No other person in the United States has been elected president four times like Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was last elected president for a fourth term in November 1944. He was sworn in for a fourth term on January 20, 1945. Today’s event is about him.
Former US President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was the President of the United States from 1933 to 1945. Photo: Taken from the White House website
He pulled the United States out of the Great Depression and was the visionary of today’s United Nations. Under his leadership, the Allies marched to victory against Adolf Hitler’s Germany and the Axis Powers in World War II. Overcoming all physical obstacles, he was elected President of the United States four times in a row.
He is Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only US president to have served four consecutive terms, serving for 12 consecutive years. Roosevelt was the longest-serving US president. Generally, according to the law, no person can be president more than twice in the United States. However, after Roosevelt was elected President four times, it was made a law that the same person can be president for a maximum of two terms.
Childhood
A cute baby was born to James and Sarah Roosevelt in 1882. He was named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. James, a wealthy New York businessman, owned a lot of land. He was also involved in Democratic Party politics. Sarah was his second wife. Sarah used to spend time with their only child, Roosevelt. Franklin Roosevelt started his education at home with a tutor as a child.
At the age of 14, Roosevelt started going to Groton School. This was his first proper schooling outside the home. Groton School is one of the elite private schools in the United States. Children from wealthy families study at that school. After completing his education there, Roosevelt went to Harvard College in 1900. There he met Anna Eleanor and they married.
Suffering from polio
In 1921, Roosevelt went to spend his summer vacation at the family cottage on Campobezo Island in Canada. He was sailing on his yacht in the Bay of Fundy. There, he suddenly fell from the yacht into the icy water below. Initially, his body went numb due to the extreme cold. Then his back started to hurt. By the third day, he could no longer use his legs. He could not even stand.
Despite various tests, doctors could not diagnose Roosevelt’s illness. Finally, on August 25 of that year, doctor Robert Lovett announced that Roosevelt had contracted polio. Roosevelt was 39 years old at the time.
Usually, children under the age of five are infected with polio. But how did a middle-aged man like Roosevelt contract the disease? Explaining this, doctor Lovett said that when the poliomyelitis virus enters the human body, the person has to be physically and mentally healthy and the body’s natural immunity has to be strong to fight it. Since Roosevelt has been under mental stress for a long time due to his involvement in politics, his immunity has become weak. Roosevelt’s mother told him to quit politics.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as the first President of the United States in 1933. Franklin D. Roosevelt was sworn in as the first President of the United States in 1933. Photo: Reuters. Return to politics. Roosevelt withdrew from politics due to physical disabilities. He began his struggle to recover. He started swimming and exercising regularly to get back on his feet. He would even exercise while hanging out with friends. With his own persistence, effort, and patience, Roosevelt gradually started to get out of his wheelchair. At one point, he also returned to politics. His wife Anna Eleanor Roosevelt played an important role in bringing him back to politics. In private, Roosevelt used a wheelchair. But in public, he used to get from one place to another in various ways. He also learned to walk on the shoulders of another person. In 1928, Roosevelt was elected Governor of New York.
Taking office for the first time during the Great Depression
When Roosevelt was first elected president in November 1932, the US economy was in the throes of the Great Depression. By March of the following year, the number of unemployed in the country had reached 13 million, and almost all banks were closed. In his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt made one proposal after another to restore the economy and Congress approved them.
Roosevelt’s efforts led to a significant turnaround in the US economy in 1935. Reform initiatives in various departments increased Roosevelt’s popularity with the general public across the country; although businessmen and bankers were increasingly turning against him. Roosevelt won a second term in 1936 with a landslide victory due to his role in restoring the country’s economy. Roosevelt worked to restore the country’s economy in his second term as well.
Third election victory and the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution
Victory in the third election and the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution
When Roosevelt decided to run for president for his third term, the United States had not yet fully recovered from the effects of the Great Depression. On the other hand, World War II had begun to spread in Europe. Hitler’s Germany had defeated the French army.
At that time, instability at home and abroad opened the door for Roosevelt to become the president of the United States for the third time, breaking tradition. It was believed that he would be the only one who could restore stability at home and abroad by creating a tough competition in the unstable situation.
Roosevelt ran for the third time in the presidential election in July 1940. His decision displeased many within the party. However, Roosevelt left everything behind and won the election on November 5 of that year. He made history by being sworn in as president of the United States for the third time. It was the first time in US history that a person had been president for three consecutive terms. Almost a decade after Roosevelt won the election that year, the US Constitution was amended to prevent a person from serving more than two terms.
