Franklin D. Roosevelt |
|
Roosevelt in 1933 |
32nd
President of the United States |
In office
March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 |
Vice President |
John N. Garner (1933-1941)
Henry A. Wallace (1941-1945)
Harry S. Truman (1945) |
Preceded by |
Herbert Hoover |
Succeeded by |
Harry S. Truman |
44th
Governor of New York |
In office
January 1, 1929 – December 31, 1932 |
Lieutenant |
Herbert H. Lehman |
Preceded by |
Al Smith |
Succeeded by |
Herbert H. Lehman |
Assistant Secretary of the Navy |
In office
March 17, 1913 – August 26, 1920 |
President |
Woodrow Wilson |
Preceded by |
Beekman Winthrop |
Succeeded by |
Gordon Woodbury |
Member of the
New York State Senate
for the 26th District |
In office
January 1, 1911 – March 17, 1913 |
Preceded by |
John F. Schlosser |
Succeeded by |
James E. Towner |
Personal details |
Born |
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
January 30, 1882
Hyde Park, New York, U.S. |
Died |
April 12, 1945 (aged 63)
Warm Springs, Georgia, U.S. |
Resting place |
Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site
Hyde Park, New York |
Political party |
Democratic |
Spouse(s) |
Eleanor Roosevelt |
Children |
Anna
James
Franklin (I)
Elliott
Franklin (II)
John |
Alma mater |
Harvard College
Columbia Law School |
Occupation |
Corporate lawyer |
Religion |
Episcopal |
Signature |
|
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (pron.:
/ˈroʊzəvɛlt/
ROH-zə-velt
or pron.:
/ˈroʊzəvəlt/
ROH-zə-vəlt;
January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), also known by his initials, FDR,
was the
32nd
President of the United States (1933–1945) and a central figure in
world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States
during a time of worldwide economic depression and total war. A dominant
leader of the
Democratic Party and the only American president elected to more
than two terms, he built a
New Deal Coalition that realigned American politics after 1932, as
his
domestic policies defined
American liberalism for the middle third of the 20th century.
With the bouncy popular song "Happy
Days Are Here Again" as his campaign theme, FDR defeated incumbent
Republican
Herbert Hoover in
November 1932, at the depth of the
Great Depression. Energized by his personal victory over
polio, FDR's unfailing optimism and activism contributed to a
renewal of the national spirit.[1]
He worked closely with
Winston Churchill and
Joseph Stalin in leading the Allies against Germany and Japan in
World War II, and restoring prosperity to the nation's economy.
In his
first hundred days in office, which began March 4, 1933, Roosevelt
spearheaded major legislation and issued a profusion of executive orders
that instituted the
New
Deal—a variety of programs designed to produce relief (government
jobs for the unemployed), recovery (economic growth), and reform
(through regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation). The
economy improved rapidly from 1933 to 1937, but then relapsed into a
deep recession. The bipartisan
Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his
packing the Supreme Court or passing any considerable legislation;
it abolished many of the relief programs when unemployment diminished
during World War II. Most of the regulations on business were ended
about 1975–85, except for the regulation of Wall Street by the
Securities and Exchange Commission, which still exists. Along with
several smaller programs, major surviving programs include the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which was created in 1933,
and
Social Security, which Congress passed in 1935.
As World War II loomed after 1938, with the Japanese invasion of
China and the aggression of
Nazi Germany, FDR gave strong diplomatic and financial support to
China and Great Britain, while remaining officially neutral. His goal
was to make America the "Arsenal
of Democracy" which would supply munitions to the
Allies. In March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval,
provided
Lend-Lease aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany with
Britain. With very strong national support, he made war on Japan and
Germany after the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, calling it a "date
which will live in infamy". He supervised the mobilization of the
U.S. economy to support the Allied war effort. As an active military
leader, Roosevelt implemented an overall war strategy on two fronts that
ended in the defeat of the
Axis Powers and the development of the world's first
atom bomb. In 1942 Roosevelt ordered the
internment of 100,000
Japanese American civilians. Unemployment dropped to 2%, relief
programs largely ended, and the industrial economy grew rapidly to new
heights as millions of people moved to new jobs in war centers, and
16 million men and 300,000 women were drafted or volunteered for
military service.
Roosevelt dominated the American political scene not only during the
twelve years of his presidency, but also for decades afterward. He
orchestrated the
realignment of voters that created the
Fifth Party System. FDR's
New Deal Coalition united labor unions, big city machines, white
ethnics, African Americans and rural white Southerners. He also
influenced the later creation of the
United Nations and
Bretton Woods. Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of
the
top three U.S. Presidents, along with
Abraham Lincoln and
George Washington.
Personal life
Family name, early life and education
Roosevelt is an
Anglicized form of the Dutch surname 'Van Rosevelt' or 'Van
Rosenvelt', meaning 'from field of roses.'[2]
Although some use an Anglicized
spelling pronunciation of
/ˈruːzəvɛlt/,
that is, with the vowel of ruse, FDR himself used
[ˈroʊzəvəlt], with the vowel of rose. (The last syllable
was pronounced by him with a
schwa, or
nondescript vowel, almost as vult.)[citation
needed]
One of the oldest families in New York State, the Roosevelts
distinguished themselves in areas other than politics. One ancestor,
Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the
American Revolution.[3]
Roosevelt attended events of the New York society
Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while
he was president. While his paternal family had become prosperous early
on in New York real estate and trade, much of his immediate family's
wealth had been built by FDR's maternal grandfather, Warren Delano, in
the China trade, including
opium and
tea.[4]
His mother named him after her favorite uncle Franklin Delano.
The birthplace of FDR at Springwood
Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in the
Hudson Valley town of
Hyde Park, New York. His father,
James Roosevelt, and his mother,
Sara Ann Delano, were sixth cousins[3]
and both were from wealthy old New York families. They were of mostly
English descent; Roosevelt's great-grandfather,
James Roosevelt, was of Dutch ancestry, and his mother's maiden
name,
Delano, originated with a French
Huguenot immigrant of the 17th century.[5][6]
Franklin was their only child.[7]
Roosevelt grew up in an atmosphere of privilege. Sara was a
possessive mother; James, 54 when Franklin was born, was considered by
some as a remote father, though biographer Burns indicates James
interacted with his son more than was typical at the time.[8]
Sara was the dominant influence in Franklin's early years;[9]
she once declared "My son Franklin is a Delano, not a Roosevelt at all."[3]
Frequent trips to Europe
made Roosevelt conversant in German and French.
He learned to ride, shoot, row, and play polo and lawn tennis. Roosevelt
also took up golf in his teen years, becoming a skilled long hitter.
He learned to sail, and his father gave him a sailboat at the age of
sixteen which he named "New Moon"
Roosevelt attended
Groton School, an Episcopal boarding school in Massachusetts; ninety
percent of the students were from families on the social register. He
was heavily influenced by its headmaster,
Endicott Peabody, who preached the duty of Christians to help the
less fortunate and urged his students to enter public service. Forty
years later Roosevelt said of Peabody, "It was a blessing in my life to
have the privilege of [his] guiding hand."[13]
Peabody recalled Roosevelt as "a quiet, satisfactory boy of more than
ordinary intelligence, taking a good position in his form but not
brilliant".
Roosevelt in 1899 sailing with father James and half-niece
Helen
Roosevelt went to
Harvard College and lived in a suite which is now part of
Adams House, in the "Gold Coast" area populated by wealthy students.
An average student academically,
he was a member of the
Alpha Delta Phi fraternity[16]
and also editor-in-chief of
The Harvard Crimson daily newspaper.
Roosevelt later declared, "I took economics courses in college for four
years, and everything I was taught was wrong."[18]
While he was at Harvard, his
fifth cousin
Theodore Roosevelt became President, and the president's vigorous
leadership style and reforming zeal made him Franklin's role model and
hero.[19]
In mid-1902, he was formally introduced to his future wife
Eleanor Roosevelt, Theodore's niece, on a train to
Tivoli, New York, although they had met briefly as children.[20]
Eleanor and Franklin were fifth cousins, once removed.[21]
At the time of their engagement, Roosevelt was twenty-two and Eleanor
nineteen.[22]
Roosevelt graduated from Harvard in 1903 with an
A.B. in history. He later received an honorary
LL.D from Harvard in 1929.[23]
Roosevelt entered
Columbia Law School in 1904, but dropped out in 1907 after he passed
the New York State Bar exam.[24]
In 1908, he took a job with the prestigious Wall Street firm of
Carter Ledyard & Milburn,[24]
dealing mainly with corporate law. He was first initiated in the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and was initiated into
Freemasonry on October 11, 1911, at Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York
City.[25][26]
Marriage and
family life
On March 17, 1905, Roosevelt married Eleanor despite the fierce
resistance of his mother.[22]
Eleanor's uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, stood in at the wedding for
Eleanor's deceased father
Elliott. (Eleanor had lost both parents by age ten.[27])
The young couple moved into
Springwood, his family's estate, where FDR's mother became a
frequent house guest, much to Eleanor's chagrin. The home was owned by
Roosevelt's mother until her death in 1941 and was very much her home as
well. As for their personal lives, Franklin was a charismatic, handsome
and socially active man.[28]
In contrast, Eleanor was shy and disliked social life, and at first
stayed at home to raise their children. Although Eleanor had an aversion
to
sexual intercourse, and considered it "an ordeal to be endured",[29]
they had six children, the first four in rapid succession:
Roosevelt's dog,
Fala, also became well known as Roosevelt's companion during his
time in the White House, and was called the "most photographed dog in
the world."[30]
Roosevelt reportedly had affairs outside his marriage, including one
with Eleanor's social secretary
Lucy Mercer which began soon after she was hired in early 1914.
