Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882—1945) was a native of Hyde Park, New York. He began his career practicing law, and in 1910, was elected to the New York State Senate. He would later serve as assistant secretary of the US Navy during the First World War.

In 1921, Roosevelt was stricken with polio, an infectious disease that causes paralysis, and lost the use of his legs. His political ascent continued, however, with his election to governor of New York in 1928. Four years later, Roosevelt became the Democratic nominee for president and was swept into the White House in an electoral college landslide.

He inherited an economy shattered by the Great Depression, and though his “New Deal” for the impoverished gave a boost to millions of Americans, it would take a war economy and a nationwide industrialization years later to finally reverse the country’s longtime decline.

During the war, Roosevelt presided over a historic mobilization and forged critical international alliances. He used his popular “fireside chats” over the radio airwaves to reach and comfort millions of Americans, lifting their morale during the darkest days of the war. Roosevelt has been faulted for shortcomings as well, including his administration’s wartime imprisonment of Japanese Americans—most of them US citizens—and its inadequate, limited response to the horrific crimes against European Jews. But Roosevelt was an accomplished, popular president, who managed two great crises gripping the country during a tenure that included four terms in office.

Roosevelt passed away on April 12, 1945, after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage. He was just 63 years old.