Free The Great Depression in United States History by David K. Fremon

Chapter 4
    FDR
1932 Presidential Election

Image Credit: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
Franklin D. Roosevelt scored an incredible victory in the 1932 presidential election. Herbert Hoover beat the Democrat in only six eastern states—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.
    On Inauguration Day, 1933, America faced a national crisis. Thousands of banks had gone out of business, and millions of workers were unemployed. It would take an extraordinary leader to guide the country from economic ruin. America found such a hero, but he was an unlikely one.
Young FDR
    If anyone was “born with a silver spoon in his mouth,” it was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. His family had wealth. It was not the newly acquired wealth of capitalists. Instead, it was the wealth of American aristocracy. Young Franklin had twelve ancestors who came to America on the Mayflower and others who were among European royalty. Distant relatives included eleven former United States presidents. Neighbors along New York’s Hudson River Valley had known and respected the Roosevelts for generations.
    Roosevelt’s father James and mother Sara rejoiced at the birth of their son in 1882. Franklin Roosevelt grew up happy, safe, and more than a little spoiled. By the time he was sixteen years old, he had visited Europe eight times.
    Franklin attended Harvard, where he was known more for his yachting skills than his grades. At Harvard, he fell in love with the woman who became his wife.
    Some people say that opposites attract. That seemed to be the case with Franklin Roosevelt. Young, handsome, and wealthy Franklin Roosevelt could have dated many women. His fourth cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, was a plain, shy orphan. Yet she had qualities that attracted him. He admired her intellectual abilities. She also showed great concern for other, less fortunate people.
    Franklin idolized Eleanor’s uncle, former president Theodore Roosevelt. When Eleanor and Franklin were married in 1905, Theodore (who was Franklin’s fifth cousin) gave the bride away. Franklin was aware of Theodore’s career path—New York state assembly, assistant secretary of the Navy, governor of New York, president. He followed a similar one.
Sunrise at Campobello
    Roosevelt’s state senate district was wealthy and overwhelmingly Republican. Even the most loyal Democrats gave him little chance of winning when he ran in the 1910 election. But Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, refused to listen to scoffers. He toured the district in his red car, shook as many hands as possible, and squeezed out a narrow victory.
    Franklin supported Woodrow Wilson for president in 1912. The new chief executive rewarded Roosevelt by making him assistant secretary of the Navy. By most accounts, he was a hard-working administrator. But skills in the Cabinet do not always mean election victories. Roosevelt was trounced in a 1914 Senate election. Six years later, he ran for vice president with James M. Cox. Republicans Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge defeated Cox and Roosevelt. “It wasn’t a landslide,” noted Joseph Tumulty, President Wilson’s private secretary. “It was an earthquake.” 1
    Even with the loss, Franklin Roosevelt’s political future appeared bright. Voters throughout the country now knew him. His possibilities appeared limitless—until one summer day in 1921.
    The Roosevelts were vacationing at their summer home at Campobello, New Brunswick, in Canada. It was a typical busy day for the active Franklin Roosevelt. He sailed with his sons, fought a small forest fire, then refreshed himself with a swim in the cold ocean water.
    When he woke up the next day, he could not move his legs. Franklin Roosevelt had contracted the polio virus a few weeks earlier. The swim tightened his muscles and put him into shock. Although he tried hard, he never walked unaided again. A few months later he received sevenpound leg braces, which would be his companions for the rest of his life.
    Franklin