By Edwin Cooney
At 8:45 p.m. on Monday, January 30th, 1882, James and Sara Delano Roosevelt's only son Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born. Originally, Mama Sara intended to name him “Warren Delano” after her father, but due to the death of her brother's son by the same name, Sara named him after her favorite uncle, Franklin Hughes Delano. James Roosevelt wanted to name him Isaac, but Sara would have none of that! (Some have suggested that had he been born Isaac, FDR would have been the first presidential Ike.) Baby Franklin weighed 10 pounds although both he and Sara nearly died due to an overdose of chloroform. Hence, what's here is not about FDR's presidency as much as it is about his personhood!
Raised as an only child although he had an older half brother James Roosevelt Roosevelt, young Franklin had every book, toy, horse or boat that he could ever wish for. At 10, he had his first pony, at 12, his first rifle, and at 16, his first sailboat. The wide Hudson River that connects Albany to New York City was a part of his playground. Like his fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin (never Frankie and only rarely “Frank” to a few) especially loved science, history, and sailing. However, the story has been told that when Franklin was about 4 and sailing home from Europe during a severe windstorm which nearly capsized their ship, he begged his mother: “Mama, Mama, save my Jumping Jack!” Note: The only one I have ever seen quoted to have called FDR “Frank” was Governor Al Smith of New York.
Although he was dressed as a girl until he was 5, he wore kilts until age 8 when he finally wore pants. He engaged in a rigorous outdoor life of sailing, skiing, fishing and hunting, and his steady relationship with father James intensified his manliness. Although generally obedient and polite, he did have a boyish streak. One night, he put phosphates into his nanny's chamber pot stored under her bed. The fizz undoubtedly got him punished, but probably not spanked.
From childhood he knew how to tell a good story and appreciated the pleasure it gave others — potential voters, of course!
As a student and young politician, he was charming and friendly for the most part, but his considerable height, unusual good looks and social class caused him to look down at too many people along his large but handsome nose. Hence, to many liberal friends, he originally seemed at least aloof.
In 1903, his final year at Harvard, he met and fell in love with Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, his fifth cousin. Eleanor was tall, slim and willowy with pretty eyes and thick hair. Franklin was taken away by her intellect and was curious about her fascination with the needs of the poor in New York. When they wed on Saturday, March 17th, 1905, Eleanor was given to Franklin by her uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt, who was visiting New York for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The standard reception line of the bride and groom was taken over by the President who was said to want to be "the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral."
FDR grew into a mature, tall, athletic, handsome young man, confident of whom he was and of his powers of persuasion. As a politician, he learned the vices and virtues of the successful politician. Between January 1911 and March 1913, he was a member of the New York State Senate. Following nearly eight years as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, at the age of 38 he was nominated as the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee under candidate Governor James M. Cox of Ohio. Few knew that a year and a half earlier, he had nearly ruined his marriage and political career due to an affair with Eleanor's social secretary Lucy Page Mercer. Since a divorce would destroy his political career and limit Eleanor's liberal Democratic social contacts and ambitions, they mutually agreed to remain married. FDR agreed to permanently stop seeing Lucy Mercer. As his presidency grew more wearing and he became lonelier, FDR began seeing Lucy again during World War II. She was with him in Warm Springs, Georgia where he died on Thursday, April 12th, 1945.
His polio attack which occurred on Wednesday, August 10th or Thursday, August 11th, 1921 at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, the Roosevelts’ traditional summer home, was originally misdiagnosed which increased its intensity and damage. Through strenuous efforts, he could stand with assistance, but most of every day he needed a wheelchair. He needed assistance bathing, dressing, and transferring to and from his wheelchair. For all intents and cultural purposes, he was an invalid. His emotional recovery was incredible in that he became sufficiently both patient and sympathetic to the struggles of others.
Exceedingly friendly and cheerful by temperament, FDR was a "can do" person and politician. During the twenties, he turned his own recovery needs into the Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation for polio patients. Elected to the governorship of New York State in 1928, he was willing to utilize both private and governmental resources to attack poverty created by the Depression.
Although FDR was never a socialist, he was willing to utilize socialist strategies to combat traditional privileges or licenses that benefited capitalists whom he called "economic royalists.” Hence, laws creating the Securities and Exchange Commission, banking regulations, and public works programs became the center of the first and second "New Deal.”
Although he was generally friendly and cheerful, he could be angrily stubborn when defied or denied. "The Boss's Dutch is up!" cabinet and administration colleagues were occasionally known to say. As for his integrity, he would often explain: “I never let my right hand know what my left hand is doing." One day in 1935, he sent his aide Tommy “the Cork” Corcoran down to Congress to lobby for a particular proposal. In the meantime, he decided not to pursue the issue which he had sent Corcoran down to advocate. When Tommy returned, FDR explained, “I’ve decided that this problem ought to be a political issue in the coming campaign. For now this matter is more helpful as an issue than it is a solution."
FDR's resentment of the United States Supreme Court's willingness to declare unconstitutional "needed and even vital" economics and social legislation led to the almost permanent destruction of both the president and the New Deal. It wasn't so much the proposal itself, but the president's unwillingness to advise administration and congressional leaders of his intentions. He merely announced it without their consultation. In their eyes, FDR had become a dictator rather than a congenial politician.
In 1938, FDR sought to purge the Democratic Party of all conservatives. Georgia Senator Walter George, one of whom was to be purged, used to assert that those who considered the president his own worst enemy were wrong saying "as long as I'm around he isn't!"
The New Deal was over by 1939 and so, instead of being “Doctor New Deal,” FDR became “Doctor Win the War.”
We celebrate this far from perfect man and politician, administrator and gentleman, for the social benefits he left to us. Presidents Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln and Wilson left us mostly with valued principles. FDR's legacies were gifts that influenced our ongoing well-being. Their upkeep and improvement are, I think, vital to our future.
For this reason, January 30th remains an exceedingly special date on every year’s calendar!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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