Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the 32nd President of the United States, serving from March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945. A Democrat, he led the nation through the Great Depression and most of World War II.
Roosevelt reshaped the federal government's role in the economy through the New Deal, creating programs and institutions such as Social Security, the FDIC, and large-scale public works to relieve unemployment and stabilize finance.
He also guided the United States through World War II, overseeing mobilization, Lend-Lease, and Allied cooperation; his four-term presidency expanded the scope and influence of the executive branch and left a lasting global and domestic legacy, though some initiatives, like the 1937 court-packing plan, provoked controversy.
Implemented New Deal reforms including the Social Security Act; Stabilized banking and created the FDIC and SEC; Established large public works programs (WPA, CCC, TVA); Backed Lend-Lease and led U.S. mobilization in World War II; Elected to four terms, reshaping presidential precedent; Proposed 1937 Supreme Court reorganization (court-packing)
Key highlights and dated events associated with this presidency.
Showing 12 of 415 entries.
Beginning February 17, 1944, U.S. carrier Task Forces launched a major air-and-surface attack on the Japanese naval base at Truk (Chuuk) Lagoon, heavily damaging ships and aircraft.
After amphibious assaults beginning at the end of January, American forces completed the capture of Kwajalein Atoll on February 3, 1944.
U.S. forces launched amphibious landings on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands on January 31, beginning Operation Flintlock to seize Japanese-held central Pacific bases.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9417 creating the War Refugee Board to coordinate U.S. government efforts to rescue and provide relief to civilian victims of Nazi persecution.
On January 22, 1944 Allied forces launched Operation Shingle, making an amphibious landing at Anzio and Nettuno on the Italian coast to outflank German defenses.
Allied ground and air forces launched coordinated attacks against German defenses at Monte Cassino on Italy’s Gustav Line, initiating the First Battle of Monte Cassino.
Roosevelt delivered the 1944 State of the Union Address to Congress, outlining postwar aims and proposing a 'Second Bill of Rights' guaranteeing economic security (employment, housing, education, medical care, and social security).
On December 1, 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin concluded the Tehran Conference, agreeing on plans for a 1944 cross‑channel invasion of Western Europe and securing Stalin's pledge to enter the war against Japan after Germany's defeat.
Roosevelt, Churchill, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin met in Tehran beginning Nov 28 for the first face-to-face summit of the three Allied leaders to coordinate the European war effort.
The leaders of the United States, United Kingdom, and Republic of China issued the Cairo Declaration outlining Allied objectives in Asia, including that territories taken by Japan would be returned to China and that Korea would become free and independent.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek concluded the Cairo Conference after several days of meetings on the conduct of the war against Japan and postwar objectives in Asia.
U.S. Navy destroyers intercepted and sank several Japanese destroyers off New Ireland in a night action that inflicted heavy enemy losses with minimal American casualties.