No other person in the United States has been elected president four times than Franklin D. Roosevelt. Finally in November 1944, he was elected president for the fourth term. He was sworn in for a fourth term on 20 January 1945. Today’s event is about him.
He pulled the United States out of the Great Depression, he was the visionary of today’s United Nations. It was under his leadership that the Allies walked the path to victory over Adolf Hitler’s Germany and the Axis Powers in World War II. Overcoming all physical handicaps, he was elected President of the United States for four consecutive terms. He is Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only president of the United States who has served four consecutive terms, serving 12 consecutive years. Roosevelt was the longest serving President of the United States. Generally, by law, no person can serve as president of the United States more than twice. However, after Roosevelt was elected president four times, the maximum two terms for the same person became a law.
Childhood James and Sarah Roosevelt were born in 1882, a baby boy. His name was Franklin Delano Roosevelt. James, a wealthy businessman from New York, owned a lot of land. He was also involved in the politics of the Democratic Party. Sarah was his second wife. Sara lived with her only child, Roosevelt. Franklin Roosevelt was tutored at home as a child. Roosevelt began attending Groton School at age 14. This was the first time he started going to school properly outside the home. Groton School is an elite private school in the United States. Children of rich families study in that school. After studying there, Roosevelt went to Harvard College in 1900. There he met and married Anna Eleanor.
In 1921, Roosevelt spent a summer vacation at the family cottage on the Canadian island of Campobezo after contracting polio. He was cruising the Bay of Fundy on his yacht. There suddenly he fell from the Pramodatari into the icy cold water below. Initially his body became numb due to extreme cold. Then his back pain started. From the third day he could no longer get strength in both legs. Couldn’t even stand up. Despite various tests, doctors could not diagnose Roosevelt’s illness. Finally, on August 25 that year, the doctor Robert Lovett said that Roosevelt was infected with polio. Roosevelt was 39 years old.
Polio usually affects children under the age of five. But explaining how a middle-aged man like Roosevelt contracted the disease, Dr. Lovett said that once the polio virus enters the human body, a person must be physically and mentally healthy and the body’s natural immunity must be strong to fight it. Because of Roosevelt’s prolonged stress due to his involvement in politics, his immune system was weakened. Roosevelt’s mother told him to give up politics.
Roosevelt withdrew from politics due to physical disability that led to his return to politics. His struggle to heal himself begins. He started swimming and exercising regularly to stand on his feet. He used to exercise even while hanging out with friends. With his own persistence, effort and patience, Roosevelt slowly left the wheelchair and started to stand up. Once he returned to politics. His wife Anna Eleanor Roosevelt played an important role in bringing him back to politics. In private, Roosevelt used a wheelchair. But in public he used to go from one place to another in various ways. He also learned the art of walking on the shoulders of another person. In 1928, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York.
First Incumbent in the Great Depression When Roosevelt was first elected president in November 1932, the United States economy was in the throes of the Great Depression. By March next year, the number of unemployed in the country reached 1.3 million, almost all banks closed. In his first 100 days as president, Roosevelt made one proposal after another to restore the economy and Congress approved them. In 1935, the American economy turned around a lot due to Roosevelt’s efforts. Reform initiatives in various departments increased Roosevelt’s popularity with ordinary people across the country; Although businessmen and bankers kept turning against him day by day. Due to his role in the recovery of the country’s economy, Roosevelt won a large number of votes in 1936 and became the president of the United States for the second time. In his second term, Roosevelt worked to restore the country’s economy.
In July 1940, Roosevelt contested the presidential election for the third time. His decision displeased many within the party. However, leaving everything behind, Roosevelt won the November 5 vote that year. Made history by taking the oath as the President of the United States for the third time. It is the first time in US history that a person has been elected president for a third consecutive term. About a decade after Roosevelt won the election that year, the U.S. Constitution was amended to bar a man from serving as president more than twice. In 1940, strong objections were raised from the opposition Republican Party against the sitting president running for a third term. But Democrats argued that Republican candidate Wendell Willkie was not the right candidate. They described Wilkie as a ‘third-rate’ candidate.
