X Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2018

Probably there is not a single person who does not know Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt led the USA through two of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War II. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his Inaugural Address, «the only thing we have to fear is fear itself».

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in 1882 in a prominent Dutch-American New York family and visited Groton School. He graduated from Harvard College in 1903 and entered Columbia Law School. He was the only child in the family. Franklin D. Roosevelt was educated by tutors and governesses until age 14, and the entire household revolved around him. Roosevelt's Mom Sara Anne Roosevelt has always played a huge role in his life. Eleanor Roosevelt is a distant cousin of Franklin. He was in love with her. However, their marriage from the very beginning was displeased.

In 1910 Franklin was elected to the New York State Legislature from Duchess County. He was called a cross reformer, because he preferred the "middle guy" in business and championed for honest government. In 1913 he was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy and served under Josephus Daniels and President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1921 Roosevelt was stricken with polio and paralyzed. Despite the fact that Franklin Roosevelt could not move, he did not lose his political ambitions. His main symptoms were fever, symmetric, ascending paralysis, facial paralysis, bowel and bladder dysfunction, numbness and hyperesthesia and a descending pattern of recovery.

In 1928 Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York, when the stock market crashed, but he was ready to solve this problem. The new governor presented projects relief and public works projects for the millions of unemployed in the state. Roosevelt's successes allowed him to become a strong candidate for the Presidency in 1932.

As the 1932 presidential election approached, Roosevelt increasingly turned his attention to national politics. Many Democrats hoped that in the election the first democratic president would be elected after Wilson, because the economy is in a bad state. Roosevelt rallied the progressive supporters of the Wilson administration while also appealing to many conservatives, establishing himself as the leading candidate in the South and West.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first major party candidate for the presidency, he immediately flew from New York to accept the candidacy. In his acceptance speech, Roosevelt declared, «I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people. This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms». Roosevelt promised securities regulation, tariff reduction, farm relief, government-funded public works, and other government actions to address the Great Depression.

He became president on March 4, 1933. At this time there were more than 15 million unemployed, so it was up to him to solve this problem. Millions more had been hard hit by the Depression and the banking system had collapsed. Roosevelt launched a radical program, known as the New Deal. The New Deal worked to balance competing interests to create a fair deal for all sides: labor and management, consumer and business, developer and conservationist.

Roosevelt recognized that his program was not perfectly neutral because the government needed to intervene more actively on behalf of the general public to ensure economic opportunity for all. He created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), which made the federal government the guarantor of people's bank deposits - not the banks themselves - and allowed drought-stricken farmers to refinance their mortgages. He created public works programs including the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), as well the Social Security system. His administration regulated minimum wage (allowing more goods to be bought), maximum hours (allowing jobs to be spread over a wide range of people), and prices (for fair competition). Child labor was outlawed; a 40-hour work week with overtime pay was mandated. Labor reform was probably the most revolutionary part of Roosevelt's New Deal. Roosevelt forever changed the role of the federal government in his the state. The New Deal had a n important impact in the housing field. The New Deal sought to stimulate the private home building industry and increase the number of individuals who owned homes. Before the New Deal 4 out of 10 Americans owned homes. This was because the standard mortgage lasted only 5 to 10 years and had interest as high as 8%. Under the New Deal, Americans had access to 30year mortgages, the standardized assessment and construction standards helped open up the housing market to more Americans. Indeed, forty years after the implementation of the New Deal, 2/3% of Americans were home owners.

In 1936, he won Republican Alf Landon and again became president. However, the second term was less successful. Roosevelt sought legislation to enlarge the Supreme Court, which had been invalidating key New Deal measures. Roosevelt lost the Supreme Court battle, but a revolution in constitutional law took place.

Roosevelt had pledged the United States to the «good neighbor» policy, Roosevelt promised the United States the policy of "good neighbor", transforming the unilateral American manifesto into mechanisms of mutual struggle with the aggressors. He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. When France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt directed organization of the Nation's manpower and resources for global war.

Roosevelt understood that the future peace will depend on the relations between the US and Russia, so he thought for a long time about planning the United Nations, which is capable of resolving international contradictions.

On April 12, 1945, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. This death shocked the whole country.

Roosevelt's presidency is characterized by the evolution of the role of government. The unique situation facing his administration forced them to reconsider what powers their government really had and to evolve new strategies for coping. Franklin D. Roosevelt has done a lot for his state, sparing no effort.

References

Chernyavsky G. Franklin Roosevelt // Life of beautiful people, 2012.

https://uznayvse.ru/znamenitosti/biografiya-franklin-ruzvelt.html.

http://www.correctenglish.ru/reading/biographies/franklin-roosevelt/

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