Background
The essay first traces Roosevelt’s privileged background as one of the factors that led to his rise up the hierarchy of American politics. It also discerns the fortitude of good timing such as a resurgent Democratic Party and the need for progressive reformers like Roosevelt by the polity. The essay then traces the incremental rise of Roosevelt first through a successful in the New York State Senate, then as an assistant Secretary of the Navy in Washington, to his defeat as the Vice Presidential nominee in the 1920 Presidential campaign. The essay points to his personal grit and determination that despite being paralysed waist down in 1921, Roosevelt persevered and finally was elected the President of the United States in 1933. Roosevelt steered the country out of the ‘Great Depression, a feat for which America re-elected him for a second time. The Second World War became yet another factor that led to Roosevelt being elected for an unprecedented third term by a public that wished to see a tried and tested leadership at the helm. An unparalleled fourth term was mandated by the grateful country when Roosevelt won the 1944 Presidential election that unfortunately was cut short by his untimely death in 1945 due to ill health. Thus background, grooming, timing, and sterling leadership qualities coupled with grit and determination were responsible for the rise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the highest office of the United States of America.
The Rise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt
For those who aspire for the office of the President of the United States, require exceptional qualities of leadership, grit, determination, and perseverance. Experts have consistently rated Franklin Delano Roosevelt amongst the three greatest presidents of the United States alongside George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. This essay focuses on the rise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the factors that contributed to his unprecedented four terms in office.
Roosevelt was born on 30 January 1882 in the town of Hyde Park, New York to a privileged background. Roosevelt studied at Harvard and had the fortune of seeing his fifth cousin, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the President of the United States. Franklin Delano Roosevelt married Eleanor, the niece of Theodore Roosevelt, and shifted to New York proper to practice law. Coker observes that “Franklin Roosevelt was the beneficiary of good timing on many fronts (15)”. The Democrats were resurging and progressive reformers were welcome, that gave Roosevelt the start when in 1910, Roosevelt contested for the New York state senate and won by a huge margin. He was elected for a second term but resigned to take up the job of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the cabinet of Woodrow Wilson in 1913. In 1914 Roosevelt contested unsuccessfully for the US senate but that did not deter him. In 1920, Roosevelt was nominated as the Democratic Vice Presidential candidate with James Cox but was defeated. To recoup, Roosevelt retired temporarily from political life to take up his practice as a lawyer in New York. In 1921, Roosevelt became paralyzed waist down due to an illness. Undeterred, Roosevelt refused to accept his disability and projected a strong image. He never appeared in a wheelchair in public and used metal braces and a cane to walk short distances. From 1921 to 1928, Roosevelt concentrated on building his contacts with the Democratic leadership and helping Democrats run for elections. In 1928 Roosevelt won the elections for the Governorship of New York where he initiated many reforms and was elected to a second term in 1930. By that time the economic conditions in America had turned grim. The period known as the ‘Great Depression’ was just around the corner and Roosevelt with his reformist track record in New York was nominated as the Democratic candidate for the 1932 Presidential election. The stark economic conditions of those times, the failure of the previous Republican governments to instill corrective mechanisms, and the message of hope that Roosevelt expounded, carried the day and he was elected as the 32nd President of the United States.
The challenges before Roosevelt were grim. America was in an economic downturn extraordinary in its history with over 25% of the workforce unemployed and a declining agricultural and industrial production. Roosevelt initiated a slew of economic measures that famously became known as the ‘New Deal’ which essentially hinged on the slogan “to put people to work” which Roosevelt promised would be treated as an “Emergency of a War” (Hardman 41). Roosevelt’s three-pronged strategy of relief, recovery, and reform helped America back on her feet and earned Roosevelt a second term in office. During the second term, Roosevelt’s main opponents which included the US Supreme court created many obstacles. Through guile, tact, patience, and at times plain ‘bulldozing’, Roosevelt managed to get better in most duels and pushed through his ‘Second New Deal’ agenda that firmly put America on a track to recovery. The declaration of the Second World War in 1939, contributed in a large measure to the rise of Roosevelt for an unprecedented third term in office in 1940. Roosevelt firmly believed that an “Arsenal of Democracy” was essential to save the free world which became the thrust of his foreign policy and he concurrently used the war effort to remove unemployment and brought industrial production to record highs. So great was his popularity that Roosevelt was elected to an unheard-of fourth consecutive term in the 1944 Presidential election. Roosevelt’s ill health and a grinding work schedule finally took their toll with his demise on 12 April 1945.
Conclusion
Certain identifiable factors contributed to the rise of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The first, of course, was his privileged background and Ivy League education which seems to be a prerequisite for those aspiring for high office. The grim economic conditions of 1920s America and the inability of the successive Republican governments to rectify the conditions was the second important factor that contributed to Roosevelt’s rise. The weak opposition both within the Democrat and Republican parties and a lack of ‘Tall’ leaders also substantially helped Roosevelt to consolidate his position as the only alternative to the post of the President. The Second World War came as a heaven-sent opportunity, as an event of adversity that was transformed into oceans of opportunity by Roosevelt whose wartime domestic policies wiped out the economic distress of the 1920s and firmly established America as a Superpower by the war’s end. However, none of these external factors can detract from the qualities of personal leadership, vision, and dogged determination that saw Roosevelt persevering despite failing health and steering America to its stature of preeminence on the world stage.
Works Cited
Coker, Jeffrey W. Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Biography. California: Greenwood Publishing, 2005.
Hardman, JBS. Rendezvous With Destiny. Montana: Kessinger Publication, 2005.