FDR--A Four Term Progressive Part 1

Handsome fellow isn't he? This is the young Franklin Delano Roosevelt as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the two terms of President Woodrow Wilson, our first aggressive Progressive.

His long and distinguished political career started in 1910 when he was elected to the New York Senate. Wilson appointed him Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. In 1920 he ran with James Cox on the Democrat ticket as the Vice Presidential candidate. In 1921 he was diagnosed with polio, a disease that would see him tied to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Despite his illness he ran for Governor of NY in 1928 and entered the governor's mansion on January 1, 1929 with a full blown depression starting that year. FDR's next stop was the White House with his victory over Herbert Hoover in November of 1932. He went on to win the presidency three additional times to become the only four term president in the history of the country.

FDR is a man whose name causes emotions to be put into churn mode. As a young lad growing up in rural Pennsylvania farm country I was surrounded by Roosevelt Democrats. Indeed, like my entire family, I to looked upon myself as a Roosevelt Democrat and did so into the late 1960s when, in 1968, I voted for Richard Nixon and did so again in 1972. Obviously my views of FDR changed. I came to believe, and still do, that FDR is the man who placed us on the road to fascism the road we are currently traveling. This series will look at his life, his record and legislation during the depression and war time periods.

FDR came into the world on January 10, 1882. He was an only child born to James Roosevelt and Sara Delano, both from wealthy families with long pedigrees. His father was of Dutch heritage with lines that ran to Elizabeth Monroe, the President Monroe's wife, Benedict Arnold, and Joseph Smith, Jr the founder of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter Day Saints. On his mother's side he was related to Laura Ingalls Wilder, and to four travelers on the Mayflower, Richard Warren, Isaac Allerton, Degory Priest, and Francis Cooke. One thing to keep in mind; he was, during her lifetime, completely devoted to his very possessive mother.

A graduate of Groton School, an Episcopalian prep and boarding school, FDR studied under the tutelage of Endicott Peabody, the headmaster at Groton. It was Peabody who taught young Roosevelt that public service should be his great calling, a fine idea as long as one leads with one's brain instead of one's heart. In assisting the unfortunates teach them to fish instead of giving them fish because the former will insure the continued dignity of man.

After his graduation from Groton, FDR entered Harvard. Harvard was the school attended by cousin Teddy and he became president while FDR was at Harvard. Teddy's use of the bully pulpit would serve as the model for FDR. Keep in mind that cousin Teddy was the Republican who took that party into the Progressive era and began the centralization of the federal government.

The next few years were busy for Roosevelt. He met his future wife in 1902, Anna Eleanore Roosevelt, the niece of Theodore Roosevelt. Franklin married his fifth cousin in March of 1905. Franklin married Eleanore despite the protestations and resistance of his mother who opposed the marriage. Even after moving to their home in Springwood, part of his family's holding, Sara made a point of frequent visits to the young couple much to the chagrin of Eleanore.

In 1905, FDR also entered Columbia Law school but dropped out in 1907 wen he took and passed the New York Bar. Roosevelt never did graduate from Columbia. He practiced law as a member of a Wall Street firm, Carter Ledyrd and Milburn concentrating on corporate law from 1908-1910.

It was in 1910 that Roosevelt entered the political arena. Young, handsome, and articulate, he ran for a seat in the state assembly representing the wealthy area around Hyde Park, home to many wealthy people. Roosevelt won that election and was now launched into his political career, a career he would continue for a life time.