In September 1918, Eleanor found letters revealing the affair in
Roosevelt's luggage, when he returned from
World War I. According to the Roosevelt family, Eleanor offered
Franklin a divorce so that he could be with the woman he loved, but
Lucy, being Catholic, could not bring herself to marry a divorced man
with five children. According to FDR biographer
Jean Edward Smith, it is generally accepted that Eleanor indeed
offered "to give Franklin his freedom."[32]
However, they reconciled after a fashion with the informal mediation of
Roosevelt's adviser
Louis McHenry Howe, and FDR promised never to see Lucy again. His
mother Sara also intervened, and told Franklin that if he divorced his
wife, he would bring scandal upon the family, and she "would not give
him another dollar."[32]
However, Franklin broke his promise. He and Lucy maintained a formal
correspondence, and began seeing each other again in 1941—and perhaps
earlier.[33][34]
Lucy was even given the code name "Mrs. Johnson" by the
Secret Service.[35]
Indeed, Lucy was with FDR on the day he died. Despite this, FDR's affair
was not widely known until the 1960s.[36]
Roosevelt's son Elliott stated that Franklin also had a 20-year affair
with his private secretary
Marguerite "Missy" LeHand.[37]
Another son, James, stated that "there is a real possibility that a
romantic relationship existed" between his father and
Princess Märtha of Sweden, who resided in the White House during
part of World War II; aides began to refer to her as "the president's
girlfriend",
and gossip linking the two romantically appeared in the newspapers.
The effect of these flirtations or affairs upon Eleanor Roosevelt is
difficult to estimate. "I have the memory of an elephant. I can forgive,
but I cannot forget," she wrote to a close friend.[40]
After the Lucy Mercer affair, any remaining intimacy left their
relationship. Eleanor soon thereafter established a separate house in
Hyde Park at
Valkill, and increasingly devoted herself to various social and
political causes. For the rest of their lives, the Roosevelts' marriage
was more of a political partnership than an intimate relationship.[41]
The emotional break in their marriage was so severe that when FDR asked
Eleanor in 1942—in light of his failing health—to come back home and
live with him again, she refused.[36]
Early
political career
State senator and Tammany antagonist
In the
state election of 1910, Roosevelt ran for the
New York State Senate from the district around
Hyde Park in
Dutchess County, which had not elected a Democrat since 1878.
The Roosevelt name, with its associated wealth, prestige, and influence
in the Hudson Valley, and the Democratic landslide that year, carried
him to the state capital in Albany.[43]
Taking his seat on January 1, 1911, he became the leader of a group of
"Insurgents" who opposed the
bossism
of the
Tammany
machine dominating the state Democratic Party. The
U.S. Senate election which began with the Democratic caucus on
January 16, 1911, was deadlocked by the struggle of the two factions for
74 days. On March 31,
James A. O'Gorman was elected, and Roosevelt had achieved his goal:
to upset the Tammany machine by blocking their choice,
William F. Sheehan. This brought Roosevelt national exposure and
some experience in political tactics and intrigue.[44]
Roosevelt soon became a popular figure among New York Democrats, though
he had not as yet become an eloquent speaker.[43]
Despite a bout of typhoid, and thanks to the help of
Louis McHenry Howe who ran his campaign, he was re-elected for a
second term in the
state election of 1912, and served as chairman of the Agriculture
Committee. His success with farm and labor bills was a bit of a
precursor to his New Deal policies twenty years later.[45]
By this time he had become more consistently progressive, in support of
labor and social welfare programs for women and children; cousin Teddy
was of some influence on these issues.[46]
Roosevelt, again in opposition to Tammany Hall, supported Woodrow
Wilson's successful bid in the 1912 presidential election, and thereby
earned an informal designation as an original Wilson man.[47]
This opened the door for opportunities in the Wilson administration.
Roosevelt resigned from the
New York State Senate on March 17, 1913, to accept his appointment
as Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Navy.[48]
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was appointed
Assistant Secretary of the Navy by
Woodrow Wilson in 1913 and served under
Secretary of the Navy
Josephus Daniels. Roosevelt developed a lifelong affection for the
Navy, and
was more ardent than his boss Daniels in supporting a large and
efficient naval force.[49]
As assistant secretary, Roosevelt worked to expand the Navy and founded
the
United States Navy Reserve. Roosevelt negotiated with Congressional
leaders and other government departments to get budgets approved. He
opposed the
Taylor "stop-watch" system which was hailed by shipbuilding managers
but opposed by the unions. Not a single union strike occurred during his
seven-plus years in the Navy department.[50]
In 1914, Roosevelt made an ill-conceived decision to run for the U.S.
Senate seat for New York. The decision was doomed for lack of Wilson
administration backing. He was determined to take on Tammany again at a
time when Wilson needed them to help marshal his legislation and secure
his future re-election.[51]
He was soundly defeated in the Democratic
primary election for the United States Senate by Tammany Hall-backed
James W. Gerard by a margin of 3-to-1.[52]
Roosevelt learned a valuable lesson – that federal patronage alone,
without White House support, could not defeat a strong local
organization.[53]
In March 1917, after Germany initiated its submarine warfare
campaign, Roosevelt asked Wilson for permission, which was denied, to
fit the naval fleet out for war.[54]
He became an enthusiastic advocate of the
submarine and of means to combat the German submarine menace to
Allied shipping: he proposed building a
mine barrier across the North Sea from Norway to Scotland.
In 1918, he visited
Britain and France to inspect American naval facilities.
Roosevelt wanted to provide arms to the merchant marine; knowing that a
sale of arms was prohibited, he asked Wilson for approval to lease the
arms to the mariners. Wilson ultimately approved this by executive
order, and a precedent was set for this action in 1940.
During these war years, Roosevelt acted to make peace with the
Tammany Hall forces, and in 1918 the group actually supported others in
an unsuccessful attempt to convince him to run for governor of New York.
He very much wished to get into a military uniform, but the armistice
took shape before this could materialize.[57]
With the end of
World War I in November 1918, Roosevelt was in charge of
demobilization, although he opposed plans to completely dismantle the
Navy.
Also in 1918, Roosevelt was sickened during the
1918 flu pandemic, and survived.[58]
In 1919, Roosevelt came under fire from newspapers in
Newport, Rhode Island, over his handling of what came to be known as
the
Newport sex scandal.
Campaign
for Vice President
Roosevelt and Cox in Ohio
In July 1920, overshadowed by the
Newport sex scandal and its coverage in the Providence Journal
and New York Times, Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of
the Navy to run for Vice President. In a series of speeches in his
campaign for Vice President, Roosevelt claimed (tongue-in-cheek) that as
Assistant Secretary of the Navy, he wrote the constitution which
the U.S. imposed on Haiti in 1915.[60]
The
1920 Democratic National Convention chose Roosevelt by acclamation
as the candidate for
Vice President of the United States.[61]
The ticket was headed by Governor
James M. Cox of Ohio, and Roosevelt was considered as bringing
balance to the ticket as a moderate, a Wilsonian and a prohibitionist.[62]
The Cox-Roosevelt ticket was defeated by
Republican
Warren G. Harding in the
presidential election by a wide margin. This nomination as
Vice-President was somewhat meteoric in nature, as Roosevelt had just
turned thirty-eight, four years younger than his cousin Teddy had been
when he first got the same nomination from his party.[63]
Roosevelt then returned to New York to practice law and joined the newly
organized New York
Civitan Club.[64]
Polio
In August 1921, while the Roosevelts were vacationing at
Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, Roosevelt contracted
polio, which resulted in permanent paralysis from the waist down.
For the rest of his life, Roosevelt refused to accept that he was
permanently paralyzed.[65]
He tried a wide range of therapies, including
hydrotherapy, and, in 1926, he purchased a resort at
Warm Springs, Georgia, where he founded a hydrotherapy center for
the treatment of polio patients, one which still operates as the
Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.[66]
After he became President, he helped to found the National Foundation
for Infantile Paralysis (now known as the
March of Dimes).
At the time, Roosevelt was able to convince many people that he was
getting better, which he believed was essential if he wanted to run for
public office again.
Fitting his hips and legs with iron braces, he laboriously taught
himself to walk a short distance by swiveling his torso while supporting
himself with a cane.
