In the 1930’s the United States need a president that would be able to lead the country through the tough times of the Great Depression and World War II. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the man who was capable to lead the country through these challenging times.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the adored only child of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt born on January 30, 1882 at Hyde Park, New York. Both sides of the family, the Delano and the Roosevelt had business associates of shipping interests in coal and railroads. They both had long English-Dutch patrician pedigrees (Franklin D. Roosevelt 1).
The estate where Franklin grew up had everything that a boy could want. “There were devoted servants; fields and woods to play in and horse, dogs, and all the usual farm animals (Tugwell 1-2).” As a boy Franklin had rooms where he could keep all of his toys and his collections of stamps, stuffed birds and minerals (1-2). He would be outside in all seasons and absolute loved it but most of all he loved to be on the water sailing (Susskind Early Years).
Even though he would rather be outside he had to go to school. Well he did go to a formal school until he was fourteen instead he had tutors and governesses. These teachers made such an impact on him that he never forgot them (4). When Franklin finally entered Groton he was behind as the other students had already attended for two years. After graduation from Gorton he went to Harvard University. Roosevelt studied history and economics as a graduate student (Nelson 372). After Harvard Roosevelt went to Columbia University to study law, he passed the bar but never graduated from Columbia (372).
While Franklin was at Harvard he courted Eleanor Roosevelt. They had met years earlier at a family party. They didn’t see each other very often except at family parties but they did write letter to each other. The closer they became the more they spent with each other. Eleanor and Franklin would often go visit Sara at Hyde Park (Susskind Early Years). Franklin married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17, 1905. In the first five years of their marriage four of the six children were born.
Eleanor and Franklin were two very different people but they worked well together. Eleanor was socially conscious as Franklin was socially adept. She was as sincere as he was artful, and as insecure as he was ebullient and engaging. Eleanor also possessed an intelligence, compassion and idealism that reveal something of Franklin’s aspiration (Franklin D. Roosevelt 2). With being socially conscious Eleanor need some assistance when they lived in Washington D. C. as Franklin was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, so Eleanor hired Lucy Mercer to be her personal social secretary. Lucy Mercer made the choices of which social events Eleanor would go to and helped Eleanor prepare for the social event. Lucy was a great help to Eleanor.
One day was Eleanor was unpacking Franklin’s suitcase after returning from France, she found a stack...
