Franklin D. Roosevelt: Difference between revisions
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{{POTUS|[[Herbert Hoover]]|[[Harry S. Truman]]}}
[[File:fdr-chair1251310553.jpg|frame]]
{{quote|''The country needs and, unless I mistake its temper, the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something.''|
'''Franklin Delano Roosevelt''' (1882-1945) was the longest serving President in US History, serving three full terms and starting his fourth when he died. No other President had even won a third term (a couple had tried — Grant and T.R. — but none were elected). And, thanks to the 22nd Amendment, no President since will be able to challenge his length of service (barring the ''very'' unlikely event of the 22nd being repealed).▼
▲Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) was the longest serving President in US History, serving three full terms and starting his fourth when he died. No other President had even won a third term (a couple had tried — Grant and T.R. — but none were elected). And, thanks to the 22nd Amendment, no President since will be able to challenge his length of service (barring the ''very'' unlikely event of the 22nd being repealed).
Actually spent much of his life paralyzed from the waist down due to polio, including his Presidency, making him America's one and only handicapped President, unless one also counts Kennedy who had Addison's Disease. There was less scrutiny of public figures back then, which he combined with trick photography, leg braces that let him stand and walk short distances by swiveling, immense upper-body strength to hold himself up with the podium and [[The Plan|other tactics to ease the public away from questioning why he was never pictured standing up on his own]]. (He was almost always leaning on somebody or something in the photos that show him standing.)
Famous for the New Deal, [[World War
Furthermore, the worst thing he did in office was authorizing the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII; tens of thousands of American citizens were rounded up and put in prison camps solely for being of Japanese descent. [[What the Hell, Hero?|Owch]].
He
He's known for the line "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."<ref>A quote originated by Henry David Thoreau</ref> Remember, [[Theodore Roosevelt|he's one of two presidents to have this last name]].
Before he was President, he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during [[World War I]]. The sole thing he did here that he's remembered for (except possibly accusations he was responsible for the lax defense of Pearl Harbor) during this position occurred ''after'' the war. In 1919 he ran an entrapment campaign to locate and persecute sailors who engaged in homosexual acts during leave, using Americans sailors he ordered into these acts as bait. His actions in what would be called the Newport Scandal got him censured by Congress.
His wife Eleanor Roosevelt (a fifth cousin) was the first First Lady to actually take an open role in government ([[Woodrow Wilson]]'s wife did in secret when he had a stroke). She became hated by many, an experience she would share with several of her successors, including Nancy Reagan, [[Hillary Rodham Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], and Michelle Obama. She was viciously insulted as being ugly. ▼
▲His wife Eleanor Roosevelt (a fifth cousin) was the first First Lady to actually take an open role in government ([[Woodrow Wilson]]'s wife did in secret when he had a stroke). She became hated by many, an experience she would share with several of her successors, including Nancy Reagan, [[Hillary Rodham Clinton|Hillary Clinton]], and Michelle Obama. She was viciously insulted as being ugly.
The Roosevelts had a complex relationship. After she first learned Franklin cheated on her with her secretary, Lucy Mercer, Eleanor offered him a divorce, but Franklin declined--both for the sake of his political career and because his mother (who had something of a rivalry with Eleanor) threatened to disinherit him if he did. They never shared a bedroom after that, but their working relationship was respectful, for the time. As Franklin's polio prevented him from traveling, Eleanor became his eyes and ears, and a great political tool. When disgruntled veterans marched on Washington during Hoover's administration, wanting their pensions early because of the Depression, it was noted that Hoover sent the army to drive them away, while FDR sent his wife to give them charitable goods. ▼
▲The Roosevelts had a complex relationship. After she first learned Franklin cheated on her with her secretary, Lucy Mercer, Eleanor offered him a divorce, but Franklin declined--both for the sake of his political career and because his mother (who had something of a rivalry with Eleanor) threatened to disinherit him if he did. They never shared a bedroom after that, but their working relationship was respectful, for the time. As Franklin's polio prevented him from traveling, Eleanor became his eyes and ears, and a great political tool. When disgruntled veterans marched on Washington during Hoover's administration, wanting their pensions early because of the Depression, it was noted that Hoover sent the army to drive them away, while FDR sent his wife to give them charitable goods.