In private, he used a wheelchair, but he was careful never to be seen in
it in public. Great care was also taken to prevent his being portrayed
by the press in a way which would highlight his disability. Only two
photographs are known to exist of FDR which were taken while he was in
his wheelchair; only four seconds of film exist of the "walk" he
achieved after his illness.[70]
He usually appeared in public standing upright, supported on one side by
an aide or one of his sons. FDR used a car with specially designed hand
controls, providing him further mobility.[71]
Governor of New York, 1929–1932
FDR with Al Smith in 1930
Roosevelt maintained contacts and mended fences with the Democratic
Party during the 1920s, especially in New York. Although he initially
had made his name as an opponent of
New York City's
Tammany Hall
machine, Roosevelt moderated his stance against that group as well.[72]
He helped
Alfred
E. Smith win the election for governor of New York in 1922, and in
1924 was even a strong supporter of Smith against his cousin, Republican
Theodore Roosevelt, Jr.[73]
Roosevelt gave nominating speeches for Smith at the 1924 and 1928
Democratic conventions.[74]
As the Democratic Party presidential nominee in the
1928 election, Smith in turn asked Roosevelt to run for governor in
the
state election. Roosevelt was nominated by the Democrats by
acclamation.[75]
While Smith lost the Presidency in a landslide, and was even defeated in
his home state, Roosevelt was narrowly elected governor, by a
one-percent margin.[76]
As a reform governor, he established a number of new social programs,
and was advised by
Frances Perkins and
Harry Hopkins.
In May 1930, as he began his run for a second term, Roosevelt
reiterated his doctrine from the campaign two years before: "that
progressive government by its very terms, must be a living and growing
thing, that the battle for it is never ending and that if we let up for
one single moment or one single year, not merely do we stand still but
we fall back in the march of civilization."[78]
In this
campaign for re-election, Roosevelt needed the good will of the
Tammany Hall machine in New York City to succeed; however, his
Republican opponent,
Charles H. Tuttle, used Roosevelt's connection with Tammany Hall's
corruption as an election issue. As the election approached, Roosevelt
began preemptive efforts by initiating investigations of the sale of
judicial offices. He was directly involved, as he had made a routine
short-term court appointment of a Tammany Hall man who was alleged to
have paid Tammany $30,000 for the position.[78]
His Republican opponent, however, could not overcome the public's
criticism of his party for current economic distress, and Roosevelt was
elected to a second term by a margin of fourteen percent.[79]
1932
presidential election
Roosevelt's strong base in the most populous state made him an
obvious candidate for the Democratic nomination, which was hotly
contested in light of incumbent Herbert Hoover's vulnerability. Al Smith
was supported by some city bosses, but had lost control of the New York
Democratic party to Roosevelt. Roosevelt built his own national
coalition with personal allies such as newspaper magnate
William Randolph Hearst, Irish leader
Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and California leader
William Gibbs McAdoo. When Texas leader
John Nance Garner announced his support of FDR, he was given the
vice-presidential nomination.
In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt declared, "I pledge you, I pledge
myself to a
new
deal for the American people... This is more than a political
campaign. It is a call to arms."[81]
The election campaign was conducted under the shadow of the
Great Depression in the United States, and the new alliances which
it created. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party mobilized the expanded
ranks of the poor as well as organized labor, ethnic minorities,
urbanites, and Southern whites, crafting the
New Deal coalition.
Economist
Marriner Eccles observed that "given later developments, the
campaign speeches often read like a giant misprint, in which Roosevelt
and Hoover speak each other's lines."[82]
Roosevelt denounced Hoover's failures to restore prosperity or even halt
the downward slide, and he ridiculed Hoover's huge deficits. Roosevelt
campaigned on the Democratic platform advocating "immediate and drastic
reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless commissions
and offices, consolidating departments and bureaus, and eliminating
extravagances" and for a "sound currency to be maintained at all
hazards." On September 23, Roosevelt made the gloomy evaluation that,
"Our industrial plant is built; the problem just now is whether under
existing conditions it is not overbuilt. Our last frontier has long
since been reached."[83]
Hoover damned that pessimism as a denial of "the promise of American
life ... the counsel of despair."[84]
The
prohibition issue solidified the wet vote for Roosevelt, who noted
that
repeal would bring in new tax revenues.
Roosevelt won 57% of the vote and carried all but six states.
Historians and political scientists consider the 1932-36 elections a
realigning election that created a new majority coalition for the
Democrats, made up of organized labor, blacks, and ethnic Americans such
as Italian-Americans, Polish-Americans and Jews. This transformed
American politics and starting what is called the "New Deal Party
System" or (by political scientists) the
Fifth Party System.[85]
After the election, Roosevelt refused Hoover's requests for a meeting
to develop a joint program to stop the downward spiral and calm
investors, claiming publicly it would tie his hands, and that Hoover had
all the power to act if necessary. Unofficially, he told reporters that
"it is not my baby".[86]
The economy spiraled downward until the banking system began a complete
nationwide shutdown as Hoover's term ended.[87]
In February 1933, Roosevelt escaped an assassination attempt by
Giuseppe Zangara (whose shots killed Chicago Mayor
Anton Cermak sitting alongside).[88][89]
Roosevelt leaned heavily on his "Brain Trust" of academic advisers,
especially
Raymond Moley, when designing his policies; he offered cabinet
positions to numerous candidates, but some declined. The cabinet member
with the strongest independent base was
Cordell Hull at State.
William Hartman Woodin – at Treasury – was soon replaced by the much
more powerful
Henry Morgenthau, Jr.[90]
Presidency, 1933–1945
First
term, 1933–1937
Roosevelt and Hoover on Inauguration Day, 1933.
Presidential Portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
When Roosevelt was
inaugurated March 4, 1933 (32 days after Hitler was appointed
Chancellor of Germany), the U.S. was at the
nadir of the worst depression in its history. A quarter of the
workforce was unemployed. Farmers were in deep trouble as prices fell by
60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two
million were homeless. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states –
as well as the District of Columbia – had closed their banks.[91]
The New York Federal Reserve Bank was unable to open on the 5th, as huge
sums had been withdrawn by panicky customers in previous days.[92]
Beginning with his inauguration address, Roosevelt began blaming the
economic crisis on bankers and financiers, the quest for profit, and the
self-interest basis of capitalism:
Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind's
goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own
incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated.
Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in
the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of
men. True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in
the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit
they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of
the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their
false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading
tearfully for restored confidence....The money changers have
fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We
may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure
of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social
values more noble than mere monetary profit.
[93]
Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery and
reform." Relief was urgently needed by tens of millions of unemployed.
Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal. Reform meant
long-term fixes of what was wrong, especially with the financial and
banking systems. Roosevelt's series of radio talks, known as
fireside chats, presented his proposals directly to the American
public.[94]
In 1934 FDR paid a visit to retired Justice
Oliver Wendell Holmes, who mused about the President: "A second
class intellect. But a first class temperament."[95]
First New Deal, 1933–1934
Roosevelt's "First
100 Days" concentrated on the first part of his strategy: immediate
relief. From March 9 to June 16, 1933, he sent Congress a record number
of bills, all of which passed easily. To propose programs, Roosevelt
relied on leading Senators such as
George Norris,
Robert F. Wagner and
Hugo Black, as well as his
Brain Trust of academic advisers. Like Hoover, he saw the Depression
caused in part by people no longer spending or investing because they
were afraid.
His inauguration on March 4, 1933, occurred in the middle of a
bank
panic, hence the backdrop for his famous words: "The only thing we
have to fear is fear itself."[93]
The very next day he declared a "bank holiday" and called for a special
session of Congress to start March 9, at which Congress passed the
Emergency Banking Act.[96]
This was his first proposed step to recovery. To give Americans
confidence in the banks, Roosevelt signed the
Glass–Steagall Act that created the
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
Relief measures included the continuation of Hoover's major relief
program for the unemployed under its new name:
Federal Emergency Relief Administration. The most popular of all New
Deal agencies – and Roosevelt's favorite – was the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), which hired 250,000 unemployed
young men to work on rural local projects.
Congress also gave the
Federal Trade Commission broad new regulatory powers and provided
mortgage relief to millions of farmers and homeowners.
Roosevelt expanded a Hoover agency, the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation, making it a major source of
financing for railroads and industry. Roosevelt made agricultural relief
a high priority and set up the first
Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). The AAA tried to force
higher prices for commodities by paying farmers to take land out of
crops and to cut herds.
Reform of the economy was the goal of the
National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of 1933. It tried to end
cutthroat competition by forcing industries to come up with codes that
established the rules of operation for all firms within specific
industries, such as minimum prices, agreements not to compete, and
production restrictions. Industry leaders negotiated the codes which
were then approved by NIRA officials. Industry needed to raise wages as
a condition for approval. Provisions encouraged unions and suspended
anti-trust laws. The NIRA was found to be unconstitutional by
unanimous decision of the
U.S. Supreme Court on May 27, 1935. Roosevelt opposed the decision,
saying "The fundamental purposes and principles of the NIRA are sound.
To abandon them is unthinkable. It would spell the return to industrial
and labor chaos."[100]
In 1933, major new banking regulations were passed. In 1934, the
Securities and Exchange Commission was created to regulate Wall
Street, with 1932 campaign fundraiser
Joseph P. Kennedy in charge.
Recovery was pursued through "pump-priming" (that is, federal
spending).[102]
The NIRA included $3.3 billion of spending through the
Public Works Administration to stimulate the economy, which was to
be handled by
Interior Secretary
Harold Ickes. Roosevelt worked with Republican Senator
George Norris to create the largest government-owned industrial
enterprise in American history – the
Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) – which built dams and power
stations, controlled floods, and modernized agriculture and home
conditions in the poverty-stricken Tennessee Valley. The repeal of
prohibition also brought in new tax revenues and helped Roosevelt
keep a major campaign promise.
