American President
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
Facts at a Glance
- Term
- 32nd President of the United States (1933–1945)
- Born
- January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York
- Full Name
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- Nickname
- “FDR”
- Education
- Harvard College (graduated 1903), Columbia Law School
- Religion
- Episcopalian
- Marriage
- March 17, 1905, to Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962)
- Children
- Anna Eleanor (1906–1975), James (1907–1991), Franklin Delano Jr. (1909), Elliott (1910–1990), Franklin Delano Jr. (1914–1988), John Aspinwall (1916–1981)
- Career
- Public Official, Lawyer
- Political Party
- Democrat
- Writings
- The Happy Warrior, Alfred E. Smith (1928), F.D.R.: His Personal Letters (4 vols., 1947-50), ed. by Elliott Roosevelt
- Died
- April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia
- Buried
- Hyde Park, New York
- A Life in Brief
- Faced with the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt, nicknamed “FDR,” guided America through its greatest domestic crisis, with the exception of the Civil War, and its greatest foreign crisis. His presidency—which spanned twelve years—was unparalleled, not only in length but in scope. More »
- I call for effort, courage, sacrifice, devotion. Granting the love of freedom, all of these are possible. And the love of freedom is still fierce and steady in the nation today.
- June 10, 1940
Roosevelt Multimedia Gallery
Selected Roosevelt Speeches
First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1933)
On "Court-Packing" (March 9, 1937)
"Stab in the Back" (June 10, 1940)
Four Freedoms (January 6, 1941)
Declaration of War (December 8, 1941)
War with Japan (December 9, 1941)
Tehran and Cairo (December 24, 1943)
Fourth Inaugural (January 20, 1945)
Essays on Franklin D. Roosevelt and His Administration
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt
- A Life in Brief
- Life Before the Presidency
- Campaigns and Elections
- Domestic Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Death of the President
- Family Life
- The American Franchise
- Impact and Legacy
- Key Events
- First Lady
- Anna Roosevelt
- Vice President
- John N. Garner (1933–1941)
- Henry A. Wallace (1941–1945)
- Harry Truman (1945)
- Secretary of State
- Cordell Hull (1933–1944)
- Edward R. Stettinius Jr. (1944–1945)
- Secretary of War
- George H. Dern (1933–1936)
- Harry H. Woodring (1936–1940)
- Henry L. Stimson (1940–1945)
- Postmaster General
- James A. Farley (1933–1940)
- Frank C. Walker (1940–1945)
- Secretary of the Interior
- Harold L. Ickes (1933–1945)
- Secretary of Commerce
- Daniel C. Roper (1933–1938)
- Harry L. Hopkins (1938–1940)
- Jesse H. Jones (1940–1945)
- Henry A. Wallace (1945)
- Secretary of the Treasury
- William H. Woodin (1933–1933)
- Henry Morgenthau Jr. (1934–1945)
- Attorney General
- Homer S. Cummings (1933–1939)
- Frank Murphy (1939–1940)
- Robert H. Jackson (1940–1941)
- Francis B. Biddle (1941–1945)
- Secretary of the Navy
- Claude A. Swanson (1933–1939)
- Frank Knox (1940–1944)
- Charles Edison (1940–1940)
- James V. Forrestal (1944–1945)
- Secretary of Agriculture
- Henry A. Wallace (1933–1940)
- Claude R. Wickard (1940–1945)
- Secretary of Labor
- Frances Perkins (1933–1945)
Consulting Editor: William E. Leuchtenburg
Professor Leuchtenburg is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His writings include:
The White House Looks South: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson (Louisiana State University Press, 2005)
The FDR Years: On Roosevelt and His Legacy (Columbia University Press, 1995)
The Perils of Prosperity, 1914-32 (University of Chicago Press, 1993)
Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940 (Harper Collins, 1963)
Presidential Speeches
Below are selections from the Miller Center’s Franklin D. Roosevelt speech collection.
March 4, 1933—First Inaugural Address
March 9, 1937—Fireside Chat 9, On "Court Packing"
January 6, 1941—State of the Union (Four Freedoms)
December 8, 1941—Address to Congress Requesting a Declaration of War
December 24, 1943—Fireside Chat 27, On the Tehran and Cairo Conference
Scholarship and Speakers
The Miller Center of Public Affairs is a national nonpartisan center to research, reflect, and report on American government, with special attention to the central role and history of the presidency. Below is a selection of Miller Center resources on Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Watch
Journalist Jon Meacham’s 2003 presentation at the Miller Center on Roosevelt and Churchill.
President Franklin Roosevelt led the country as Commander in Chief during World War II. Learn more about the Miller Center’s National War Powers Commission.
Learn more about the Center’s National Commission on Presidential Press Conferences and its relationship to Roosevelt.
Scripps Library Reference Resources
Below are links to reference resources prepared by the Miller Center’s Scripps Library, designed to help students and scholars conduct their research quickly.
Information on Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Private and Public Papers
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