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Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Birth: January 30, 1882 Death: April 12, 1945 Political Party: Democratic VP First Term (1933-1937): John N. Garner VP Second Term (1937-1941): John N. Garner VP Third Term (1941-1945): Henry A. Wallace VP Fourth Term (1945): Harry S. Truman

During Franklin Delano Roosevlet's extended stay in the White House he faced some of the toughest problems ever to come across the desk of the Oval Office in American history. He was hurled into office during America's worst financial crisis up to that point in time and he lead us right up through the second World War. For the credible job he did while at the helm of the nation I would have to award him the grade of an A.

Roosevelt's policies changed like the seasons between his four terms as president. During his first term in office it was obvious that his main goal was to guide America out of the Great Depression by means of his New Deal. He was thrust into office with over 13 million people that were currently unemployed. What he did to correct this was encat numerous economic policies that would create jobs and also aid the unemployed. An example of a policy that FDR enacted was the Federal Emergency Relief Administration which was designed to create jobs for American people and get the nation back on its feet. Also during his first term he sought to correct the failing banking system. He accomplished this through things such as taking America off the Gold Standard in 1933 and also creating the Banking Act of 1935 which created a central banking system. The main goal that Roosevelt had during his secon term was keeping America on a policy of isolationism and avoiding conflict with the European nations. Evidence of this attempt could be seen through legislation such as the his various neutrality acts in 1935,36,37, and 39. He somewhat failed at this because America eventually got into the war in 1941. His goals during his third and fourth term as president were to defeat the Axis Powers and end the war in a victory for the Allies. Although he did not live to see the end of the war his goals were accomplished.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt had a pretty good relationship with Congress during his four terms. This was quite obvious during the first 100 days he was in office when he enacted countless new acts that were aimed to set the nation on the right course to guide them out of the Great Depression. The only slip up he had during his presidency was the issue with the Supreme Court when the tried to rule some his acts were unconstitutional.

I would have to say that the best decision that Roosevelt made during his prseidency was deciding to enter the war after Pearl Harbor in 1941. Despite the fact we lost over one million soldiers (1/20 of what Russia lost on the other hand) it saved the world from what Hitler may have done if we continued on with the policy of appeasement. This decision helped out on the home front because he thrust the nation into a war time economy which rocketed us out of the economical funk that the nation was in. For the worst decision that FDR made during his terms in office was his decision to pull out of the London Conference. By doing so over the issue of setting the value of the dollar to a fixed amount in the foreign market it allowed the dictators to take advantage of the situation and gain more power.

The lasting impact that FDR and his administration had on future president's was that a president was now limited to only two terms. Although some may interpret FDR as having somewhat of a dictatorship the country needed a strong leader like FDR to guide them through the economic and foreign problems that it faced.

Everything that FDR accomplished during his presidency was very beneficial to America and he is a perfect model for all the presidents that followed him. Because of the way he was able to lead our country through the Great Depression and World War II I would have to award him the grade of an A.

Sources:

1. "Domestic Affairs." __American President__. 2008. Miller Center of Public Affairs. 10 Dec. 2008 http://millercenter.org/academic/americanpresident/fdroosevelt/essays/biography/9.

2. "Franklin D. Roosevelt Biography". Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum. December 11, 2008 http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/fdrbio.html.

3. __American Pageant : Advanced Placement__. Boston: Houghton Mifflin College Division, 2001. 777-854.