Executive Order 6102 declared that all privately held gold of
American citizens was to be sold to the U.S. Treasury and the price
raised from $20 to $35 per ounce.[103]
Exceptions were made for jewelers, coin collectors and a few others. The
goal was to counter the deflation which was paralyzing the economy.[104]
Roosevelt tried to keep his campaign promise by cutting the federal
budget – including a reduction in military spending from $752 million in
1932 to $531 million in 1934 and a 40% cuts in spending on veterans'
benefits – by removing 500,000 veterans and widows from the pension
rolls and reducing benefits for the remainder, as well as cutting the
salaries of federal employees and reducing spending on research and
education.[105]
However, this was soon seen to be a mistake and most benefits were
restored or increased by 1934.[106]
The benefit cuts also did not last. In June 1933 Roosevelt restored $50
million in pension payments, and Congress added another $46 million
more.[107]
Veterans groups like the
American Legion and the
Veterans of Foreign Wars won their campaign to transform their
benefits from payments due in 1945 to immediate cash when Congress
overrode the President's veto and passed the
Bonus Act in January 1936.[108]
Roosevelt also kept his promise to push for repeal of
Prohibition. On March 23, 1933, he signed the
Cullen–Harrison Act redefining 3.2% alcohol as the maximum allowed.
That act was preceded by Congressional action in the drafting and
passage of the
21st Amendment, which was ratified later that year.[109]
Second New Deal, 1935–1936
Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, August 14, 1935
After the 1934 Congressional elections, which gave Roosevelt large
majorities in both houses, there was a fresh surge of New Deal
legislation. These measures included the
Works Progress Administration (WPA) which set up a national relief
agency that employed two million family heads. At the height of WPA
employment in 1938, unemployment was down from 20.6% in 1933 to only
12.5% according to figures from Michael Darby.[110]
The
Social Security Act established Social Security and promised
economic security for the elderly, the poor and the sick. Senator
Robert Wagner wrote the
Wagner Act, which officially became the
National Labor Relations Act. The act established the federal rights
of workers to organize unions, to engage in
collective bargaining, and to take part in strikes.
While the First New Deal of 1933 had broad support from most sectors,
the Second New Deal challenged the business community. Conservative
Democrats, led by
Al
Smith, fought back with the
American Liberty League, savagely attacking Roosevelt and equating
him with
Karl
Marx and
Vladimir Lenin.[111]
But Smith overplayed his hand, and his boisterous rhetoric let Roosevelt
isolate his opponents and identify them with the wealthy vested
interests that opposed the New Deal, setting Roosevelt up for the 1936
landslide.[111]
By contrast, the labor unions, energized by the Wagner Act, signed up
millions of new members and became a major backer of Roosevelt's
reelections in 1936, 1940 and 1944.[112]
Larry Schweikart and
Michael Allen disagree with the prevailing belief that there were
two New Deals in the Roosevelt administration.[113]
They argue that there is no evidence of any such blueprint for
Roosevelt's programs, and that abundant evidence shows FDR's policies
were formulated and executed haphazardly, fluctuating in the hands of a
revolving cast of presidential advisors.[114]
Biographer James M. Burns suggests that Roosevelt's policy decisions
were guided more by pragmatism than ideology, and that he "was like the
general of a guerrilla army whose columns, fighting blindly in the
mountains through dense ravines and thickets, suddenly converge, half by
plan and half by coincidence, and debouch into the plain below."[115]
Roosevelt himself argued that such apparently haphazard methodology was
necessary. "The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the
country demands bold, persistent experimentation," he wrote. "It is
common sense to take a method and try it; if it fails, admit it frankly
and try another. But above all, try something."[116]
Economic
environment
Government spending increased from 8.0% of gross national product
(GNP)
under Hoover in 1932 to 10.2% of the GNP in 1936. The
national debt as a percentage of the GNP had more than doubled under
Hoover from 16% to 40% of the GNP in early 1933. It held steady at close
to 40% as late as fall 1941, then grew rapidly during the war, as shown
on chart 1.[117]
National debt steady at 40% of GNP in New Deal years
Deficit spending had been recommended by some economists, most
notably by
John Maynard Keynes of Britain. The GNP was 34% higher in 1936 than
in 1932 and 58% higher in 1940 on the eve of war. That is, the economy
grew 58% from 1932 to 1940 in 8 years of peacetime, and then grew 56%
from 1940 to 1945 in 5 years of wartime.[citation
needed]
Unemployment fell dramatically in Roosevelt's first term, from 25%
when he took office to 14.3% in 1937. However, it increased slightly to
19.0% in 1938 ('a depression within a depression') and fell to 17.2% in
1939, and then dropped again to 14.6% in 1940 until it reached 1.9% in
1945 due to
World War II when increased manufacturing and conscription decreased
the
labor supply number.[118][119]
Total employment during Roosevelt's term expanded by 18.31 million jobs,
with an average annual increase in jobs during his administration of
5.3%.[120][121]
During the war, the economy operated under such different conditions
that comparison with peacetime is impossible.[citation
needed] However, Roosevelt saw the New Deal
policies as central to his legacy, and in his 1944
State of the Union Address, he advocated that Americans should think
of basic economic rights as a
Second Bill of Rights.
Roosevelt did not raise income taxes before
World War II began; however
payroll taxes were introduced to fund the new
Social Security program in 1937. He also got Congress to spend more
on many various programs and projects never before seen in American
history. However, under the revenue pressures brought on by the
depression, most states added or increased taxes, including sales as
well as income taxes. Roosevelt's proposal for new taxes on corporate
savings were highly controversial in 1936–37, and were rejected by
Congress. During the war he pushed for even higher income tax rates for
individuals (reaching a marginal tax rate of 91%) and corporations and a
cap on high salaries for executives. He also issued Executive Order 9250
in October 1942, later to be rescinded by Congress, which raised the
marginal tax rate for salaries exceeding $25,000 (after tax) to 100%,
thereby limiting salaries to $25,000 (about $356,000 today).[122][123][124]
To fund the war, Congress not only broadened the base so that almost
every employee paid federal income taxes, but also introduced
withholding taxes in 1943.
GDP in United States January 1929 to January 1941
Unemployment
(% labor force) |
Year |
Lebergott |
Darby[125] |
1933 |
24.9 |
20.6 |
1934 |
21.7 |
16.0 |
1935 |
20.1 |
14.2 |
1936 |
16.9 |
9.9 |
1937 |
14.3 |
9.1 |
1938 |
19.0 |
12.5 |
1939 |
17.2 |
11.3 |
1940 |
14.6 |
9.5 |
1941 |
9.9 |
8.0 |
1942 |
4.7 |
4.7 |
1943 |
1.9 |
1.9 |
1944 |
1.2 |
1.2 |
1945 |
1.9 |
1.9 |
Foreign policy, 1933–37
The rejection of the
League of Nations treaty in 1919 marked the dominance of
isolationism from world organizations in American foreign policy.
Despite Roosevelt's Wilsonian background, he and
Secretary of State
Cordell Hull acted with great care not to provoke isolationist
sentiment. Roosevelt's "bombshell" message to the
world monetary conference in 1933 effectively ended any major
efforts by the world powers to collaborate on ending the worldwide
depression, and allowed Roosevelt a free hand in economic policy.[126]
Roosevelt was a lifelong free-trader and anti-imperialist. Ending
European
colonialism was one of his objectives.[127]
The main foreign policy initiative of Roosevelt's first term was the
Good Neighbor Policy, which was a re-evaluation of U.S. policy
towards
Latin America. Since the
Monroe Doctrine of 1823, this area had been seen as an American
sphere of influence. American forces were withdrawn from Haiti, and
new treaties with Cuba and Panama ended their status as United States
protectorates. In December 1933, Roosevelt signed the
Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, renouncing
the right to intervene unilaterally in the affairs of Latin American
countries.[128]
The isolationist movement was bolstered in the early to mid-1930s by
U.S. Senator
Gerald Nye and others who succeeded in their effort to stop the
"merchants of death" in the U.S. from selling arms abroad.[129]
This effort took the form of the
Neutrality Acts; the president asked for, but was refused, a
provision to give him the discretion to allow the sale of arms to
victims of aggression.[130]
In the interim, Italy and Mussolini proceeded to overcome Ethiopia, and
the Italians joined the Germans in co-opting a successful revolt in
Spain.[131]
In 1936 Germany and Japan signed their Anti-Comintern Pact, allowing
their Axis to develop united strategies.[132]
Congress thus passed, and the president signed, a mandatory arms embargo
at a time when dictators in Europe and Asia were girding for world war.[133]
Landslide re-election, 1936
In the
1936 presidential election, Roosevelt campaigned on his New Deal
programs against
Kansas
Governor
Alf
Landon, who accepted much of the New Deal but objected that it was
hostile to business and involved too much waste. Roosevelt and Garner
won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except
Maine and
Vermont.[134]
The New Deal Democrats won even larger majorities in Congress. Roosevelt
was backed by a coalition of voters which included traditional Democrats
across the country, small farmers, the "Solid
South", Catholics, big city political machines, labor unions,
northern African Americans, Jews, intellectuals and political liberals.
