Born January 30, 1882 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was an only child born to James Roosevelt and Sara Roosevelt. Residing at his parent’s lavish estate, Springwood, overlooking the Hudson River in Hyde Park, New York. Franklin Roosevelt developed an expertise in the French and German languages. He also grew a particular fondness for adventure tales. Franklin also grew to love outdoor sports and became an excellent swimmer as well as a fine sailor.

In the fall of 1900 Franklin enrolled at Harvard University and majored in history earning fair grades. He graduated in 1903 and in 1904 enrolled in Columbia University Law School and passed the bar exam. However he had little interest in the study of law and left the school in 1907 before receiving a degree.

In 1903 Franklin was engaged to Eleanor Roosevelt, a distant cousin. Franklin and Eleanor were married in 1905. In 1906 Franklin and Eleanor’s first child, Anna was born. Five sons followed, one dying during infancy. In 1908 Eleanor discovered Franklin having an affair with Lucy Mercer, a young woman who served as Eleanor’s social secretary. Eleanor offered Franklin a divorce but they decided to stay married as divorce was considered a disgrace and it would have damaged his political career.

On August 9, 1921 disaster struck and Franklin fell into the cool waters of New Brunswick, Canada. The future president had been stricken with polio. Franklin attempted to recover the use of his legs with exercise and treatment and although he increased in strength in the upper body, he would never walk unaided again.

In 1928 Franklin ran for governor of New York and won. In September of 1929 the stock market crashed and Franklin spent the next 4 years as governor dealing with the consequences.

In November of 1932 Franklin was elected President and when he was sworn in in March of 1933, almost every bank was closed and 13,000,000 Americans were unemployed. Franklin put forward programs called the New Deal Programs. The New Deal programs established heavier taxes on the wealthy, social security, the FDIC, and created jobs for over eight million Americans.

Franklin not only served in 1932, but was reelected in 1936, 1940, and 1944. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed the Nation’s manpower and resources for global war. As the war drew to a close, Roosevelt’s health deteriorated and on April 12, 1945 he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He was buried at Hyde Park.