Death of FDR: His legacy
President Franklin D. Roosevelt led the country through a devastating depression, laid the groundwork for today’s worker protections and modern Social Security and then saw the U.S. through World War II.
FDR died 80 years ago Saturday at age 63. Here’s a look at the extraordinary legacy he left behind.
March 5, 1933: Bank Holiday & The Emergency Banking Act
On his second day in office, Roosevelt declared a four-day national bank holiday, which halted an ongoing panic-driven run on bank deposits.
He also called a special session of Congress, during which it passed legislation to ensure the health of the banking system. Americans began depositing their money again.
March 12, 1933: Birth of The Fireside Chats
In order to take his agenda directly to the American people, Roosevelt began regular 30-minute radio broadcasts in which he explained his proposed legislation and addressed rumors. The “chats” were credited with helping raise the public confidence level in Roosevelt’s “New Deal.”
April 19, 1933: Taking The U.S. off The Gold Standard
Roosevelt took the nation off the gold standard — a system that tied the value of U.S. currency to the price of gold. This caused the value of the dollar to decrease internationally but allowed money to become more readily available to Americans. This, in turn, stimulated the economy.
June 16, 1933: The End of FDR's 'One Hundred Days'
Roosevelt succeeded in pushing through Congress an ambitious slate of legislation aimed at getting the country back to work. The effort created the Public Works Administration, which paid for roads, public buildings and other projects, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Other legislation included the Farm Credit Act, the Federal Securities Act and the Banking Act, which established federal bank deposit insurance.
Aug. 14, 1935: The Social Security Act
The legislation addressed high poverty rates among the elderly since the 1929 stock market crash by granting payments to Americans over age 65 and established unemployment insurance.
Nov. 3, 1936: Winning A Second Term
Despite fierce opposition from Republican isolationists and from the media — 80% of U.S. newspapers supported Roosevelt’s challenger, Alf Landon — Roosevelt won a second term by a landslide: 523 electoral votes to 8.
Feb. 5, 1937: The Attempt At 'Court Packing'
Unhappy with the way the conservative courts had rejected parts of his “New Deal,” Roosevelt proposed a bill that would allow him to add more justices to the Supreme Court. FDR took criticism for the proposal, but it seemed to pay off when the court began making more decisions in favor of administration policies
Jan. 3, 1938: Founding The March of Dimes
Roosevelt converted the organization he had put in charge of his Warm Springs, Georgia, facility into what he called the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to raise money — in 10-cent increments — for children stricken with polio. Radio comedian Eddie Cantor would coin the term “March of Dimes.”
June 25, 1938: The Fair Labor Standards Act
Roosevelt signed legislation raising the minimum wage, setting a maximum work week at 40 hours and mandating “time-and-a-half” pay for overtime hours. There were lots of exemptions to the new standards, but more than 700,000 workers saw their wages go up.
Nov. 5, 1939: 'Cash And Carry'
Roosevelt proposed new rules that allowed Allies to buy both nonmilitary goods and military arms from the U.S., as long as they paid cash up front and then transported the goods in their own ships.
June 20, 1940: The Appointment of Knox and Stimson
Roosevelt appointed two prominent Republicans to his cabinet: Henry L. Stimson as secretary of war and Frank Knox as secretary of the Navy. The idea was to create more of a bipartisan “coalition” government.
Nov. 5, 1940: An Unprecedented Third Term
Roosevelt broke with tradition and ran for a third term in office. He defeated his Republican opponent, Wendell Willkie, with 55% of the popular vote and won an impressive victory in the Electoral College: 449 to 82.
Dec. 29, 1940: 'The Arsenal of Democracy'
Looking to end America’s nonintervention policy in the war in Europe, FDR told his Fireside Chat radio audience that the U.S. must supply its allies with military supplies and aid. Polls would show the public fell into line behind the idea.
Jan. 6, 1941: 'The Four Freedoms'
In his State of the Union address, Roosevelt urged Congress to support four essential freedoms — freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear. Illustrated by Normal Rockwell, these four freedoms would become a key rallying point throughout the coming war.
March 11, 1941: Passage of The Land-Lease Act
The legislation empowered the president to supply arms to any country he deemed vital to U.S. interests. This enabled FDR to distribute $50.6 billion in aid to U.S. Allies — without having to declare war on the Axis powers.
Oct. 9, 1941: Birth of The Bomb
Refugee physicists Albert Einstein and Leo Szilárd sent FDR a letter warning him that Germany could be pursuing the development of a uranium-based atomic bomb. Roosevelt put into motion what would become the Manhattan Project.
Dec. 8, 1941: 'A Date Which Will Live in Infamy'
The day after the Japanese attack on a U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt asked a joint session of Congress to declare war on Japan. The speech was only seven minutes long but resonated with the American public.
Feb. 19, 1942: Internment of Japanese-Americans
Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the military to exclude “any or all persons” from certain areas. More than 112,000 Japanese-Americans on the West Coast were rounded up, stripped of their property and businesses and placed in internment camps.
Jan. 11, 1944: The Second Bill of Rights
In his State of the Union address, FDR proposed an “economic bill of rights” to guarantee Americans the right to work, the right to a fair income, the right to housing, medical care and education and the freedom from unfair competition.
June 22, 1944: The Servicemen's Readjustment Act
Bipartisan legislation championed by the American Legion provided for financial aid to returning war veterans in the form of low-cost mortgages, low-interest business loans and tuition. It becomes known as the “G.I. Bill of Rights.”
April 12, 1945: Death in Warm Springs, GA
Roosevelt’s health had declined noticably since beginning his fourth term in January. He returned from the Yalta Conference in February haggard and exhausted. He took a train to his Warm Springs cottage for some rest but died April 12, 1945, of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Thousands lined railroad tracks to pay respects as his body was shipped back to Washington and then to his boyhood home in New York.
Left to right, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference in Crimea, Russsia, in February 1945 — two months before FDR’s death. Source: National Archives