This coalition, frequently referred to as the
New Deal coalition, remained largely intact for the Democratic Party
until the 1960s.[135]
Roosevelt's popularity meant massive volumes of correspondence in need
of reply. He once told his son James, "Two short sentences will
generally answer any known letter."[136]
Second term, 1937–1941
In contrast to his first term, little major legislation was passed in
FDR's second term. There was the
Housing Act of 1937, a second Agricultural Adjustment Act and the
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938, which created the
minimum wage. When the economy began to deteriorate again in late
1937, Roosevelt asked Congress for $5 billion in WPA relief and public
works funding. This managed to eventually create as many as 3.3 million
WPA jobs by 1938. Beyond this, however, the president recommended to a
special congressional session only a permanent national farm act,
administrative reorganization and regional planning measures, which were
leftovers from a regular session. According to Burns, this attempt
illustrated Roosevelt's inability to decide on a basic economic program.[137]
The
Supreme Court became Roosevelt's primary focus during his second
term, after the court overturned many of his programs. In particular in
1935, the Court unanimously ruled that the
National Recovery Act (NRA) was an unconstitutional delegation of
legislative power to the president. Roosevelt stunned Congress in early
1937 by proposing a law allowing him to appoint up to six new justices,
what he referred to as a "persistent infusion of new blood."[138]
This "court
packing" plan ran into intense political opposition from his own
party, led by Vice President Garner, since it upset the separation of
powers and gave the President control over the Court. Roosevelt's
proposal to expand the court failed;[139]
nevertheless by 1941 Roosevelt had appointed eight of the nine justices
of the court which began to ratify his policies.[140][141]
Roosevelt had massive support from the rapidly growing labor unions,
but now[when?]
they split into bitterly feuding
AFL and
CIO factions, the latter led by
John L. Lewis. Roosevelt pronounced a "plague on both your houses,"
but labor's disunity weakened the party in the elections from 1938
through 1946.[142]
Determined to overcome the opposition of conservative Democrats in
Congress (mostly from the South), Roosevelt involved himself in the 1938
Democratic primaries, actively campaigning for challengers who were more
supportive of New Deal reform. His targets denounced Roosevelt for
trying to take over the Democratic party and to win reelection, used the
argument that they were independent. Roosevelt failed badly, managing to
defeat only one target, a conservative Democrat from New York City.[143]
In the November 1938 election, Democrats lost six Senate seats and 71
House seats. Losses were concentrated among pro-New Deal Democrats. When
Congress reconvened in 1939, Republicans under Senator
Robert Taft formed a
Conservative coalition with Southern Democrats, virtually ending
Roosevelt's ability to get his domestic proposals enacted into law. The
minimum wage law of 1938 was the last substantial New Deal reform act
passed by Congress.[144]
Foreign policy, 1937–1941
The rise to power of dictator
Adolf Hitler in Germany had aroused fears of a new world war.
Nevertheless, in 1937 Congress passed an even more stringent Neutrality
act. But when the
Sino-Japanese War broke out that year, public opinion favored China,
and Roosevelt found various ways to assist that nation.[145]
In October 1937, he gave the
Quarantine Speech aiming to contain aggressor nations. He proposed
that warmongering states be treated as a public health menace and be
"quarantined."[146]
Meanwhile he secretly stepped up a program to build long-range
submarines that could blockade Japan.[147]
At the time of the
Munich Agreement in 1938 – with the U.S. not represented – Roosevelt
said the U.S. would not join a “stop-Hitler bloc” under any
circumstances, and he made it quite clear that in the event of German
aggression against Czechoslovakia, the U.S. would remain neutral.[148][149]
Roosevelt said in 1939 that France and Britain were America's "first
line of defence" and needed American aid, but because of widespread
isolationist sentiment, he reiterated the U.S. itself would not go to
war.[150]
In the spring of 1939, FDR allowed the French to place huge orders with
the American aircraft industry on a cash-and-carry basis, as allowed by
law. Most of the aircraft ordered had not arrived in France by the time
of its collapse in May 1940, so Roosevelt arranged in June 1940 for
French orders to be sold to the British.[151]
When
World War II broke out in 1939, Roosevelt rejected the Wilsonian
neutrality stance and sought ways to assist Britain and France
militarily.[152]
At first the President gave only covert support to repeal of the arms
embargo provisions of the Neutrality Act.[153]
He began a regular secret correspondence with the First Lord of the
Admiralty
Winston Churchill in September 1939, discussing ways of supporting
Britain. Roosevelt forged a close personal relationship with Churchill,
who became Prime Minister of Britain in May 1940.
In April 1940 Germany invaded Denmark and Norway, followed by
invasions of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France in May. The
German victories left Britain vulnerable to invasion. Roosevelt, who was
determined that Britain not be defeated, took advantage of the rapid
shifts of public opinion. The fall of Paris shocked American opinion,
and isolationist sentiment declined. A consensus was clear that military
spending had to be dramatically expanded. There was no consensus on how
much the U.S. should risk war in helping Britain.[154]
In July 1940, FDR appointed two interventionist Republican leaders,
Henry L. Stimson and
Frank Knox, as Secretaries of War and the Navy respectively. Both
parties gave support to his plans for a rapid build-up the American
military, but the isolationists warned that Roosevelt would get the
nation into an unnecessary war with Germany.[155]
Congress did set up the nation's first peacetime draft.[156]
Foreign trips of Franklin D. Roosevelt during his
presidency.
Roosevelt used his personal charisma to build support for
intervention. America should be the "Arsenal
of Democracy", he told his fireside audience.[157]
On September 2, 1940, Roosevelt openly defied the Neutrality Acts by
passing the
Destroyers for Bases Agreement, which, in exchange for military base
rights in the British Caribbean Islands, gave 50 WWI American
destroyers to Britain. The U.S. also received free base rights in
Bermuda
and
Newfoundland, allowing British forces to be moved to the sharper end
of the war; the idea of an exchange of warships for bases such as these
originated in the cabinet.[158]
Hitler and Mussolini responded to the deal by joining with Japan in the
Tripartite Pact.[159]
The agreement with Britain was a precursor of the March 1941 Lend-Lease
agreement which began to direct massive military and economic aid to
Britain, the Republic of China, and later the Soviet Union. For foreign
policy advice, Roosevelt turned to
Harry Hopkins, who became his chief wartime advisor. They sought
innovative ways to help Britain, whose financial resources were
exhausted by the end of 1940, short of going to war.[160]
Congress, where isolationist sentiment was waning, passed the
Lend-Lease Act in March 1941, allowing the U.S. to give Britain,
China and later the Soviet Union military supplies. The legislation had
hit a logjam until Sens. Byrd, Byrnes and Taft added a provision
subjecting it to appropriation by Congress.[161]
Congress voted to commit to spend $50 billion on military supplies from
1941 to 1945. In sharp contrast to the loans of
World War I, there would be no repayment after the war. Until late
in 1941, FDR refused Churchill's urgent requests for armed escort of
ships bound for Britain, insisting on a more passive patrolling function
in the western Atlantic.[162]
Election of 1940
The two-term tradition had been an unwritten rule (until the
22nd Amendment after Roosevelt's presidency) since
George Washington declined to run for a third term in 1796, and both
Ulysses S. Grant and
Theodore Roosevelt were attacked for trying to obtain a third
non-consecutive term. FDR systematically undercut prominent Democrats
who were angling for the nomination, including Vice President John Nance
Garner[163]
and two cabinet members, Secretary of State
Cordell Hull and
James Farley, Roosevelt's campaign manager in 1932 and 1936, the
Postmaster General and the Democratic Party chairman. Roosevelt
moved the convention to Chicago where he had strong support from the
city machine (which controlled the auditorium sound system). At the
convention the opposition was poorly organized, but Farley had packed
the galleries. Roosevelt sent a message saying that he would not run
unless he was drafted, and that the delegates were free to vote for
anyone. The delegates were stunned; then the loudspeaker screamed "We
want Roosevelt... The world wants Roosevelt!" The delegates went wild
and he was nominated by 946 to 147 on the first ballot. The tactic
employed by Roosevelt was not entirely successful, as his goal had been
to be drafted by acclamation.[164]
The new vice-presidential nominee was
Henry A. Wallace, a liberal intellectual who was Secretary of
Agriculture.[165]
In his campaign against Republican
Wendell Willkie, Roosevelt stressed both his proven leadership
experience and his intention to do everything possible to keep the
United States out of war. In one of his speeches he declared to
potential recruits that "you boys are not going to be sent into any
foreign war."[166]
He won the
1940 election with 55% of the popular vote and 38 of the 48 states.[167]
A shift to the left within the Administration was shown by the naming of
Henry A. Wallace as Vice President in place of the conservative Texan
John Nance Garner, who had become a bitter enemy of Roosevelt after
1937.
