FDR, New Deals, and the Limits of Power 171with average grades in 1904, and after that he attended law school at
Columbia and passed the bar, but chose not to practice. Roosevelt’s academic
career was not impressive, but he more than made up for that with his per-
sonality—he was handsome, fun-loving, charming, and well-liked by many
women. In 1902, however, he met Eleanor Roosevelt, Teddy’s niece and a dis-
tant cousin, and they fell in love and got married in 1905, with now-President
Roosevelt giving the bride away. With his name and connections, he had
immediate access to power. He soon began a career that mirrored his cous-
in’s, and in time would become even more famed. He earned a seat in the
New York state senate, and then became assistant secretary of the navy (like
TR had in 1897-98), and in 1920 the Democratic Party nominated him for
vice president, an election he and James Cox lost in a landslide. Roosevelt’s
name and connections had served him well, but he was still not a national
figure like his cousin Teddy.
A personal tragedy changed his life, however, and turned him into a serious
man and public servant. In 1921, while on a fishing trip off the coast of
Canada, he got polio, permanently paralyzing him from the waist down. His
paralysis turned out to be like Abraham Lincoln’s “log cabin” story—a sym-
bolic way to sympathize and connect with the problems of the common man
because of his own background and problems. And FDR would realize as he
became president that, while he could afford health care and remain comfort-
able, the typical person was getting crushed by the depression, and the White
House had to do something to make things better. After coming down with
polio, and a couple years rehabilitating at Hyde Park, Roosevelt returned to
public life not as a fun-loving playboy, but as a serious public figure. In 1928,
he made a well-received, eloquent speech nominating Al Smith—the governor
of New York and first Catholic to be a major party candidate—at the
Democratic Convention. Two years later, he was elected New York governor,
again emulating his cousin TR, who had held that office in 1899-1900. FDR,
more serious, kinder and gentler, was now arguably the most important
Democrat in America, and with Hoover’s presidency in crisis, his name imme-
diately surfaced as a future presidential candidate. And, so, in 1932, he ran for
office. Given the depths of the depression, his path to the White House was
not going to be difficult, hence his huge victory.
FDR’s triumph was also a victory for liberals, those who, like the Progressives
a generation earlier, sought to reform capitalism by making the lives of workers,