Civic Calendar: Remembering FDR's birthday

The Forty-Ninth State Fellows of the UAA Honors College call the attention of the University community to the anniversary of the birth of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the U.S., on Jan. 30.

Born in 1882 into a wealthy New York family (Theodore Roosevelt, 26th U.S. President, was his cousin), FDR (a common reference) served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. Though he contracted infantile paralysis (polio) in 1920, which permanently destroyed his ability to walk unaided, he was elected Governor of New York in 1928.

FDR was elected President four times successively, beginning in 1932, the only President to serve more than two terms. His "New Deal" policies are given credit for helping the country meet the challenges of the Great Depression. Leading the nation in World War II, he worked with the British leader Winston Churchill to defeat Germany.

FDR died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Georgia, Apr. 12, 1945. With Washington and Lincoln, he is regarded as one of the country's three best presidents.