[Western Allied invasion of Germany|began the invasion of Germany]]. By April 1945, Nazi resistance was crumbling in the face of advances by both the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=630–31}}

While some Democrats had opposed Roosevelt's nomination in 1940, the president faced little difficulty in securing his re-nomination at the [[1944 Democratic National Convention]]. Roosevelt made it clear before the convention that he was seeking another term, and on the lone presidential ballot of the convention, Roosevelt won the vast majority of delegates, although a minority of Southern Democrats voted for [[Harry F. Byrd]]. Party leaders prevailed upon Roosevelt to drop Vice President Wallace from the ticket, believing him to be an electoral liability and a poor potential successor in case of Roosevelt's death. Roosevelt preferred Byrnes as Wallace's replacement but was convinced to support Senator Harry S. Truman of Missouri, who had earned renown for his investigation of [[Truman Committee|war production inefficiency]] and was acceptable to the various factions of the party. On the second vice presidential ballot of the convention, Truman defeated Wallace to win the nomination.{{sfn|Smith|2007|pp=617–19}}

Roosevelt is widely considered to be one of the most important figures in [[history of the United States|U.S. history]],<ref name="100mostinfluential">{{cite magazine|title=The 100 Most Influential Figures in American History|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2006/12/the-100-most-influential-figures-in-american-history/305384/|access-date=October 13, 2017|last1=Appleby|first1=Joyce|last2=Brands|first2=H.W.|last3=Dallek|first3=Robert|last4=Fitzpatrick|first4=Ellen|last5=Goodwin|first5=Doris Kearns|last6=Gordon|first6=John Steele|last7=Kennedy|first7=David M.|last8=McDougall|first8=Walter|last9=Noll|first9=Mark|last10=Wood|first10=Gordon S.|magazine=The Atlantic|date=December 2006}}</ref> and one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.<ref name="kwalsh1">{{cite magazine|last1=Walsh|first1=Kenneth T.|title=FDR: The President Who Made America Into a Superpower|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/ken-walshs-washington/2015/04/10/fdr-franklin-delano-roosevelt-made-america-into-a-superpower|access-date=October 13, 2017|magazine=U.S. News & World Report|date=April 10, 2015}}</ref> Historians and political scientists consistently rank Roosevelt, [[George Washington]], and Abraham Lincoln as the three [[Historical rankings of presidents of the United States|greatest presidents]], although the order varies.<ref name=greatestpresidents>{{cite web|title=Presidential Historians Survey 2017|url=https://www.c-span.org/presidentsurvey2017/?page=overall|department=C-SPAN Survey of Presidential Leadership|publisher=[[C-SPAN]]}}</ref><ref name=greatestpresidents2>{{cite news|title=Presidential Leadership – The Rankings|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007243|date=September 12, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051102135447/http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007243|archive-date=November 2, 2005|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=May 4, 2015}}</ref><ref name=greatestpresidents3>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/16/new-ranking-of-u-s-presidents-puts-lincoln-1-obama-18-kennedy-judged-most-over-rated/|title=New ranking of U.S. presidents puts Lincoln at No. 1, Obama at 18; Kennedy judged most overrated|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|last1=Rottinghaus|first1=Brandon|last2=Vaughn|first2=Justin|date=February 16, 2015|access-date=May 4, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| first=Arthur M. Jr. |last=Schlesinger|title=Ranking the Presidents: From Washington to Clinton|journal=Political Science Quarterly|date=Summer 1997|volume=112|issue=2|pages=179–90|jstor=2657937|doi=10.2307/2657937}}</ref> Reflecting on Roosevelt's presidency, "which brought the United States through the Great Depression and World War II to a prosperous future", biographer [[Jean Edward Smith]] said in 2007, "He lifted himself from a wheelchair to lift the nation from its knees."{{Sfn|Smith|2007|p=ix}}

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{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for [[Governor of New York]]|years=[[1928 New York state election|1928]], [[1930 New York state election|1930]]}}

{{s-aft|after=Harry S. Truman}}