Four-Term President
During Roosevelt's tenure as governor of New York, the Great Depression hit the United States. As average citizens lost their savings and their jobs, people became increasingly infuriated at the limited steps President Herbert Hoover was taking to solve this huge economic crisis. In the election of 1932, citizens were demanding change and FDR promised it to them. In a landslide election, Franklin D. Roosevelt won the presidency.
Before FDR became president, there was no limit to the number of terms a person could serve as president of the United States. Up to this point, most presidents had limited themselves to serving a maximum of two terms, as set by the example of George Washington. However, in the time of need caused by the Great Depression and World War II, the people of the United States elected Franklin D. Roosevelt as president of the United States four times in a row. Partly because of FDR's long stint as president, Congress created the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution which limited future presidents to a maximum of two terms (ratified in 1951).
Roosevelt spent his first two terms as president taking steps to ease the U.S. out of the Great Depression. The first three months of his presidency were a whirlwind of activity, which has become known as "the first hundred days." The "New Deal" that FDR offered to the American people began immediately after he took office. Within his first week, Roosevelt had declared a banking holiday in order to strengthen the banks and reestablish confidence in the banking system. FDR also quickly created the alphabet agencies (such as the AAA, CCC, FERA, TVA, and TWA) to help offer relief.
On March 12, 1933, Roosevelt addressed the American people via the radio in what became the first of his presidential "fireside chats." Roosevelt used these radio speeches to communicate with the public in order to instill confidence in the government and to calm citizens' fears and worries.
FDR's policies helped lessen the severity of the Great Depression but it did not solve it. It wasn't until World War II that the U.S. was finally out of the depression. Once World War II began in Europe, Roosevelt ordered an increased production of war machinery and supplies. When Pearl Harbor on Hawaii was attacked on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt answered the attack with his "a date which will live in infamy" speech and a formal declaration of war. FDR led the United States during World War II and was one of the "Big Three" (Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin) that led the Allies. In 1944, Roosevelt won his fourth presidential election; however, he did not live long enough to finish it.
Death
On April 12, 1945, Roosevelt was sitting in a chair at his home in Warm Springs, Georgia, having his portrait painted by Elizabeth Shoumatoff, when he stated "I have a terrific headache" and then lost consciousness. He had suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage at 1:15 p.m. Franklin D. Roosevelt was pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m., at age 63. President Roosevelt, having led the United States during both the Great Depression and World War II, died less than one month before the end of the war in Europe. Roosevelt was buried at his family home in Hyde Park.
