Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The First 100 Days and Other Presidential Plans
FDR's History
He was born in 1882 at Hyde Park, New York. He attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. After graduating, he married Eleanor Roosevelt on St. Patrick's Day, 1905. Following the example of his fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, whom he greatly admired, Franklin D. Roosevelt entered public service through politics, but as a Democrat instead of a Republican. He won election to the New York Senate in 1910. President Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920, but his party lost. In the summer of 1921, when he was 39, he was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, or polio. Demonstrating incredible courage, he fought to regain the use of his legs, especially through swimming. At the 1924 Democratic Convention, he dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith as "the Happy Warrior." In 1928, Roosevelt became Governor of New York. He was in his second term as governor of New York when he was elected as the nation's 32nd president in 1932.
Eleanor Roosevelt and Her Role During FDR's Presidency
During the depression she had a direct and sometimes personal role in the lives of people who needed assistance. She visited coal mines, migrant camps and the homes of slum dwellers, she inspected government programs and projects as well. In 1936 she started writing a column six days a week called "My Day" that urged measures to be taken to help the American people.
Fireside Chats
First 100 Days
"This nation asks for action, and action now"-FDR
Emergency Banking Relief Act
The Emergency Banking Relief Act was when President Roosevelt shut down banks for a while so that federal inspectors from the treasury department could declare whether the banks were able to operate again. If the bank was declared stable, it would be reopened and given help and loans to keep it going. If the bank was declared unstable, they were never reopened. This was only a temporary solution. Less than a year later the FDIC would be created as a more permanent solution.