He died of a stroke before the end of the [[Second World War]], resulting in [[Harry Truman]] becoming President.
The Republican-controlled Congress changed the Constitution after he left, so no one else can serve for more than eight years (or up to ten if they take over for less than two years of another president's term). This turned out, ironically, to primarily affect Republicans: only one Democratic president ([[Bill Clinton]]) and three Republicans ([[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], [[Ronald Reagan]], and [[George W. Bush]]) so far have actually served long enough to be affected by the term limit. (Sitting President [[Harry S. Truman]] was grandfathered in by the amendment; [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] served less than two years of [[John F. Kennedy]]'s term and could have run for one more term. Both of them chose not to run again for political and personal reasons.)
He's consistently ranked by scholars and the public as one of the greatest Presidents in American history, next to [[George Washington]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]] while among libertarians and some conservatives he's actually considered '''the''' ''worst'' for his dramatic expansion of government and human rights abuse.▼
{{creatortropes}}
▲He's consistently ranked by scholars and the public as one of the greatest Presidents in American history, next to [[George Washington]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]].
* [[Amoral Attorney]]: Solicitor General Charles H. Fahy is believed to have been operating under his orders when he concealed exonerating evidence in ''Korematsu v. United States''. This, letting the prisoners of war that made up the Italian Service Units freely roam (on an honor system) the areas he said were too dangerous to let Americans remain in, and his articles in the Macon Telegraph are considered evidence EO9066 was purely a personal vendetta and not actually justified.
* [[Batman Gambit]]: How he got [[Harry S. Truman]] to be his running mate. In 1944, the Democratic Party leadership decided that Henry Wallace was too liberal to be Vice President for Roosevelt's fourth term; the leadership knew that FDR's health was not what it once was, and that his Vice President would be very likely to become President. They eventually settled on Truman as an acceptable next President, but there was just one problem: Truman didn't want to be VP. As a result, the leaders brought Truman to a hotel room, where Roosevelt was waiting to speak to him over the phone from Washington. Roosevelt excoriated Truman for threatening Democratic party unity during wartime, and (seemingly) hung up in a huff. Little did Truman know that this whole thing had been carefully rehearsed in ''exactly'' the way required to get at one of Truman's weak points: he was nothing if not a Democratic loyalist, and accusing him of breaking party unity was tantamount to calling him a traitor. Truman accepted, and the rest is history.▼
* [[Big Good]]: Okay, [[Black and Grey Morality]] aside, he was the beacon of leadership for the Americans during [[World War II]], alongside [[Winston Churchill]], and is still considered by many to be among the greatest American presidents in history.
▲* [[Batman Gambit]]: How he got [[Harry S Truman]] to be his running mate. In 1944, the Democratic Party leadership decided that Henry Wallace was too liberal to be Vice President for Roosevelt's fourth term; the leadership knew that FDR's health was not what it once was, and that his Vice President would be very likely to become President. They eventually settled on Truman as an acceptable next President, but there was just one problem: Truman didn't want to be VP. As a result, the leaders brought Truman to a hotel room, where Roosevelt was waiting to speak to him over the phone from Washington. Roosevelt excoriated Truman for threatening Democratic party unity during wartime, and (seemingly) hung up in a huff. Little did Truman know that this whole thing had been carefully rehearsed in ''exactly'' the way required to get at one of Truman's weak points: he was nothing if not a Democratic loyalist, and accusing him of breaking party unity was tantamount to calling him a traitor. Truman accepted, and the rest is history.
▲* [[Big Good]]: Okay, [[Black and Grey Morality]] aside, he was the beacon of leadership for the Americans during [[World War II]], alongside [[Winston Churchill]], and is still considered by many to be among the greatest American presidents in history.
* [[Bring It]]: In a speech given in his re-election campaign, he made an open statement about the wealthy backers of his challenger (he cracked down on wall street to try to correct the actions that caused the stock market crash of 1929), he said this to the big businesses who opposed him:
{{quote|
* [[Canine Companion]]: Fala.
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: His first appearance on the national political stage was as James Cox's running mate in 1920. [[Herbert Hoover|Twelve]] [[The Great Depression|years]] [[Landslide Election|later]]...
