7 Franklin D. Roosevelt 7Early Life and Political Activities
Roosevelt was the only child of James and Sara Delano
Roosevelt. Young Roosevelt was educated privately at
home until age 14, when he entered Groton Preparatory
School in Groton, Massachusetts. In 1900 Roosevelt
entered Harvard University. It was during his Harvard
years that he fell in love with Eleanor Roosevelt, the niece
of Theodore Roosevelt and a distant cousin. They were
married on March 17, 1905. Roosevelt attended Columbia
University Law School. After passing the New York bar
exam, he went to work as a law clerk.
Motivated by his cousin, former president Theodore
Roosevelt, Franklin looked for an opportunity to launch a
career in politics. He served in the New York senate from
1910 to 1913 and as U.S. assistant secretary of the navy from
1913 to 1920. Although he was stricken with polio in 1921,
he remained active in Democratic politics and was elected
governor of New York State in 1928. Roosevelt was then
reelected in 1930.
Economic Depression and the Presidency
Amidst the background of economic depression, Roosevelt
won the Democratic presidential nomination in 1932 and
went on to be elected president over the incumbent
Herbert Hoover. By inauguration day—March 4,
1933—most banks had shut down, industrial production
had fallen to just 56 percent of its 1929 level, at least 13 mil-
lion wage earners were unemployed, and farmers were in
desperate straits. In his inaugural address, Roosevelt
promised prompt, decisive action, and he conveyed some
of his own unshakable self-confidence to millions of
Americans listening on radios throughout the land. “This
great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and