Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Early Life, Politics, and World War II

This essay provides a detailed account of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life, from his birth and education to his political career and presidency. It covers key aspects of his time in office, including the New Deal programs, his handling of the Great Depression, and his leadership during World War II. The essay highlights significant acts and policies enacted during his presidency, such as the Emergency Banking Act, the Federal Securities Act, and the Lend-Lease Act. It also explores his contributions to the economy, his efforts to increase female participation in politics, and his strategic decisions during the war, including the attack on Pearl Harbor and the alliance with Britain. The essay concludes by emphasizing Roosevelt's role in shaping the modern presidency and his lasting impact on American society and global affairs, detailing his death and legacy.

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Franklin Delano Roosevelt
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12/10/2018

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Introduction
This essay is about President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the 23rd president of the
U.S.A (Black, 2012). This essay provides details of his early personal life from birth, to
education, to marriage and the moves on to his works in the political field. This essay
provides a summery of the entire functioning of the government between the years 1933 to
1945, all the years he was active as president in the U.S government.
From “new deal” to his 4th presidency victory the essay covers it all. All the acts
passed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt within this time are listed in the essay. America faced
very severe problems such as the great depression and most significantly the World War 2
during his presidency the essay showcases how perfectly he handled the entire situation and
generated necessary acts, enforcements and relationships for getting out successfully from
these major issues. The essay finally tells us how the legend died.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took birth in 30, 1882, in a big estate
neighbouring Hyde Park, a village in New York. He did his schooling from elite schools like
Groton and Harvard and studied with the help of private tutors. At the time when he was in
college he got into a love relationship with Theodore’s (his fifth cousin) niece, Anna Eleanor
Roosevelt. He got married to Eleanor in 1905. They together had one daughter and 5 sons.
One among his sons deceased in infancy.
He studied in law school at Columbia University. He worked in the post of a clerk for
Wall Street law firm. He finally came into politics in1910 by winning the election as a
democrat in Republican Duchess County. He became the assistant secretary of the United

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States Navy in 1913 .In 1918, while in this post he travelled to Europe to visit naval bases
and battlefields soon after the U.S. became a part of the World War II.
In the book The Politics of the Presidency Pika states, “FDR established the hope that
the president should be actively involved in all the stages of the legislative process by
submitting a program to the leading party (Congress in his case), working for its agreement,
and directing its implementation (Pika, Maltese, & Rudalevige, 2017).” He carried on a
number of works which proves this statement.
In the year 1933 he got elected as the 23rd President of the U.S.A. He then selected
Francis Perkins as the secretary of labor, she was the very first woman to get appointed for a
cabinet post. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s wife and first lady of the United States,
Eleanor Roosevelt of America encouraged him to maximise female participation in the
political system and provided many contributions towards it herself as well.
During Roosevelt's “Hundred Days” originally congresses first meet his “new deal”
was agreed upon and brought into action which enabled to pass the Emergency Banking Act.
Under him congress passed the Federal Securities Act, Tennessee Valley Act (TVA), Federal
Emergency Relief Act (FERA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). On last day of
Roosevelt’s “Hundred Days,” Congress passed many bills which are National Industry
National Recovery Administration (NRA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Recovery
Act (NIRA) and National Labor Board. He established the Works Administration (Hawley,
2015).
In 1934 congress passed the Gold Reserve Act. The very next day, he entitled the
Farm Mortgage Refinancing Act and Congress passed the Tydings-McDuffie Act. He gave
rise to a committee to investigate how much influence and profit the manufacturers of

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munitions gained from the involvement of U.S. in the War. He signed the Home Owners
Loan Act and the Securities Exchange Act (SEC), the Reciprocal Trade Agreement Act, the
Communications Act, Federal Communications Commission (FCC). His contributions for
strengthening the economy of the country were huge (Centre, 2018).
In 1935 Congress passed the National Labor Relations Act, Emergency Relief
Appropriation Act, , creating the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the Social
Security Board (SSB), the Revenue Act, Social Security Act, and the Neutrality Act.
In 1936 ending battle which was over 10 years long, the Adjusted Compensation Act
after Roosevelt's veto was passed. In that same year Roosevelt won re-election to the
presidency.
In 1937 Roosevelt began his second term. He promised to continue his fight of
bringing back economic health to the nation. Under his presidency William H. Hastie became
the first federal judge who was black. Congress also passed the National Housing Act.
In 1938 Roosevelt signed the second Agricultural Adjustment Act; Congress also
passed the Revenue Act of 1938. Congress continued making and implementing policies that
increased the role of federal government in the regulation of America’s finance and industry.
The Spanish Civil War ended and the U.S recognized the government which was headed by
General Francisco Franco.
In 1939, Germany launched a severe attack on Poland and with that the World War
two began. France and Britain declared war with Germany due to very low domestic support
Roosevelt declared U.S. neutrality. Roosevelt signed the Neutrality Act of 1939. Germany
invaded Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium; and Winston Churchill became the Prime
Minister of Britain on that day, soon after Churchill sent Roosevelt the first among the many

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personal telegrams to request for the provision of aid and direct participation of America in
the war. Roosevelt established the Office for Emergency Management to verify that America
will not participate in the war.
In 1940 while giving a lecture at the University of Virginia, Roosevelt announced that
America will change its state with respect of the war from “neutrality” to “non-belligerency
which justifies that America will not directly participate in the war but will openly support
the Allies. Congress passed the Alien Registration Act. Roosevelt signed the Selective
Training and Service Act.
Roosevelt won for the third-term as the President of the U.S.A as well. During his
end of the year chat of fireside, Roosevelt declared that the U.S is supposed to be the arsenal
of democracy and as the 1st war was a huge mistake it won’t be repeated again.
In 1941 The United Service Organizations (USO) was formed. FDR signed the Lend-
Lease Act. The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was established; Roosevelt signed the
Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC). Roosevelt established the Office of Scientific
Research and Development (OSRD), Roosevelt ordered the U.S. Navy planes for shooting at
any Axis ships that were seen to be in the U.S. defensive waters. The largest tax bill was
signed which was of more than $3 billion for defence.
In 1941, on December 7, Japanese attacked the U.S. at the Pearl Harbor naval base in
Hawaii. After that attack, the U.S participated in the World War II, announcing war against
Japan. Roosevelt’s strategy had significant drawbacks. By isolating Japan they got triggered
and became more violent. Roosevelt created the War Labour Board (WLB). Roosevelt
ordered all aliens in the U.S. to get registered, with the federal government of U.S. The U.S.

