Who Is Franklin Roosevelt

 

Patricia Truslow, Contributor

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who is franklin rooseveltFranklin Delano Roosevelt, or FDR, is a name automatically associated with the presidency of the United States and with politics, in general. Franklin Roosevelt was the longest serving president in the history of America, having served three full terms and the beginning of a fourth. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president that brought the nation through the Great Depression and World War II; he was recognized the world over for his defense of freedom and universal human rights.

As a world leader, Franklin Roosevelt set the stage for opposition to communism and all other forms of oppressive government. He believed that democracy, strengthened by a constitutional form of government was the only successful form of government that guaranteed freedom and the natural, God-given rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Roosevelt promoted governmental support of the people who could not provide for themselves during times of economic strife, and he fostered programs to that end during his years as president. The name Franklin Delano Roosevelt has always represented the best interest of the people, particularly "the forgotten man" at the bottom of the economic and societal pyramid. His name is synonymous with programs for the impoverished.

The FDR acronym is also synonymous with worker-protection programs. During his presidency, Franklin Roosevelt advocated for unions, wage and hour laws and the Social Security Act, an employee/employer contribution program that provided for and protected elderly workers upon retirement, which he signed in 1935.

The name, Franklin Roosevelt and its association with politics continued through the work of FDR, Jr., as well as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, III. FDR, Jr., a lawyer, involved himself in both Democrat and Republican politics by serving on President Truman's Civil Rights Commission, being the New York State's Representative to Congress for six years, and by campaigning for Dwight Eisenhower during his presidential election, which eventually made him very unpopular with the Democratic Party.

Although Franklin Delano Roosevelt, III has not sought public office, as an economist, he follows in his grandfather's footsteps by addressing economically related concerns of the people. Dr. Roosevelt, a professor and an author, concentrates his work on combining Marxism and capitalism as a way to prevent the "winner takes all" setting in business and economics. It was the same approach President Roosevelt took with the private enterprise system in 1932 to structure the workplace and the economy to better suit the worker not just the profitability of the business owner.

The name Franklin Delano Roosevelt also calls to mind the man who owned it. Raised in an affluent and snobbish family, young Roosevelt was sheltered from society except for those people whom his parents deemed "satisfactory" for him to know. Once he entered private school, however, Roosevelt became very popular, outgoing and conversational, albeit a little prone to mischief and exaggeration. When he entered politics for the first time, Roosevelt was exposed to ordinary Americans. He warmed quickly to them and they to him; it was a relationship that he cherished and built upon until his death. His endearing personality often masked the fact that one seldom knew what he was really thinking. Franklin Roosevelt rarely revealed his true thoughts or what his intentions were until he felt the time was right, but the public trusted him and his decisions.