Third
term, 1941–1945
Policies
Roosevelt's third term was dominated by World War II. Roosevelt
slowly began re-armament in 1938, although he was facing strong
isolationist sentiment from leaders like Senators
William Borah and
Robert Taft. By 1940, re-armament was in high gear, with bipartisan
support, partly to expand and re-equip the Army and Navy and partly to
become the "Arsenal of Democracy" supporting Britain, France, China and
(after June 1941), the Soviet Union. As Roosevelt took a firmer stance
against the
Axis Powers, American isolationists (including
Charles Lindbergh and
America First) vehemently attacked the President as an irresponsible
warmonger.[168]
Roosevelt initiated
FBI and
Internal Revenue Service investigations of his loudest critics,
though no legal actions resulted.[169]
Unfazed by these criticisms and confident in the wisdom of his foreign
policy initiatives, FDR continued his twin policies of preparedness and
aid to the
Allied coalition. On December 29, 1940, he delivered his Arsenal of
Democracy fireside chat, in which he made the case for involvement in
the war directly to the American people. A week later he delivered his
famous
Four Freedoms speech laying out the case for an American defense of
basic rights throughout the world.
Roosevelt and
Winston Churchill aboard
HMS Prince of Wales for
1941 Atlantic Charter meeting.
The homefront was subject to dynamic social changes throughout the
war, though domestic issues were no longer Roosevelt's most urgent
policy concern. The military buildup spurred economic growth. By 1941,
unemployment had fallen to under 1 million. There was a growing labor
shortage, accelerating the
Great Migration of African Americans, farmers and rural populations
to manufacturing centers. To pay for increased government spending, in
1941 FDR proposed that Congress enact an income tax rate of 99.5% on all
income over $100,000; when the proposal failed, he issued an executive
order imposing an income tax of 100% on income over $25,000, which
Congress rescinded.[170]
When
Nazi Germany
invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, Roosevelt agreed to extend
Lend-Lease to the Soviets. Thus, Roosevelt had committed the U.S. to the
Allied side with a policy of "all aid short of war."[171]
Execution of the aid fell victim to foot dragging in the administration
so FDR appointed a special assistant, Wayne Coy, to expedite matters.[172]
Later that year a German submarine fired on the U.S. destroyer Greer
and Roosevelt declared that the U.S. Navy would assume an escort role
for Allied convoys in the Atlantic as far east as Great Britain and
would fire upon German ships or submarines (U-boats)
of the
Kriegsmarine if they entered the U.S. Navy zone. This "shoot on
sight" policy effectively declared Naval war on Germany and was favored
by Americans by a margin of 2-to-1.[173]
Roosevelt and Churchill conducted a highly secret bilateral meeting
in Argentia, Newfoundland, and on August 14, 1941, concluded their
Atlantic Charter, conceptually outlining global goals following the
war; this was the first of several
wartime conferences.[174]
In July 1941, Roosevelt had ordered
Henry Stimson,
Secretary of War to begin planning for total American military
involvement. The resulting "Victory Program," under the direction of
Albert Wedemeyer, provided the President with the estimates
necessary for the total mobilization of manpower, industry, and
logistics to defeat the "potential enemies" of the United States. The
program also planned to dramatically increase aid to the Allied nations
and to have ten million men in arms, half of whom would be ready for
deployment abroad in 1943. Roosevelt was firmly committed to the Allied
cause and these plans had been formulated before the
Attack on Pearl Harbor by the
Empire of Japan.[171]
Congress was debating a modification of the Neutrality Act in October
1941, when the
USS Kearny, along with other ships, engaged a number of
U-boats south of Iceland; the Kearny took fire and lost eleven
crewmen. As a result, the amendment of the Neutrality Act to permit the
arming of the merchant marine passed both houses, though by a slim
margin.[175]
In 1942, war production increased dramatically, but fell short of the
goals established by the President, due in part to manpower shortages.[176]
The effort was also hindered by numerous strikes by union workers,
especially in the coal mining and railroad industries, which lasted well
into 1944.[177]
The White House became the ultimate site for labor mediation,
conciliation or arbitration.[178]
One particular battle royal occurred, between Vice-President Wallace,
who headed the
Board of Economic Warfare, and Jesse Jones, in charge of the
Reconstruction Finance Corporation; both agencies assumed
responsibility for acquisition of rubber supplies and came to
loggerheads over funding. FDR resolved the dispute by dissolving both
agencies.[179]
In 1944 the President requested that Congress enact legislation which
would tax all unreasonable profits, both corporate and individual, and
thereby support his declared need for over ten billion in revenue for
the war and other government measures. The Congress passed a revenue
bill raising $2 billion, which FDR vetoed, though Congress in turn
overrode him.[180]
Pearl Harbor and declarations of war
|
|
|
Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against
Japan, December 8, 1941.
|
|
Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against
Germany, December 11, 1941.
|
Japan had annexed both Manchuria and Korea by 1937. When Japan
occupied northern
French Indochina in late 1940, FDR authorized increased aid to the
Republic of China, a policy that won widespread popular support. In
July 1941, after Japan occupied the remainder of Indo-China, he cut off
the sale of oil to Japan which thus lost more than 95 percent of its oil
supply. Roosevelt continued negotiations with the Japanese government,
primarily through Secretary Hull. Japan Premier Konoye desired a Pacific
conference with FDR which U.S. Ambassador Joseph Grew favored, but which
Hull opposed. When Kenoye failed to produce diplomatic results, Emperor
Hirohito replaced him with Minister of War Tojo.[181]
Meanwhile, Roosevelt started sending long-range B-17 bombers to the
Pacific.
FDR felt that an attack by the Japanese was probable – most likely in
the Dutch East Indies or Thailand.[182]
On December 4, 1941, The Chicago Tribune published the complete
text of "Rainbow
Five", a top-secret war plan drawn up by the War Department. It
dealt chiefly with mobilization issues, calling for a 10-million-man
army.
The great majority of scholars have rejected the
conspiracy thesis that Roosevelt, or any other high government
officials, knew in advance about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The Japanese had done a very good job in keeping their secrets. All
senior American officials were aware that war was imminent, but none
expected an attack on Pearl Harbor.[183]
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese
attacked the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, destroying or
damaging 16 warships, including most of the fleet's
battleships, and killing almost 3000 American military personnel and
civilians. Later that day, FDR called Churchill to confirm the news,
saying "We are all in the same boat now."[184]
The President summoned his cabinet to assess events and to review a
draft of his speech the next day to Congress. He rejected a suggestion
for requesting a declaration of war against Germany in addition to
Japan.[185]
Roosevelt, seeking a declaration of war against Japan, then delivered to
Congress his famous "Infamy
Speech" in which he said, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date
which will live in infamy — the United States of America was suddenly
and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of
Japan." Within an hour of the speech, Congress had passed a
declaration of war, as Britain had just hours earlier.[186]
In 1942 Roosevelt set up a new military command structure with
Admiral
Ernest J. King as Chief of Naval Operations in complete control of
the Navy and Marines; General
George C. Marshall in charge of the Army and in nominal control of
the Air Force, which in practice was commanded by General
Hap Arnold. Roosevelt formed a new body, the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, which made the final decisions on American
military strategy.[187]
The Joint Chiefs was a White House agency and was chaired by Admiral
William D. Leahy, but as the war progressed, Marshall increasingly
dominated its deliberations. When dealing with Europe, the Joint Chiefs
met with their British counterparts and formed the
Combined Chiefs of Staff.[188]
Unlike the political leaders of the other major powers, Roosevelt rarely
overrode his military advisors.[189]
His civilian appointees handled the draft and procurement of men and
equipment, but no civilians – not even the secretaries of War or Navy,
had a voice in strategy.[190]
Roosevelt avoided the State Department and conducted high level
diplomacy through his aides, especially
Harry Hopkins. Since Hopkins also controlled $50 billion in
Lend Lease funds given to the Allies, they paid attention to him.[191]
War plans
Roosevelt and his military advisers implemented a war strategy with
the objectives of halting the German advances in the Soviet Union and in
North Africa; launching an invasion of western Europe with the aim of
crushing Nazi Germany between two fronts; and saving China and defeating
Japan. Public opinion, however, gave priority to the destruction of
Japan, so American forces were sent chiefly to the Pacific in 1942.[192]
In the opening weeks of the war, Japan had conquered the Philippines,
and the
British and
Dutch colonies in
Southeast Asia, capturing
Singapore in February 1942. Furthermore Japan defeated the Allied
Forces in
Burma and advanced almost to the borders of
Bengal in
India, thus cutting off the overland supply route to China.
After Pearl Harbor, antiwar sentiment in the United States evaporated
overnight. On December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy declared war on the
United States, which responded in kind.[193]
Roosevelt met with Churchill in late December and planned a broad
informal alliance among the U.S., Britain, China and the Soviet Union.
This included Churchill's initial plan to invade North Africa (called
Operation Gymnast) and the primary plan of the U.S. generals for a
western Europe invasion, focused directly on Germany (Operation
Sledgehammer). An agreement was also reached for a centralized
command and offensive in the Pacific theater called
ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) to save China and defeat
Japan. Nevertheless, the Atlantic First strategy was intact, to
Churchill's great satisfaction.[194]
On New Year's Day 1942, Churchill and FDR issued the "Declaration by
United Nations", representing 26 countries in opposition to the
Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan.[195]
Internment of Germans, Japanese and Italians
When the war began, the danger of a Japanese attack on the coast led
to growing pressure to move people of Japanese descent away from the
coastal region. This pressure grew due to fears of terrorism, espionage,
and/or sabotage. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 9066 which relocated the "Issei" (first generation
of Japanese immigrants who did not have U.S. citizenship) and their
children, "Nisei" (who had dual citizenship).
