Franklin Delano Roosevelt :: essays research papers

Franklin Delano Rooesvelt   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This essay will focus on the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt devoted much of his later years in life to help the needy. As president, Roosevelt passed as many bills, lobbing for as much congressional support as he could get to aid him in his attempts to help the unemployed, starving and poor people that society had forgotten. President Roosevelt has often been called the most beneficial president that America has had in the twentieth century, some may argue that he was the best president since Lincoln. Roosevelt truly dedicated his life to humanitarian efforts worldwide, never stopping to take a break until his unfortunate early death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Never in the history of the United States had there ever been such a terrible, long-lasting, economic depression then the one that began just before President Roosevelt ran for his first presidential election. Thirteen million people were out of work, about one quarter of the working age population and cities - as well as states - were losing money fast, as there were no taxes to be collected. Schools were closed because the states did not have enough money to fund them and people were homeless and starving; living - and dying - on the very streets where just a few years ago America experienced its first economic boom. This sets the stage for the most triumphant presidency this country has ever seen. Triumphant not only over the war that was to follow but also over economic as well as social barriers. It would be nothing short of the truth to say that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his staff saved this country from total economic collapse. President Roosevelt’s heritage traces all the way back to our great nation’s colonial times. Being of Dutch and English ancestry, his ancestor, Klaes Martensen had been a Dutch immigrant, settling in New York in 1645. Almost two hundred years later, on January 30, 1882, Franklin Delano was born. Both of his parents had come from upper-class families. His father, James Roosevelt was the vice president of the Delaware and Hudson Railway Company. Franklin lived a life almost all would envy, growing up about 100 miles north of New York City on his parents’ Hyde Estate. The estate, totaling about 100 acres in size overlooked the Hudson River and had a breathtaking view of the Catskill mountains. He led a good life, going to well-renound private schools then graduating, to attend Harvard and later Colombia Law School.