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* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: With [[Winston Churchill]]. They got along famously with each other and to this day, probably the best relationship ever shared between the President and Prime Minister.
** Bush and Blair as well as Carter and Callaghan also rank highly on that list.
* [[Historical Hero Upgrade]]: His racism and imprisoning US citizens in tightly packed barracks in [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|Death Valley]] and malaria infested swamps for no crime is generally flat out ignored in fiction. Same with ''any'' accusation the New Deal was not effective.
* [[Insult Backfire]]: FDR was from one of the wealthiest families in New York, yet it was America's wealthy who hated him more than any other Americans. A wealthy socialite once called him, "a traitor to his class" which was overheard by the press and became so widely quoted that everybody knew the insult. And since this was [[The Great Depression]], when the wealthy weren't held in such high regard, the insult made FDR even ''more'' popular among the general public.
* [[The Kirk]]: To Winston Churchill's [[The McCoy]] and Stalin's [[The Spock]].
* [[Mid-Atlantic Accent]]: Probably the most prominent (non-movie star) example of this accent in recent history; not unexpected, given that it was created to be the accent of the American upper class.
* [[Our Presidents Are Different]]
* [[Politically-Correct History]]: The main heading details his attempts to conceal his lack of use of his legs from the public (the picture at the top is one of the only two showing him using a wheelchair. The other can be seen [https://web.archive.org/web/20120308191524/http://frc.sbcc.edu/4sbccfaculty/lecture/2000s/images/shapiro_images/42-back_of_fdr_in_chair_72.jpg here]); the FDR memorial features a statue of him seated in a wheelchair which was added well after the initial design phase because disability rights groups complained that this aspect of his life was being ignored.
* [[What Could Have Been]]: If not for Roosevelt's untimely death, the [[Vietnam War]] would probably never have happened. He was in favor of the Viet Minh rebels and despised Western colonialism in all its forms; it's very possible, if not likely, that he would have told the French to suck it if they asked for Indochina back.
** He constantly would pester Churchill to grant India independence. One of the biggest disagreements the two ever had.
* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: Even the super-paranoid FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (not to be confused with [[Herbert Hoover]]) was not happy about Roosevelts' racist policy of Japanese internment. The objection may have been at the implication he wasn't good at his job (If the FBI already caught the problems, why would the entire population need to be interned?).
** Churchill had one of these moments when Stalin proposed the mass execution of captive German officers, and Roosevelt cracked a joke about it.
** Many history students have this when they realize that he refused to acknowledge Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics and denied him the courtesies that are usually extended to Olympic winners by the President.
** At the time, many felt this regarding his attempt to expand the number of Justices in the Supreme Court, specifically so he could appoint guys that agreed with him over the New Deal. It tarnished his credibility for quite a while, and he consequently achieved a [[Pyrrhic Victory]] once the Justices retired (or died) later on.
{{examples|Examples of Franklin D. Roosevelt in fiction include:}}
== Comic Books ==
* FDR was [[
* The [[Super Soldier]] Serum taken by [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]] was, according to some comics, supposed to go to FDR after it had been tested. This would cure the effects of the polio and let him walk on his own again. Cap himself had a bit of hero-worship going on for Roosevelt. Considering that FDR personally presented him with his indestructible round shield, you can understand the good feeling.▼
== Film ==
* The play (and subsequent film) ''Sunrise at Campobello'' feature Ralph Bellamy as a young FDR and chronicle his early struggles with polio.▼
** Bellamy would later play FDR as President in the TV miniseries [[The Winds of War and War and Remembrance|''The Winds Of War'' and ''War and Remembrance'']].▼
* He appears in the musical ''[[Annie]]''.▼
▲** Played in the film version by Edward Herrmann, who had previously portrayed him in the made-for-TV biopics ''Eleanor and Franklin'' and ''Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years''.
** Ironically, Harold Gray was a staunchly conservative opponent of the New Deal and was not shy about using ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'' as a political platform. FDR and the New Deal are, of course, portrayed positively in the musical, which was written after Gray's death.▼
* Played by Jon Voight in the film ''[[Pearl Harbor]]''.
* He also appeared in ''[[Yankee Doodle Dandy]]''.