After both Nazi Germany and
Fascist Italy declared war on the United States in December 1941,
German and
Italian citizens who had not taken out American citizenship and who
spoke out for Hitler and Mussolini were often arrested or interned.
War strategy
Roosevelt and Churchill at Casablanca Conference in early
1943
The "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Churchill, and
Joseph Stalin), together with Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek, cooperated informally on a plan in which American
and British troops concentrated in the West; Soviet troops fought on the
Eastern front; and Chinese, British and American troops fought in
Asia and the Pacific. The Allies formulated strategy in a series of high
profile conferences as well as contact through diplomatic and military
channels. Roosevelt guaranteed that the U.S. would be the "Arsenal of
Democracy" by shipping $50 billion of
Lend Lease supplies, primarily to Britain and to the USSR, China and
other Allies.
Roosevelt acknowledged that Americans had a traditional antipathy
towards the British Empire, saying:
- "It's in the American tradition, this distrust, this dislike and
even hatred of Britain– the Revolution, you know, and 1812; and
India and the Boer War, and all that. There are many kinds of
Americans of course, but as a people, as a country, we're opposed to
Imperialism—we can't stomach it."[196]
The
U.S. War Department believed that the quickest way to defeat Germany
was to invade France across the English Channel. Churchill, wary of the
casualties he feared this would entail, favored a more indirect
approach, advancing northwards from the Mediterranean Sea. Roosevelt
rejected this plan. Stalin advocated opening a Western front at the
earliest possible time, as the bulk of the land fighting in 1942–44 was
on Soviet soil. In May 1942 Stalin's Minister of Foreign Affairs
Vyacheslav Molotov met with Roosevelt in Washington and got from FDR
a commitment to the opening of a second war front in 1942 against the
Germans, by way of England. Shortly thereafter a postponement of this
became necessary, and Churchill carried the news to Stalin in Moscow.[197]
In October 1942, the President was advised that military resources
were desperately needed at Guadalcanal to prevent overrunning by the
Japanese. FDR heeded the advice, redirected armaments and the Japanese
Pacific offensive was stalled.[198]
The Allies undertook the invasions of French
Morocco
and
Algeria (Operation
Torch) in November 1942. FDR very much desired the assault be
initiated before election day, but did not order it. FDR and Churchill
had another war conference in Casablanca in January 1943; Stalin
declined an invitation. The Allies agreed strategically that the
Mediterranean focus be continued, with the cross-channel invasion coming
later, followed by concentration of efforts in the Pacific.[199]
Hitler reinforced his military in North Africa, with the result that the
Allied efforts there suffered a temporary setback; Allied attempts to
counterbalance this were successful, but resulted in war supplies to the
USSR being delayed, as well as the second war front.[200]
Later, their assault pursued into
Sicily
(Operation
Husky) followed in July 1943, and of Italy (Operation
Avalanche) in September 1943. In 1943 it was apparent to FDR that
Stalin, while bearing the brunt of Germany's offensive, had not had
sufficient opportunity to participate in war conferences. The President
made a concerted effort to arrange a one-on-one meeting with Stalin, in
Fairbanks. However, when Stalin learned that Roosevelt and Churchill had
postponed the cross-channel invasion a second time, he cancelled.[201]
The
strategic bombing campaign was escalated in 1944, pulverizing all
major German cities and cutting off oil supplies. It was a 50–50
British-American operation. Roosevelt picked
Dwight D. Eisenhower, and not
George Marshall, to head the Allied cross-channel invasion,
Operation Overlord that began on
D-Day, June 6, 1944. Some of the most costly battles of the war
ensued after the invasion, and the Allies were blocked on the German
border in the "Battle
of the Bulge" in December 1944. When Roosevelt died on April 12,
1945, Allied forces were closing in on Berlin.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific, the Japanese advance reached its maximum
extent by June 1942, when the U.S. Navy scored a decisive victory at the
Battle of Midway. American and Australian forces then began a slow
and costly progress called
island hopping or
leapfrogging through the Pacific Islands, with the objective of
gaining bases from which strategic airpower could be brought to bear on
Japan and from which Japan could ultimately be invaded. In contrast to
Hitler, Roosevelt took no direct part in the tactical naval operations,
though he approved strategic decisions.[202]
FDR gave way in part to insistent demands from the public and Congress
that more effort be devoted against Japan; he always insisted on Germany
first.
Post-war planning
By late 1943, it was apparent that the Allies would ultimately defeat
the enemy, so it became increasingly important to make high-level
political decisions about the course of the war and the postwar future
of Europe. Roosevelt met with Churchill and the Chinese leader
Chiang Kai-shek at the
Cairo Conference in November 1943, and then went to the
Tehran Conference to confer with Churchill and Stalin. While
Churchill warned of potential domination by a Stalin dictatorship over
eastern Europe, Roosevelt responded with a statement summarizing his
rationale for relations with Stalin: "I just have a hunch that Stalin is
not that kind of a man. . . . I think that if I give him everything I
possibly can and ask for nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he
won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of
democracy and peace."[203]
At the
Tehran Conference, Roosevelt and Churchill discussed plans for a
postwar international organization. For his part, Stalin insisted on
redrawing the frontiers of Poland. Stalin supported Roosevelt's plan for
the
United Nations and promised to enter the war against Japan 90 days
after Germany was defeated.
By the beginning of 1945, however, with the Allied armies advancing
into Germany and the Soviets in control of Poland, the postwar issues
came into the open. In February, Roosevelt traveled to Yalta, in
Soviet Crimea, to meet again with Stalin and Churchill. While
Roosevelt maintained his confidence that Stalin would keep his Yalta
promises regarding free elections in eastern Europe, one month after
Yalta ended, Roosevelt's Ambassador to the USSR
Averell Harriman cabled Roosevelt that "we must come clearly to
realize that the Soviet program is the establishment of totalitarianism,
ending personal liberty and democracy as we know it."[204]
Two days later, Roosevelt began to admit that his view of Stalin had
been excessively optimistic and that "Averell is right."[204]
Declining health
Roosevelt, who turned 62 in 1944, had been in declining health since
at least 1940. Noticeably fatigued, in March 1944, he went to Bethesda
Hospital for tests, the results of which were startling. The strain of
his paralysis and the physical exertion needed to compensate for it for
over 20 years had taken their toll, as had many years of stress and
smoking. The tests showed Roosevelt had numerous ailments including
chronic
high blood pressure, systemic
atherosclerosis,
coronary artery disease with
angina pectoris, and myopathic
hypertensive heart disease with
congestive heart failure.[205][206][207]
He may have used his authority over the
Office of Censorship to avoid press reports on his declining health
before the 1944 election.[208]
Election of 1944
Party leaders insisted that Roosevelt drop
Henry A. Wallace, who had been erratic as Vice President and was too
pro-Soviet.
James F. Byrnes of South Carolina, a top FDR aide, was considered
ineligible because he had left the Catholic Church and Catholic voters
would not accept him. Roosevelt replaced Wallace with Missouri Senator
Harry S. Truman, best known for his battle against corruption and
inefficiency in wartime spending. The Republicans nominated
Thomas E. Dewey, the liberal governor of New York. The opposition
lambasted FDR and his administration for domestic corruption,
bureaucratic inefficiency, tolerance of Communism, and military
blunders. Labor unions, which had grown rapidly in the war, threw their
all-out support behind Roosevelt. In a relatively close
1944 election, Roosevelt and Truman won 53% of the vote and carried
36 states.[209]
The President campaigned in favor of a strong United Nations, so his
victory symbolized support for the nation's future participation in the
international community.[210]
Due to the President's health and the ongoing state of war, the
President's fourth inauguration was held on the White House lawn.[211]
Fourth
term and death, 1945
Last
days, death and memorial
The President left the
Yalta Conference on February 12, 1945, flew to Egypt and boarded the
USS Quincy operating on the
Great Bitter Lake near the
Suez Canal. Aboard Quincy, the next day he met with
Farouk I, king of Egypt, and
Haile Selassie, emperor of Ethiopia. On February 14, he held a
historic meeting with
King Abdulaziz, the founder of Saudi Arabia, a meeting some
historians believe holds profound significance in U.S.-Saudi relations
even today.[212]
After a final meeting between Roosevelt and Prime Minister
Winston Churchill, Quincy steamed for Algiers, arriving
February 18, at which time Roosevelt conferred with American ambassadors
to Britain, France and Italy.[213]
At Yalta,
Lord Moran, Winston Churchill's physician, commenting on Roosevelt's
ill health, said that he was a dying man.[214]
When Roosevelt returned to the United States, he addressed Congress
on March 1 about the Yalta Conference,[215]
and many were shocked to see how old, thin and frail he looked. He spoke
while seated in the well of the House, an unprecedented concession to
his physical incapacity. Roosevelt opened his speech by saying, "I hope
that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down during
the presentation of what I want to say, but...it makes it a lot easier
for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the
bottom of my legs." Still in full command mentally, he firmly stated
"The Crimean Conference ought to spell the end of a system of unilateral
action, the exclusive alliances, the spheres of influence, the balances
of power, and all the other expedients that have been tried for
centuries– and have always failed. We propose to substitute for all
these, a universal organization in which all peace-loving nations will
finally have a chance to join."[216]
During March 1945, he sent strongly worded messages to Stalin
accusing him of breaking his Yalta commitments over Poland, Germany,
prisoners of war and other issues. When Stalin accused the western
Allies of plotting a separate peace with Hitler behind his back,
Roosevelt replied: "I cannot avoid a feeling of bitter resentment
towards your informers, whoever they are, for such vile
misrepresentations of my actions or those of my trusted subordinates."[217]
FDR gravesite at Hyde Park
On March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to the
Little White House at
Warm Springs, Georgia, to rest before his anticipated appearance at
the founding conference of the
United Nations. On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I
have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He then slumped forward in
his chair, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom. The
president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a
massive
cerebral hemorrhage (stroke).[218]
At 3:35 pm that day, Roosevelt died. As
Allen Drury later said, “so ended an era, and so began another.”
