Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park New York on January 30, 1882.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's mother forced him to wear a dress until he was five years old.
Genealogists have determined that FDR was related to: George Washington, John Adams, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Ulysses S. Grant, Benjamin Harrison, Theodore Roosevelt, and William Howard Taft.
In 1933, FDR declared that Home on the Range was his favorite song.
Franklin D. Roosevelt held the record for the number of times he met with the press: 998 times.
President Roosevelt contracted polio at 39. Through rigorous exercise, he learned to stand with braces.
Franklin Roosevelt defeated Herbert Hoover in 1932 to become President.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the only person who was elected President to four terms: 1932, 1936, 1940, 1944.
Franklin Roosevelt had three Vice Presidents during his terms:
- John Nance Garner (1933-1941)
- Henry A. Wallace (1941-1945)
- Harry S Truman (1945)
Franklin Roosevelt was the fourth cousin once removed of Ulysses Grant, fourth cousin three times removed of Zachary Taylor, fifth cousin of Theodore Roosevelt
FDR served hot dogs to the King and Queen of England when they came for a visit. And his dog, Major, once bit the British Prime Minister, Ramsey McDonald.
In 1935, all plane flights over the White House were barred because they were disturbing President Roosevelt's sleep.
He has a black Scottie name Fala. He was perhaps the most famous of all White House pets. Fala can be seen in several photos of Roosevelt.
FDR was the first president whose mother wes eligible to vote for him.
After his inauguration in 1937, FDR watched the parade from a reviewing stand in front of the White House built to look like Andrew Jackson's Tennessee home.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president to fly in an airplane. He did in 1943.
FDR was the first president to have his own airplane, the first to travel through the Panama Canal, the first to visit a foreign country during wartime (6-10-43), and the first to name a woman to his Cabinet.
I'd Rather Be Right was a humorous play that opened on November 2, 1937. It satirized the highest office of the land as it related to FDR.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first President to have air conditioning in the White House.
FDR requested that the White House Easter Egg Roll be discontinued, which it was, for 11 years. Dwight D. Eisenhower brought the tradition back in 1953.
He was the first President to be seen on television.
FDR started the presidential library tradition in 1939 when he donated his papers to the U.S. and asked the National Archives to administer them. His presidential library was the first to be dedicated.
Franklin D. Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, Ga. He was 63 years and 72 days old. He is buried in a family plot in Hyde Park, N.Y.
Quotes from Roosevelt:
Every time an artist dies part of the vision of mankind passes with him.
1941, As FDR Said, p. 161
Sites:
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum
