Lived

January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945

Home State

New York

Party

Democratic

Vice President

John N. Garner; Henry A. Wallace; Harry S. Truman

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only President elected four times and guided the nation through the Great Depression and most of World War II. His New Deal produced Social Security, banking and securities regulation, labor rights, and the Wagner Act. He led the Allied war effort after Pearl Harbor and established the framework of the United Nations. He also signed Executive Order 9066, interning over 120,000 Japanese Americans, and his 1937 court-packing plan failed. His death in office, three weeks before V-E Day, elevated Harry Truman. New York State Senator, Assistant Secretary of the Navy under Wilson, unsuccessful vice-presidential nominee (1920), Governor of New York.

Groton; Harvard College, 1903; Columbia Law School (attended).

Launched the New Deal in his first 100 days. Signed Social Security, banking and securities regulation, and the Wagner Act. Led the Allied war effort after Pearl Harbor. Established the framework of the United Nations. Died in office three weeks before V-E Day. Signed the Social Security Act (1935), the National Labor Relations Act (1935), the Fair Labor Standards Act (1938), the Emergency Banking Act (1933), the Glass–Steagall Act (1933), the Securities Act (1933), the Securities Exchange Act (1934), and the Lend-Lease Act (1941).

Signed Executive Order 9066, forcing the internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans — upheld at the time in Korematsu v. United States and later formally repudiated. His 1937 court-packing plan failed and cost him political capital. New Deal programs were often administered in ways that excluded Black workers, particularly in the South.