After Roosevelt's death, an editorial by The New York Times
declared, "Men will thank God on their knees a hundred years from now
that Franklin D. Roosevelt was in the White House".[219]
At the time he collapsed, Roosevelt had been sitting for a portrait
painting by the artist
Elizabeth Shoumatoff, known as the famous
Unfinished Portrait of FDR.
Roosevelt's horse-drawn casket proceeds down
Pennsylvania Avenue during his funeral procession.
In his later years at the White House, when Roosevelt was
increasingly overworked, his daughter
Anna Roosevelt Boettiger had moved in to provide her father
companionship and support. Anna had also arranged for her father to meet
with his former mistress, the now widowed
Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd. Shoumatoff, who maintained close friendships
with both Roosevelt and Mercer, rushed Mercer away to avoid negative
publicity and implications of infidelity. When Eleanor heard about her
husband's death, she was also faced with the news that Anna had been
arranging these meetings with Mercer and that Mercer had been with
Franklin when he died.
On the morning of April 13, Roosevelt's body was placed in a
flag-draped coffin and loaded onto the presidential train. After a White
House funeral on April 14, Roosevelt was transported back to Hyde Park
by train, guarded by four servicemen, one each from the Army, Navy,
Marines, and Coast Guard. As was his wish, Roosevelt was buried in the
Rose Garden of the
Springwood estate, the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park on April
15. Eleanor, who died in November 1962, was buried next to him.
Roosevelt's death was met with shock and grief[220]
across the U.S. and around the world. His declining health had not been
known to the general public. Roosevelt had been president for more than
12 years, longer than any other person, and had led the country through
some of its greatest crises to the impending defeat of Nazi Germany and
within sight of the defeat of Japan as well.
Less than a month after his death, on May 8, the war in Europe ended.
President
Harry S. Truman, who turned 61 that day, dedicated
Victory in Europe Day and its celebrations to Roosevelt's memory,
and kept the flags across the U.S. at half-staff for the remainder of
the 30-day mourning period, saying that his only wish was "that Franklin
D. Roosevelt had lived to witness this day."[221]
Administration, Cabinet, and Supreme Court appointments 1933–1945
President Roosevelt appointed eight Justices to the
Supreme Court of the United States, more than any other President
except
George Washington, who appointed ten. By 1941, eight of the nine
Justices were Roosevelt appointees. Harlan Fiske Stone was elevated to
Chief Justice from the position of Associate Justice by Roosevelt.
Roosevelt's appointees would not share ideologies, and some, like
Hugo Black and Felix Frankfurter, would become "lifelong adversaries."[222]
Frankfurter even labeled his more liberal colleagues Rutledge, Murphy,
Black, and Douglas as part of an "Axis" of opposition to his
judicial restraint agenda.[223]
Civil rights
Roosevelt was a hero to major minority groups, especially
African-Americans, Catholics, and Jews, and was highly successful in
attracting large majorities of these voters into his
New Deal coalition.[224]
He won strong support from Chinese Americans and Filipino Americans, but
not Japanese Americans.[225]
African-Americans and
Native Americans fared well in two New Deal relief programs, the
Indian Reorganization Act and the
Civilian Conservation Corps. Sitkoff reported that the WPA "provided
an economic floor for the whole black community in the 1930s, rivaling
both agriculture and domestic service as the chief source" of income.[226]
Roosevelt needed the support of Southern Democrats for his New Deal
programs, and he therefore decided not to push for anti-lynching
legislation that could not pass and might threaten his ability to pass
his highest priority programs—though he did denounce lynchings as "a
vile form of collective murder".[227]
Historian Kevin J. McMahon claims that strides were made for the
civil rights of African Americans. In Roosevelt's Justice Department,
the Civil Rights Section worked closely with the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).
Roosevelt worked with other civil rights groups on cases dealing with
police brutality, lynching, and voting rights abuses.[228]
Beginning in the 1960s FDR was charged[229]
with not acting decisively enough to prevent or stop
the Holocaust. Critics cite instances such as the 1939 episode in
which 936 Jewish refugees on the
SS St. Louis were denied asylum and not allowed into the
United States because of strict laws passed by Congress.[230]
The issue of desegregating the armed forces did not arise, but in
1940 Roosevelt appointed Hastie to be a civilian aide to Secretary of
War Henry L. Stimson.[231]
On the home front on June 25, 1941, Roosevelt signed
Executive Order 8802, forbidding discrimination on account of "race,
creed, color, or national origin" in the hiring of workers in defense
related industries.[232]
This was a precursor to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act to come
decades later.[233]
Enemy aliens and people of Japanese ancestry fared badly. On February
19, 1942, Roosevelt issued
Executive Order 9066 that applied to everyone classified as an
"enemy alien", including people who had dual citizenship living in
designated high-risk areas that covered most of the cities on the West
Coast.[234]
With the U.S at war with Italy, some 600,000 Italian aliens (citizens of
Italy who did not have U.S. citizenship) were subjected to strict travel
restrictions; the restrictions were lifted in October 1942.[235]
Some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were
forced to leave the West Coast. From 1942 to 1945, they lived in
internment camps inland. Those outside the West Coast, and in Hawaii,
were not affected.
Legacy
A majority of polls rank Roosevelt as the
second or third greatest president, consistent with other surveys.[236]
Roosevelt is the sixth
most admired person from the 20th century by U.S. citizens,
according to
Gallup.[237]
Roosevelt was also widely beloved for his role in repealing Prohibition.[109]
The rapid expansion of government programs that occurred during
Roosevelt's term redefined the role of the government in the United
States, and Roosevelt's advocacy of government social programs was
instrumental in redefining
liberalism for coming generations.[238]
Roosevelt firmly established the United States' leadership role on
the world stage, with his role in shaping and financing World War II.
His isolationist critics faded away, and even the Republicans joined in
his overall policies.[239]
After his death, his widow continued to be a forceful presence in U.S.
and world politics, serving as delegate to the conference which
established the United Nations and championing civil rights and
liberalism generally. Many members of his administration played leading
roles in the administrations of Truman,
Kennedy and
Johnson, each of whom embraced Roosevelt's political legacy.[240]
Reflecting on Roosevelt's presidency, "which brought the United
States through the Great Depression and World War II to a prosperous
future", said FDR's biographer
Jean Edward Smith in 2007, "He lifted himself from a wheelchair to
lift the nation from its knees."[241]
Both during and after his terms,
critics of Roosevelt questioned not only
his policies and positions, but even more so the consolidation of
power in the White House at a time when dictators were taking over
Europe and Asia.[242]
Many of the New Deal programs were abolished during the war by FDR's
opponents. The powerful new wartime agencies were set up to be temporary
and expire at war's end.[243]
Roosevelt's
home in Hyde Park is now a
National Historic Site and home to his
Presidential library. His
retreat at Warm Springs, Georgia is a museum operated by the state
of Georgia. His summer retreat on
Campobello Island is maintained by the governments of both Canada
and the United States as
Roosevelt Campobello International Park; the island is accessible by
way of the
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Bridge.
The
Roosevelt Memorial is located in Washington, D.C. next to the
Jefferson Memorial on the
Tidal Basin, and Roosevelt's image appears on the
Roosevelt dime. Many parks and schools, as well as an
aircraft carrier and a
Paris subway station and hundreds of streets and squares both across
the U.S. and the rest of the world have been named in his honor.
Roosevelt was a strong supporter of
scouting, beginning in 1915. Roosevelt's leadership in the
March of Dimes is one reason he is commemorated on the American
dime.[244][245]
Roosevelt was honored by the
United States Postal Service with a
Prominent Americans series 6¢
postage stamp, issue of 1966. Roosevelt also appears on several
other
U.S. Postage stamps.[246]
The airport of the Dutch Caribbean island of
St. Eustatius is named
F.D. Roosevelt Airport after Roosevelt, whose ancestors lived on the
island in the 18th century. Most of the arms and supplies for
George Washington's fight against the British came to North America
through St. Eustatius. When in the port of the island in 1939, Roosevelt
presented the inhabitants with a plaque commemorating that in 1776 "Here
the sovereignty of the United States of America was first formally
acknowledged to a national vessel by a foreign official", the famous
"First Salute". The plaque hangs on the flag pole of the island's
Fort Oranje.[citation
needed]
Media
Collection of video clips of Roosevelt
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