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joined hands with Britain and formed a common chief to supervise and fight the war (Feis,
2015).
In 1942 Roosevelt signed the congressional act launching the Women's Auxiliary
Army Corps. The Office of War Information (OWI) was established. Americans joined in
national initiative to collect the rare rubber scraps required for war. In the Casablanca
Conference in Morocco, Roosevelt along with other Allied members agreed that the Axis
powers will surrender unconditionally; occupy Europe through Sicily and Italy, blast-off a
combined bomber on Germany, escalate aid to Russia and they will impeach the Battle of the
Atlantic with higher energy.
In 1943 the first bomber was invaded on Germany by America. In the same year FDR
freezed the prices, and salaries in an effort to save for war. FDR established the Office of
War Mobilization.
In Moscow, a meeting was held where it was decided to propose to the attackers to
behave with the Axis powers legitimately after the war is finished, and to form an
international organization for peace. On 28 November, President Franklin Roosevelt attended
a conference in Tehran, Iran. During the Conference, the leaders conversed about the World
War II and post-war strategies. The conference continued until 1December, 1943. To
conclude they pledged their support for each other and made an agreement for military
operation against Germany (Barnes, 2016).
In 1944 U.S. forces implemented their war attacks and suffered huge loss to finally
attain success under Roosevelt congress sanctioned a joint resolution of almost $1.35 billion
for the Rehabilitation Agency and United Nations Relief for recovery of severe post war
effects. Under the administration of Roosevelt America gradually attained a lot of success in

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the war and things were slowly getting under control. Roosevelt signed the Servicemen's
Readjustment Act. Allied forces liberated Paris, France. Roosevelt wins the elections for the
fourth term as President (Barnes, 2016).
In 1945 while in a vacation in the hot Springs in Georgia, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt died from an immense cerebral haemorrhage.
These were all the key events that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a part of. He
was believed to be the first American president so increase the direct participation of the
president in the legislature of a countries government. He brought in significant changes in
the government functioning of the U.S.A.
Only after Roosevelt became the president of the U.S.A the expectations from a
president and the responsibilities associated with him increased, before him it wasn’t a norm
for the president to be so directly involved in the governance and his only role was to
exercise his powers for approval of policies but Roosevelt changed it all for good.
He also brought in varies cultural changes as well to empower the deprived
community with increasing their active participation in the governmental rule this included
women and blacks.
His wife supported him and directly participated herself in empowering American
women in governmental and non-governmental fields. During his presidency America saw
very significant events such as the great depression and most significantly the World War 2.
His active participation helped in resolving these issues with ease and helped America get out
of these severe problems and developed increasingly in economic, agricultural, military,
health care, employment etc.

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He justified that the direct participation of the president in formulation of a legal
policy. The president is supposed to make policies and submit it to the government party they
are leading, further upon agreement of the ministers the president finally forms a legal draft
of the policy and signs it to establish it finally.
Policy making is surely the utmost duty of the president but what is more important as
justified by Roosevelt is directly participating and supervising its implementation of the
policy in order to ensure that it is correctly issued and work related to it is carried further for
maximum provision of effective results. He also showcased how in severe emergency
situations a President is responsible to make urgent quick decisions and act upon it.
Conclusion
This essay states that Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first President of the U.S.A to
start the trend of the president to not only sit and sign the policies made by the ruling party
but to directly participate in policy making, drafting, implementing and supervising to ensure
maximum positive outcome. He passed many acts to enforce America’s development in
diverse fields such as agriculture, finance, healthcare, employment, military etc.
His contribution to the country during the 2nd World was very huge. In the beginning
to ensure that America stays away from all the negativity that participating in the war will
bring in, FDR decided to stay neutral, taking a lesson from the havoc that the 1st World war
brought in. Only after continues insisting from alliance he decided to provide them help, only
after the Pearl Harbor attack Roosevelt declared war even if his strategies failed in the
beginning his smart decisions and the help of other axis helped America to attain victory in
the war. After the war was over Roosevelt ensured the post war recovery is taken care of
effectively as well.

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References
Barnes, H. E. (2016). Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace: A Critical Examination Of The
Foreign Policy Of Franklin Delano Roosevelt And Its Aftermath. United States of
America: Pickle Partners Publishing.
Black, C. (2012). Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom. United States of
America: Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom.
Centre, M. (2018). FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT - KEY EVENTS. Retrieved December 10,
2018, from Miller Centre: https://millercenter.org/president/franklin-d-roosevelt/key-
events
Feis, H. (2015). Road to Pearl Harbor: The Coming of the War Between the United States
and Japan. United States of America: Princeton University Press.
Hawley, E. W. (2015). The New Deal and the Problem of Monopoly. United States of
America: Princeton University Press.
Pika, J. A., Maltese, J. A., & Rudalevige, A. (2017). The Politics of the Presidency (9 ed.).
United States of America: CQ Press.

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