Essay about Theodore Roosevelt

Submitted By fistoblitzkrieg
Words: 2125
Pages: 9

During the early 1930s and into the 1940s, America was in great turmoil. The country was suffering from the Great Depression and the nation was nearly on the brink of war. The economy had crashed and was left in ruins, and the people were living in terrible condition. Poverty had struck all over American society, but the largest groups affected were the farmers and those who didn’t have a hand in the big business. This desperate time in American history called for a strong leader to guide the country out of its impoverished state, but was unable to find it in Herbert Hoover. It was not until Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to power that the country began to turn itself around. Roosevelt was the strong leader that America needed. He was the man need to able to help America come out of its Great Depression. He came into his presidency with the full knowledge of what he would he would immediately face, and how to handle it. His first 100 days in office consisted of only making changes to the existing American life to change it, and turn things around. He worked with the farmers and the struggles with low price goods that they were facing when trying to sell their products, and the overwhelming amount of unemployment. Roosevelt had become one of the largest American figures for the way that he attempted to make the common man the largest priority of the government. Public opinion was so overwhelmingly high for him that he was elected to office four times, a feat most likely to never happen again. His reign in office came at, by the far and away, the most difficult time in American history. Not only did he accept the challenges at hand, he rose to the occasion and took this country to another level. Roosevelt was born on January 30 near New York City. One of the oldest families in New York State, the Roosevelt’s distinguished themselves in areas other than politics. One ancestor, Isaac Roosevelt, had served with the New York militia during the American Revolution and another attended events of the New York society Sons of the American Revolution, and joined the organization while he was president. While his paternal family had become prosperous early on in New York real estate and trade, much of his immediate family's wealth had been built by Roosevelt’s maternal grandfather from selling opium and tea in China. His mother named him after her favorite uncle Franklin Delano. His early life was one of privilege. Roosevelt attended Groton School, a boarding school in Massachusetts. He was always an average student through his entire education. He attended Harvard and graduated in 1904, and then proceeded to attend Law School. Although he didn't get his law degree, he was admitted to the New York bar in 1907. He was elected to the New York senate in 1910 and appointed by Woodrow Wilson as assistant secretary of the navy; a post he held during World War I. Roosevelt ran for vice-president in 1920 but lost. In 1921, he was stricken with polio, which left his legs paralyzed. Twice he was elected Governor of New York. Roosevelt’s competition was fairly tough the first time he ran for office. Not only did he barely win the election, he also had trouble winning the nomination for his own party. He was up against John Nance Garner, Newton D. Baker, Alfred E. Smith. For three ballots, Roosevelt held a large lead, but lacked the two-thirds margin necessary for victory. He was desperately going to need some help to win this one. His campaign manager then promised John Garner the vice presidential nomination, which he grudgingly accepted. Although John didn’t want to be vice president, he figured Vice President is better than no President at all. Due to this deal, Roosevelt took the presidential nomination on the fourth ballot. Roosevelt made a dashing introduction at the Chicago convention by being the first nominee to ever write an acceptance speech. It was his first in a long line of great, powerful speeches to come. The last line in his