Towards the end of the election campaign, Roosevelt made a strong promise to keep America out of European wars. People trusted his promise and he won the polls easily. As promised, Roosevelt kept America out of World War II. But he could not keep his promise for long. On December 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and took Germany’s side in the war. It did not take long for the United States to be taken by surprise despite the sudden attack. In an address on national radio the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, Roosevelt declared that “the day will go down in history.” The United States entered World War II with all its might. 16 million American men were mobilized to fight this war. 4 lakh 5 thousand of them lost their lives. According to the US Constitution, the President is the head of the US Army and Navy.
During World War II, Roosevelt fulfilled his constitutional duty well. He formed a close partnership with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and then Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin to fight against Germany. During the war, the United States played an important role in defeating Adolf Hitler’s Germany by supplying arms and munitions to the tune of nearly five trillion US dollars. In a speech at the time, Roosevelt said, he chose this war for freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of will and freedom from fear.
Why was the sick Roosevelt elected for the fourth term? Roosevelt had asthma since childhood. He was often sick as a child. He was infected with polio in middle age. He served three terms as the President of the United States with fragile health. Although he could not walk properly himself, he played an important role in pulling the country’s economy out of the Great Recession as a president. A world war has been fought. Dealing with so much, Roosevelt’s health was very fragile.
Roosevelt entered his twelfth year as president in 1944. Another presidential election is knocking on the door. Meanwhile, World War II was a huge challenge for Roosevelt. The Axis Powers should not only be defeated in war; In order to maintain a long-term peace after the war, the Soviet Union and other allies must come to a negotiated settlement. He also started these works. But his health was rapidly deteriorating for several months. Especially in December 1943, after returning from the Tehran Conference, Roosevelt suffered from a severe cold. He was losing weight, he was tired all the time. On March 28, 1944, Roosevelt underwent a detailed medical examination. It was not revealed at the time what disease was detected in the tests. But later his doctor at the time said, 62-year-old Roosevelt’s lungs were very weak. Hypertension and bronchiolitis were diagnosed. But the most serious problem was found in the heart.
Medicine was not that advanced at that time. There was also no medication to control high blood pressure. The only way was to bring control to life. At that time, doctors advised that Roosevelt’s physical condition was not fit to serve as president for another four years. This responsibility will cause severe stress on his body. But Roosevelt got addicted to power. Ignoring doctors’ warnings, he decided to accept party nomination in a weak body. Not only Roosevelt’s health, but Seber’s choice of his running mate caused controversy in the Democratic Party. Roosevelt chose Harry S. Truman as his running mate over his vice president, Henry Wallace. He continued campaigning in poor health. Be able to show yourself healthy enough in front of people. Although he did not get the vote like the previous three times, Roosevelt won.
For the first time in public in a wheelchair, Roosevelt flew 14,000 miles to attend the Yalta Conference in January 1945. There, he and British Prime Minister Churchill clashed with Soviet leader Stalin on various issues. On March 1, the day after returning from that conference, he came to report the conference before the Congress. Roosevelt appeared in public in a wheelchair for the first time in his 12-year presidency, and delivered a speech in a wheelchair. In late March, Roosevelt left Washington for a vacation in Georgia. He died there on April 12. Just 82 days after being sworn in as President of the United States. Cause of death was cerebral haemorrhage.
Other Controversies Apart from being president of the United States more than twice, there were other controversies surrounding Roosevelt. It is said that the world’s most deadly weapon, atomic bomb, was started from his hands. Scientist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to US President Roosevelt in August 1939. That letter led to the start of the atomic bomb development in the United States, known as the Manhattan Project. The product of that project was the atomic bomb. In August 1945, a few months after Roosevelt’s death, the United States detonated two atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The destructive power of this bomb shocked the world.