In 1940, the opposition Republican Party strongly opposed the incumbent president’s third term. But the Democrats argued that the Republican candidate, Wendell Willkie, was not a qualified candidate. They described Willkie as a “third-rate” candidate.
Towards the end of the election campaign, Roosevelt made a strong promise that he would keep America out of the war in Europe. The people believed in his promise and he won the election easily.
As promised, Roosevelt kept America out of World War II. But he could not keep this promise for long. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, taking Germany’s side in the war. Although it was a surprise attack, it did not take long for the United States to recover from the shock. The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt declared in a speech on national radio that “this day will go down in history.”
The United States entered World War II with all its might. 16 million American men were mobilized to fight this war. Of these, 450,000 died. According to the US Constitution, the president is the commander-in-chief of the US Army and Navy.
Roosevelt fulfilled this constitutional duty well during World War II. He formed a close partnership with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and then-Soviet leader Joseph Stalin to fight against Germany. The United States played a significant role in defeating Adolf Hitler’s Germany by supplying nearly $50 billion in weapons and equipment. In a speech at the time, Roosevelt said that he chose this war to defend freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of will, and freedom from fear.
Three world leaders at the Yalta Conference—Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin
Three world leaders at the Yalta Conference—Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph StalinPhoto: AFP
Why did the sick Roosevelt run for a fourth term
Roosevelt had asthma since childhood. He was often sick as a child. He was infected with polio in middle age. He served three terms as President of the United States with fragile health. Although he could not walk properly, he played an important role in pulling the country’s economy out of the Great Depression as president. He managed a world war. Roosevelt’s health was very fragile at that time.
In 1944, Roosevelt entered his twelfth year as president. Another presidential election was knocking on the door. Meanwhile, World War II was a huge challenge for Roosevelt. It was not enough to simply defeat the Axis powers in the war; to maintain a long-term peace after the war, negotiations with other allies, including the Soviet Union, would have to be reached. He had begun these tasks. But his health was deteriorating rapidly over the past few months. Roosevelt, in particular, contracted a severe cold after returning from the Tehran Conference in December 1943. He was losing weight and was constantly tired.
Roosevelt underwent a detailed medical examination on March 28, 1944. The disease that had been diagnosed during the examination was not disclosed at the time. But later his doctor at the time said that the lungs of the 62-year-old Roosevelt had become very weak. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure and bronchiolitis. However, the most serious problem was in the heart.
Medical science was not that advanced at that time. There was no medicine to control high blood pressure. The only way out was to control his lifestyle. At that time, doctors advised that Roosevelt’s physical condition was not suitable for serving as president for another four years. This responsibility will put severe strain on his body.
But Roosevelt was intoxicated by power. Ignoring the warnings of his doctors, he decided to accept the party nomination in a weak body.
Not only Roosevelt’s health, but also the choice of his running mate for the service caused a storm of controversy in the Democratic Party. Roosevelt chose Harry S. Truman as his running mate, leaving aside his own Vice President Henry Wallace. He continued his election campaign despite his poor health. He was also able to show himself to be quite healthy in front of the public. Roosevelt won despite not getting the votes as he had three previous times.
First time in a wheelchair in public
In January 1945, Roosevelt flew 14,000 miles to attend the Yalta Conference. There, he and British Prime Minister Churchill clashed with Soviet leader Stalin on various issues. The day after returning from the conference, on March 1, he came to deliver the conference report before Congress. Roosevelt made his first public appearance in a wheelchair in his 12-year presidency, and gave a speech while sitting in a wheelchair.
Roosevelt went to Georgia from Washington for a vacation in late March. He died there on April 12. Just 82 days after being sworn in as President of the United States. The cause of death was a cerebral hemorrhage.
Other controversies
In addition to breaking tradition and becoming President of the United States more than twice, there were other controversies surrounding Roosevelt. It is said that he was the one who started the journey to create the world’s most lethal weapon, the atomic bomb.
Scientist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to US President Roosevelt in August 1939. Because of that letter, the work of creating the atomic bomb, known as the ‘Manhattan Project’, began in the United States. The fruit of that project was the atomic bomb. A few months after Roosevelt’s death, in August 1945, the United States exploded two atomic bombs in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destructive power of this bomb shocked the world.
