Country Vacations & Resorts

Time in Office: March 1933 – April 1945
Terms: 4 (died in office – fourth term)
Birthday: January 30, 1882
Birth Place: Hyde Park New York
Date of Death: April 12, 1945
Place of Death: Warm Springs, Georgia, The “Little White House.”
Buried: Springwood Estate, Roosevelt’s family home in Hyde Park, NY

Notes:
~ Only American President elected to more than two terms
~ Only physically disabled US President
~ Was an avid sailor
~ Roosevelt’s dog “Fala” was the most photographed dog in the world
~ Won his third election with a 55% popular vote
~ Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America

Although America’s 32nd President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a privileged and somehat isolated start in life, he would be known as an advocate for the “common man” and one of the most politically savvy of all the US Presidents.

Born in 1882 to a wealthy and socially prominent family in Hyde Park, New York, young Franklin had, before he reached the age of 10, had traveled with his parents to Europe several times. His father taught him to sail, he could converse in German and French, but when it came time to board at the exclusive Groton School in Massachusetts, Franklin’s social skills with boys his own age was lacking.

Roosevelt graduated Harvard in 1903. While he was there, his fifth cousin, Theodore, became President of the United States. It was at a White House reception he attended in 1902 where Franklin became reacquainted with the niece of Theodore Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt, also a distant relation of Franklin.

March 17, 1905, during the time Franklin was working on Wall Street, he and Eleanor married and moved into Springwood. Many summers were spent swimming and sailing from their house at Campobello, Canada. By 1916, the couple had six children but a marriage that was less than perfect – Franklin being social and outgoing while Eleanor was more quiet and introspective.

Two terms in the Senate led to his appointment as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. Taking an active role during World War I, Franklin visited Britain and France in 1918 where he first met Winston Churchill. Nominated as the Democratic Vice-President in 1920, but defeated by Republicans, Roosevelt returned to his New York law practice.

In August 1921 at the age of 39 and while vacationing at Campobello, Roosevelt became ill – leaving him partially paralyzed. Polio was the diagnosis although later opinions suggest Guillian-Barr Syndrome.

Never believing his paralysis was permanent, Roosevelt bought a boat and for most of the next seven years, was at least physically absent from politics – instead spending his time fishing and sailing in south Florida and the Caribbean. It was during this time frame that Franklin first visited Warm Springs, Georgia – believing the thermal pools there would benefit his physical condition.

Eleanor was instrumental in keeping FDR’s name in the political forum during this time and by the 1928 election, Franklin was Governor of New York. By March 4, 1933, he was inaugurated President of the United States. In the midst of the Great Depression, Franklin worked tirelessly to re-start the economy and develop systems to create jobs for the high number of unemployed and economically devastated Americans. He was re-elected in 1936 and again in 1940 – facing continuing if lessening economic issues, and the growing threat of war in Europe, and US involvement.

Presidential Travel Map – FDR

As expected in over a decade in office, Franklin Roosevelt traveled extensively: a secret meeting with Churchill aboard the HMS Prince of Wales in the North Atlantic in 1942, the Casablanca Conference in early 1943, in Cairo at another conference in December 1943, and the Yalta Conference in 1945.

By 1944 at the age of 62, Franklin was in declining health and returned frequently to his ‘Little White House” Warm Springs, Georgia to rest.

On April 12, 1945, just 82 days into his 4th Presidential term and one month prior to the end of World War II, Roosevelt collapsed at Warm Springs and died.

His body was placed onboard the Presidential train headed for a White House funeral on April 14th and then his final journey to his burial at his boyhood home in Hyde Park, New York.

Thousands of people lined the train’s route to pay tribute to FDR, the People’s President.

Links:

Roosevelt Memorial
Roosevelt Campobello International Park
Home of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Former President #31, Herbert Hoover.

Next President #33, Harry S. Truman