Franklin D. Roosevelt (150)
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to as FDR, served as the 32nd President, from 1933 until his death in 1945. In 1921, he contracted a paralytic illness which left his legs permanently paralyzed. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated Republican president Herbert Hoover. He took office in the midst of The Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in US history. He improved the economy from 1933 to 1936, and won a landslide reelection. However, the economy relapsed into a recession from 1937-1938. Again he came out with Bills and projects to address the situation. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he declared war against Japan, and a few days later, on Germany and Italy. He died in April 1945…short of seeing the Axis Powers surrender to the Allies…to his successor Harry S. Truman.
