Franklin Delano Roosevelt, better known as FDR, was the only President elected to 4 terms. FDR became president in the midst of the Great Depression, but brought the hope and vigor he promised in his famous inaugural speech, which included perhaps the most well-known presidential phrase in American history: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”. In a Depression ridden country, FDR began to enact one of the most distinguished programs in American history: The New Deal. The New Deal encompassed many different bills, starting with the Emergency Banking Act, the Economy Act, and the Civilian Conservation Corps, and extending over eth next six years, ending in 1939 and ending with the Executive Reorganization Act. The events of the entire New Deal is too much to include in this brief narrative, and in order to fully understand them, you can visit here. The New Deal was the most dramatic and important moment in the modern history of American government, and from the time of FDR’s inauguration in 1933 to the beginning of WWII eight years later, the federal government engaged in a broad and diverse series of experiments designed o relieve the distress of unemployment and poverty, to reform the economy to prevent future crises, and to bring the Great Depression itself to an end. However, it had only partial success in all those efforts, and for this reason, the New Deal is the most debated series of legislature in American history.
However, the New Deal was only half of FDR’s legacy. During his presidency, America entered the greatest war the world has seen to this day. At first, Roosevelt attempted to keep America the “master of her own fate”, and in the beginning of the war, America was truly neutral, but they eventually moved to send support (in means of supplies) to the besieged Great Britain. In September of 1941, Nazi submarines began a campaign against American vessels, and the war was about to begin. Then, at 7:55 AM on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and destroyed 8 battleships, 3 cruisers, 4 other vessels, 188 airplanes, and several shore installations, in addition to killing 2,000 soldiers and sailors, and injuring 1,000 more. However, none of the Aircraft carriers (the heart of the Pacific Fleet) had been at Pearl Harbor on this day (many conspiracy theories that FDR let this attack happen and knew about it in advance circulate to today). The next day, FDR went to Congress and got approval for war, and three days later, Germany and Italy declared war on the US.
FDR served as president throughout almost all of WWII, and was elected as president a fourth time in 1944. However, as the war was finally coming to a close, Roosevelt's health (which had never been great – before his presidency he suffered from polio) deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage. The presidency was forced on the unprepared and uninvolved Harry S. Truman.