Franklin D. Roosevelt - 32nd President of the United States

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is born at the family estate of Springwood in Hyde Park, New York, to James Roosevelt I and Sara Ann Delano. He grows up in a wealthy, privileged environment with frequent trips to Europe, learning German and French.

Roosevelt enters Groton School, an elite Episcopal boarding school. His father dies in December 1900. The following year, his cousin Theodore Roosevelt becomes US president, becoming Franklin's role model. He goes on to Harvard College, where he becomes editor-in-chief of the Harvard Crimson and graduates with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1903.

Location: Groton, Massachusetts, USA

Franklin marries Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin once removed and niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, who gives away the bride. They will have six children together. The marriage evolves into a political partnership after Franklin's infidelity is discovered in 1918.

Location: New York, New York, USA

Roosevelt is elected to the New York State Senate from a traditionally Republican district, taking his seat in January 1911. He emerges as a reform-minded Democrat who opposes Tammany Hall machine politics.

Location: New York, USA

Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt serves until 1920. He is instrumental in preparing the US Navy for World War I and develops a strong record as an administrator.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Roosevelt runs as the Democratic nominee for Vice President on the ticket with James M. Cox. They lose to Republican Warren G. Harding in a landslide. The campaign establishes Roosevelt as a national figure.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

While vacationing, Roosevelt is stricken with an illness diagnosed as poliomyelitis that permanently paralyzes his legs. He never walks again without braces, crutches, or assistance. With encouragement from Eleanor, he returns to public life, carefully managing public perception of his disability.

Location: Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada

Roosevelt is elected Governor of New York by a narrow margin. He serves through the onset of the Great Depression, creating the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration -- the first state-level relief agency in the country -- and establishing a reform record that positions him for the presidency.

Location: Albany, New York, USA

Roosevelt defeats incumbent Herbert Hoover in a landslide, winning 42 of 48 states and 472 electoral votes. He campaigns on a "New Deal" platform, promising active government intervention to combat the Great Depression.

Location: United States

Inaugurated on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt immediately launches the "First Hundred Days" of transformative legislation. He declares a national banking holiday, pushes through the Emergency Banking Act, delivers his first "fireside chat" by radio, and creates the Civilian Conservation Corps, Agricultural Adjustment Administration, National Recovery Administration, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and Tennessee Valley Authority. Prohibition is repealed.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Roosevelt signs the National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act), guaranteeing workers the right to organize unions and bargain collectively, and establishing the National Labor Relations Board. This fundamentally reshapes American labor relations.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Roosevelt signs the Social Security Act, creating a permanent national system of old-age pensions, unemployment insurance, and aid to dependent children and the disabled. It becomes one of the most enduring and popular programs in American history.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Roosevelt is re-elected in one of the largest landslides in American history, defeating Republican Alf Landon. He wins every state except Maine and Vermont (523-8 electoral votes), and Democrats gain overwhelming majorities in Congress. The New Deal coalition is cemented.

Location: United States

Frustrated by Supreme Court rulings striking down New Deal programs, Roosevelt proposes a bill to expand the Court by adding up to six new justices. The "court-packing" plan provokes intense opposition from both parties and fails, marking the first major political defeat of his presidency and tarnishing his reputation for invincibility.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Breaking with the two-term tradition established by George Washington, Roosevelt is elected to an unprecedented third term, defeating Republican Wendell Willkie. The decision is driven by the crisis of World War II in Europe.

Location: United States

In his State of the Union address, Roosevelt articulates the "Four Freedoms" -- freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear -- as the foundation for a postwar world order. In March 1941, he signs the Lend-Lease Act, providing massive military aid to Britain, China, and later the Soviet Union.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Roosevelt meets Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard naval vessels off Newfoundland for the Atlantic Conference. They issue the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration of Allied war aims that includes self-determination, economic cooperation, and the renunciation of territorial expansion.

Location: Newfoundland, Atlantic Ocean

Following Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt delivers his "Day of Infamy" speech to Congress on December 8, securing a declaration of war against Japan. Germany and Italy declare war on the United States on December 11, bringing America fully into World War II.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Roosevelt oversees the largest industrial mobilization in history. US factories produce 300,000 aircraft, 80,000 landing craft, 100,000 tanks, and 40 billion rounds of ammunition. The unemployment rate falls from 14% in 1940 to below 2% by 1943. The Manhattan Project proceeds in secret to develop the atomic bomb. Roosevelt also signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of 120,000 Japanese Americans.

Location: United States

Roosevelt meets Churchill at Casablanca, where they announce the Allied policy of demanding "unconditional surrender" from the Axis powers. They also agree on the invasion of Sicily and intensified bombing of Germany.

Location: Casablanca, Morocco

Roosevelt meets Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin at the Tehran Conference -- the first meeting of the "Big Three." They coordinate the D-Day invasion plan, discuss the postwar division of Germany, and Stalin agrees to declare war on Japan after Germany's defeat.

Location: Tehran, Iran

Roosevelt leads the nation on D-Day as Allied forces land on the beaches of Normandy in the largest amphibious invasion in history. He addresses the nation in a prayer broadcast by radio, asking for divine guidance.

Location: Washington, DC, USA

Despite declining health, Roosevelt is elected to a fourth term, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey. He selects Senator Harry S. Truman as his running mate, replacing Henry Wallace.

Location: United States

Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet at the Yalta Conference to plan the final defeat of Germany and the postwar world order. They agree on the division of Germany into occupation zones, free elections in Eastern Europe (a promise Stalin will not keep), Soviet entry into the war against Japan, and the founding of the United Nations.

Location: Yalta, Crimea, Soviet Union

Roosevelt dies suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at his Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, at age 63. His death comes less than a month before the surrender of Nazi Germany and months before the end of World War II. Vice President Harry Truman becomes president. Roosevelt's funeral train is witnessed by millions of grieving Americans along its route to Hyde Park.

Location: Warm Springs, Georgia, USA