“T he only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” said Franklin Delano Roosevelt on March 4, 1933 in his Inaugural Address as the 32nd president of the United States. He was referring to the American people’s despair at the deepening Depression of the 1930s. FDR’s buoyancy and optimism, coupled with his fatherly demeanor, assured the nation that they would come through those times stronger and better-equipped socially. He was the only president to be re-elected to four consecutive terms.

FDR was born in Hyde Park, New York in 1882 to Sara Delano and James Roosevelt. He was tutored at home until age fourteen when he attended Groton School in Massachusetts, followed by Harvard University and Columbia Law School (no law degree earned). He married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt—his fifth cousin once removed. They had five children; four lived to adulthood.

Roosevelt served as a member of the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913, then as assistant secretary of the Navy under president Woodrow Wilson during WWI. In 1920, he was Democrat James M. Cox’s running mate for the presidency but lost to Warren G. Harding. In 1921, FDR contracted polio, which permanently paralyzed his legs. After seeking various cures, he returned to public office in 1929 as Governor of New York. Four years later, he won the U.S. presidential race by a landslide.

Among his many accomplishments, Roosevelt issued a host of executive orders and led federal legislation that instituted the New Deal—programs that improved American lives in the short term and changed the federal government to play a larger role in the economic and social affairs of the nation. These changes included the end of Prohibition and the Public Works Administration, along with the formation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Labor Relations Act, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Social Security. During WWII, FDR provided diplomatic and financial support to China, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After that, the United States joined their allies against the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Kingdom, and the Soviet Union prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After that, the United States joined their allies against the Axis powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan.

Roosevelt’s war strategy was Europe first, mobilizing America to support the Allies with equipment and soldiers. He also helped lay the groundwork for the United Nations. Following his election to a fourth term as president in 1944, FDR died in 1945. The war years had taken their toll.

In 1951, the 22nd Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified. It limits the number of times a person may run for president of the United States to two terms.