Did Roosevelt's character, upbringing and background make it easy for him to understand the fears and concerns of ordinary Americans?

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Franklin D. Roosevelt – Rachel Armstrong September/October 2003

Did Roosevelt’s character, upbringing and background make it easy for him to understand the fears and concerns of ordinary Americans?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in 1882 into a very wealthy family of Dutch and English ancestry. He spent his childhood in Hyde Park, New York leading a comfortable and spoilt life. He was an only child of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano Roosevelt. He led a sheltered life as a young boy as a governess educated him privately. He spent his formal education at Groton School, Massachusetts, where he was popular and good at sports.

After graduation from school, he went to Harvard University, mixing only with the upper class and in 1904 he gained a law degree, so from this we can understand that he had a good upbringing and was a smart man. In Harvard how ever, he was much more interested by his hobbies, pastimes and social life, and his education tended to take a back seat, but however he got his law degree.

He was born into an incredibly wealthy family, and tended to only socialise with those “rich” enough. The family owned a house at Hyde Park, and frequently had extravagant parties. He was brought up into a life of luxury free from hardships, so he would have found it hard for him to understand the suffering and pains of those less fortunate than him. It did not help that he never met them. His upbringing as a young boy would not have helped him to understand the fears of concerns of ordinary people.

In 1905 he married his distant cousin Eleanor Roosevelt, the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt. Eleanor was much more sensitive than him towards the poor and she worked in the slums of New York with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races, and nations. In fact when Eleanor goes to visit the slums of New York, Theodore goes with her. This is the first time he met the poor, and maybe it altered his attitude towards them, but we see that during his career as President benefits for the poor are among his priorities, so something must have helped him change his mind in big way, and it is certain that it was Eleanor that led him to alter his views, yet even when he was shown poverty he maintained his playboy lifestyle.

In August 1921, at the age of 39 when Roosevelt was on holiday at Campobello Island, Polio struck. He was told he would never regain the use of his legs. It was his darkest hour, as he sunk into a depression. Everybody, including himself thought his political career was over. His mother wanted him to return to Hyde Park and hide himself away, as she and most people at the time believed cripples should be hidden. Eleanor disagreed and spent her time giving talks and visiting people, trying to keep his political name alive, as she believed he could return to the profession. Polio helped him to understand what suffering was like, and therefore aided him to understand what the poor of America must have been feeling.

        In the mean time Roosevelt became determined that he would walk again, and spent hours doing muscle exercises that were often very painful, humiliating, hard and tedious. He tried every method in the book. He sunk into self-denial.

He bought a houseboat and went to Florida. He spent his time in the sunshine, fishing and swimming. He leaves partly for exercise, and partly to escape from Eleanor and his mother arguing over him, and the stresses of city life. He returned to his previous social life full of fine wine, good food and mistresses.

In 1924 Roosevelt travelled to a place called Warm Springs in South Georgia. Apparently the mineralised waters were supposed to have healing powers. He bought a run down hotel and spent two thirds of his money ($195 000) on turning the hotel into a Polio Rehabilitation Centre. The centre was designed for ordinary people, mainly children. This was the first time in his life that he did something for somebody else. He realised during his ordeal with polio what its like to suffer. He gained a new purpose to his life; the children at the centre called him Dr. Roosevelt, and he joined in with the exercises and swam in the pool with every body else. This was the first time he really mixes with ordinary people, and whether or not the got better, they felt better. Warm Springs became his second home.

He had a car specially adapted for him to drive with his hands. He drove around South Georgia stopping to talk to people, mainly farmers. He found out a lot about the high rents, low wages, poor education, no electricity and the poverty stricken lives they were leading. He tells the people he is going to try to help them. Before Polio, he would never have done anything like that.  

        He went into politics, and in 1928 he became the Governor of New York State. He became determined to be able to walk. He found a way to trick people into thinking he was walking, with a bodyguard and a cane. He became really happy, when the public thought he was cured, he gained a new lease of life. He found it easy to give the people what they wanted, all the things the farmers in Georgia had wanted, unemployment benefit, old age pensions, sick pay, low interest loans etc.. Eleanor was still driving him on and went unaccredited for the work and support she gave to Roosevelt in these tough months.

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        He opened soup kitchens, gave unemployment benefit and set up poor homes in New York. He instructed the chef at Hyde Park to give food to anybody who came to ask for it. In 1928 his concern is so much that he ran for President presenting the New Deal.

        I think that there were many factors in Roosevelt’s life that changed his views. The first is Eleanor. Before he met her he had had no contact with the under privileged in his entire life. Through his life she was his social conscience, always reminding him of those less fortunate ...

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