▲* FDR was [[Retcon|retconned]] to be the founder of the [[Justice Society of America]], and his fictional super-powered great-grandson, "Lance" Reid, was a member in pre-[[Flashpoint (comics)|Flashpoint]] continuity.
* It turns out that a still-living FDR is an employee at [[A Day At the Bizarro|McAwesome's Parasailing and Chocolate Bakery]] in the world of ''[[Shortpacked]]'', just as "[[Ronald Reagan|Ronnie]]" works for the nearby toy store.▼
== Literature ==
* A still-living nonagenarian FDR is
▲* The [[Super Soldier]] Serum taken by [[Captain America]] was, according to some comics, supposed to go to FDR after it had been tested. This would cure the effects of the polio and let him walk on his own again. Cap himself had a bit of hero-worship going on for Roosevelt. Considering that FDR personally presented him with his indestructible round shield, you can understand the good feeling.
* Like most other politicians (and some that aren't even politicians) of the time-period, Roosevelt is a possible (and indeed, the default) Head of State for the USA in ''[[Hearts of Iron]] 2''. ▼
** He is also a choice for leader of America in ''[[Civilization]] 4'', along with George Washington and [[Abraham Lincoln]].▼
* ''[[The King of Queens]]''. Doug's father-in-law is still sensitive to the topic of FDR's polio.▼
* Even ''[[Family Guy]]'' thinks it's [[Too Soon]] to make a ''lamer than FDR's legs'' joke.▼
▲* Appears several times in [[Alternate History]] works by [[Harry Turtledove]].
** In ''Worldwar'' he dies early, in 1944, due to the extra stress of having to manage a war against alien invaders and constantly being moved around the country. Henry Wallace was still his Vice President, but he had already been killed in an attack on Seattle and so Secretary of State Cordell Hull succeeded FDR as President.
** In ''TL-191'' his analogue, known as "Franklin Roosevelt" rather than by his acronym, is the Secretary for Defence under President Charlie La Follette of the Socialist Party. As this is a less high-profile position, he is open about being disabled.
== Live-Action TV ==
▲
▲* ''[[The King of Queens]]''. Doug's father-in-law is still sensitive to the topic of FDR's polio.
* A character on ''[[Seinfeld]]'' is referred to as "FDR", which is then explained to stand for "Franklin Delano Romanowski", a disgruntled hotdog vendor who lives in Jerry and Kramer's building.
* In the ''[[All in The Family]]'' episode "Cousin Maude's Visit", Maude (who later got her [[Maude|own show]]) is shown to love Roosevelt, calling him "a saint". Archie's "secret weapon" against her is insulting FDR.
* ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' gives him a little bit of a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]], playing off the real life controversies like the Japanese Internment and his court-packing scheme, and implies that he used a Piece of Eden to navigate the country through the Great Depression. He was also apparently one of four [[Knights Templar]] in charge of the world's major superpowers, and helped to orchestrate [[World War II]] as a way of creating a [[New World Order]]. The other three? {{spoiler|Churchill, Stalin, and ''Hitler''.}}▼
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲
== Theatre ==
▲* The play (and subsequent film) ''Sunrise at Campobello'' feature Ralph Bellamy as a young FDR, and chronicle his early struggles with polio.
▲* He appears in the musical ''[[Annie]]''.
== Video Games ==
▲* Like most other politicians (and some that aren't even politicians) of the time-period, Roosevelt is a possible (and indeed, the default) Head of State for the USA in ''[[Hearts of Iron]] 2''.
▲
▲* ''[[Assassin's Creed II]]'' gives him a little bit of a [[Historical Villain Upgrade]], playing off the real life controversies like the Japanese Internment and his court-packing scheme, and implies that he used a Piece of Eden to navigate the country through the Great Depression. He was also apparently one of four [[Knights Templar]] in charge of the world's major superpowers, and helped to orchestrate [[World War II]] as a way of creating a [[New World Order]]. The other three?
== Web Comics ==
▲* It turns out that a still-living FDR is an employee at [[A Day
== Western Animation ==
▲* Even ''[[Family Guy]]'' thinks it's [[Too Soon]] to make a ''lamer than FDR's legs'' joke.
* The ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' series imply that he was a son of the Big Three; Hades, Poseidon or Zeus. Its Wiki reveals that he is the son of Zeus.
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