President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Franklin D. Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. He grew up the only child in an upper middle-class family. He graduated from Harvard and Columbia Law School. (Photo Credit: CORBIS)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Franklin D. Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. He grew up the only child in an upper middle-class family. He graduated from Harvard and Columbia Law School. (Photo Credit: CORBIS)

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt: In 1905, Roosevelt married his influential future first lady, Eleanor, a niece of Theodore Roosevelt and a distant cousin. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

Assistant Secretary of the Navy: Roosevelt's early involvement in politics included a seat in the New York State Senate and the role of Woodrow Wilson's assistant secretary of the Navy during World War I. (Photo Credit: Library of Congress)

The Great Depression: He served as governor of New York from 1929 to 1932, during which time he tested out various programs to help during the Great Depression. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

FDR campaigns for president: Roosevelt's appeal for a strong federal role in boosting industry and the public welfare led to his election as the 32nd president of the United States in 1933. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

Herbert Hoover and Roosevelt: Roosevelt defeated incumbent Herbert Hoover during the election of 1932 and won with a gross total of 472 electoral votes. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

FDR with his First Cabinet: In 1933, Roosevelt embarked on an ambitious effort to jump-start the economy through federal work and welfare policies called "The New Deal". (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

Roosevelt gives fireside chat: Roosevelt began radio speeches called "fireside chats" that were used to keep the public optimistic during the Great Depression. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

FDR signing bill: In 1921 at the age of 39, Roosevelt contracted a rare incidence of adult polio and lost the use of his legs. There are very few pictures of him actually sitting in his wheel chair, since he didn’t want photographs that visually represented his disability. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: When it looked as if Hitler might invade Britain after the saturation bombing of London, Roosevelt boldly launched the "lend-lease" program early in 1941, which promised massive weapons and war-material exports to Britain. (Photo Credit: Public Domain)

Attack on Pearl Harbor: Japan bombed American fleets at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 which pushed the United States to formally declare war. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

FDR declares war: Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war and American industry then underwent a massive conversion to defense production. (Photo Credit: Library of Congress)

Japanese Internment Camp: Roosevelt controversially supported the internment of Japanese in America during the war. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

Roosevelt making a radio announcement: He worked closely with Allied leaders to plan the liberation of Europe, which was led by American troops. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

Churchill, FDR, and Stalin at Yalta: In delicate war-time negotiations with Stalin, Roosevelt recognized the strategic importance of relying on the Soviet Union to divert Hitler's attention away from an Allied liberation of Europe. (Photo Credit: US Navy)

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Roosevelt's health deteriorated rapidly toward the end of the war and his physical ailments became clearly visible to the public. (Photo Credit: CORBIS)

FDR's funeral procession: FDR died on April 12, 1945, of a stroke at his home in Warm Springs, Georgia, leaving Vice President Harry Truman to see the U.S. to victory (Photo Credit: Library of Congress)

Polio victim lays wreath at FDR's grave: In 1938, Roosevelt founded the March of Dimes to raise funds for polio research and rehabilitation. (Photo Credit: Bettmann/CORBIS )

Works Cited

Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. 2006. National Archives. 15 May. 2012

<http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/contact.html>

Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 1999. The White House. 10 May. 2012

<http://www.whitehouse.gov/copyright>

FDR’S First Inaugural Address. 1993. Random House. 10 May. 2012

<http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/>

Franklin Delano Roosevelt: The Presidents. 2010. Corp. for Public Broadcasting. 12 May. 2012<

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/fdr/

>

American President: Franklin D. Roosevelt. 2006. Rector and Visitors. 7 May. 2012<http://millercenter.org/president/fdroo

sevelt>

Franklin D. Roosevelt Biography. 2012. Advameg Inc. 3 May. 2012

<http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ro-Sc/Roosevelt-Franklin-D.html#b>

Biography on Franklin Delano

RooseveltBy Haley Zigas