1945
President Roosevelt
Dies
Franklin
Delano Roosevelt, the longest serving president in American history, dies of a
cerebral hemorrhage three months into his fourth term.
In
1932, at the height of the Great Depression, Governor Roosevelt of New York was
elected the 32nd president of the United States. In his inaugural address in
March 1933, President Roosevelt promised Americans that “the only thing we have
to fear is fear itself” and outlined his “New Deal”–an expansion of the federal
government as an instrument of employment opportunity and welfare. Although
criticized by the business community, Roosevelt’s progressive legislation
improved America’s economic climate, and in 1936 he swept to re-election.
During
his second term, he became increasingly concerned with German and Japanese
aggression and so began a long campaign to awaken America from its isolationist
slumber. In 1940, with World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, Roosevelt
agreed to run for an unprecedented third term. Re-elected by Americans who
valued his strong leadership, he proved a highly effective commander in chief
during World War II. Under Roosevelt’s guidance, America became, in his own
words, the “great arsenal of democracy” and succeeded in shifting the balance
of power in World War II firmly in the Allies’ favor. In 1944, with the war not
yet won, he was re-elected to a fourth term.
Three
months after his inauguration, while resting at his retreat in Warm Springs,
Georgia, Roosevelt died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 63.
Following a solemn parade of his coffin through the streets of the nation’s
capital, his body was buried in a family plot in Hyde Park, New York. Millions
of Americans mourned the death of the man who led the United States through two
of the greatest crises of the 20th century: the Great Depression and World War
II. Roosevelt’s unparalleled 13 years as president led to the passing of the
22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which limited future presidents to a
maximum of two consecutive elected terms in office.