<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> Franklin Delano Roosevelt (/ ˈroʊzəvəlt /, his own pronunciation, or / ˈroʊzəvɛlt /; January 30, 1882--April 12, 1945), commonly known as FDR, was an American statesman and political leader who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945 . A Democrat, he won a record four presidential elections and emerged as a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century . He directed the United States government during most of the Great Depression and World War II . As a dominant leader of his party, he built the New Deal Coalition, realigning American politics into the Fifth Party System and defining American liberalism throughout the middle third of the 20th century . He is often rated by scholars as one of the three greatest U.S. Presidents, along with George Washington and Abraham Lincoln . </P> <P> Roosevelt was born in 1882 to an old, prominent Dutch - American family from Dutchess County, New York and attended Groton School . He went on to graduate from Harvard College in 1903 and attended Columbia Law School . At age 23 in 1905, he married Eleanor Roosevelt, and the couple went on to have six children . He entered politics in 1910, serving in the New York State Senate, and then as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson . In 1920, presidential candidate James M. Cox selected Roosevelt as his running mate, but the Cox / Roosevelt ticket lost to the Republican ticket of Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge . In 1921, Roosevelt contracted a paralytic illness, which left his legs permanently paralyzed . Due to his disability, Roosevelt believed that his political career was over . His wife Eleanor and his political advisor Louis Howe convinced him otherwise . He attempted to recover from the illness and founded the treatment center in Warm Springs, Georgia for people with poliomyelitis . Roosevelt returned to political life when he nominated Alfred E. Smith at the 1924 Democratic National Convention . At Smith's behest, Roosevelt successfully ran for Governor of New York in 1928 . He was in office from 1929 to 1933 and served as a reform governor, promoting the enactment of programs to combat the depression besetting the United States at the time . </P>

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