- The sixth U.S. president to die in office. All presidents to have died in office since the first (William Henry Harrison in 1841) were elected 20 years apart: Harrison in 1840, Abraham Lincoln in 1860, James Garfield in 1880, McKinley in 1900, Warren G. Harding in 1920, Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940, and John F. Kennedy in 1960. Ronald Reagan (elected 1980) was the victim of an assassin's bullet in 1981, but he survived and broke the 120-year curse that had plagued the U.S. Presidency.
- When he was five years old, his family visited the White House and met President Grover Cleveland. The President put his hand on little Franklin's head and said, "My little man, I am making a strange wish for you. It is that you may never be president of the United States."
- He died while posing for a portrait. In the midst of the session he left, complaining of a headache. His last words were "I have a terrific headache".
- Fourth cousin once removed of President Ulysses S. Grant.
- Winston Churchill said about his first meeting with Roosevelt that meeting him "was like opening a bottle of fine champagne."
- Barring the repeal of the 22nd Amendment, he will forever remain the longest serving president of the United States of America.
- President-elect Roosevelt was the target of an assassination attempt during a speech in Miami, Florida, on February 15, 1933, three weeks before he was to be inaugurated on March 4. Giuseppe Zangara, an unemployed bricklayer, shouted "Too many people are starving!" and fired six shots from a revolver at Roosevelt, who had just delivered a speech at Bayfront Park and was sitting in the back seat of his open touring car with Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak. Zangara's shots hit five people, including Cermak, who was mortally wounded. However, Roosevelt was untouched and retained his composure, preventing the crowd from lynching the diminutive would-be assassin. His cousin Theodore Roosevelt also was the target of an assassination attempt during his unsuccessful third-party (Progressive or "Bull Moose" Party, as it was popularly known) campaign for the presidency in 1912. On October 14, 1912, he was shot during a campaign stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a bullet lodged in his chest and blood seeping through his clothes, Roosevelt nevertheless addressed the audience for 80 minutes, joking at one point that "It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose." The coolness under fire of both men helped to contribute to their legends.
- Though his legs were severely weakened by polio, they were not completely paralyzed. They were able to move, but were so damaged that they could not support his weight under normal conditions. He was able to walk when underwater, or when equipped with leg braces.
- Suffered poliomyelitis in 1921, and lost the ability to walk on his own. He wore heavy leg braces and when he appeared in public standing on his feet (which took a massive effort) he was usually supported by someone (most often his son).
- His likeness appears on the U.S. 10-cent coin, known numismatically as the Roosevelt Dime. The dime was chosen because Roosevelt was honorary chairman of the March of Dimes charity, which fought the polio that had robbed him of movement in his legs. Years later, after the death of former President Ronald Reagan, a movement arose among conservative Republicans--who had always hated Roosevelt and his policies--to replace Roosevelt with Reagan on the dime. That movement was squashed by Reagan's widow Nancy Reagan Reagan, who pointed out that Roosevelt had been her husband's political hero when he was a young man (and a self-described "heliophiliac liberal" in the 1940s).
- Once submitted a screenplay treatment for a film about a naval battle, but it was rejected by the movie studios. However, he did come up with a story about a millionaire faking his death and starting a new life. Several prominent writers got together and wrote a novel based on that premise, and when it was made into a film in 1936, The President's Mystery (1936), Roosevelt got screen credit for the story.
- Fourth cousin three times removed of President Zachary Taylor.
- On April 30, 1939, he appeared on experimental television station WX2AB in New York City, officiating over the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair, making him the first US President to appear on television.
- He never appeared in public in his wheelchair. The only time he used it was at his home at Campabello or at the retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. Only two photos of him in a wheelchair exist, both taken by a family member and neither released publicly until after his death.
- His loyal Scotch terrier Fala was the first publicly adored Presidential pet. He became almost as big a celebrity as Roosevelt.
- He and his cousin Theodore Roosevelt both served as assistant secretary of the Navy and Governor of New York and were vice presidential candidates before becoming President of the United States.
- When Winston Churchill addressed Britain's House of Commons on April 17 1945, to pay tribute to the late President, his allusion to Roosevelt's "affliction" and description of his life as a triumph "of will-power over physical infirmity" were discreet but rare public references to the President's condition.
- He intended the 1941 Atlantic Charter to end the European colonial empires, which was a significant political difference from his ally, British prime minister Winston Churchill, who was fiercely supportive of imperialism and the British Empire.
- Authorised the Plan Dog memorandum in 1940, whereby the United States focused on defeating Germany and Italy in Europe and North Africa while fighting a defensive war in the Pacific against the Empire of Japan.
- After the attack on Pearl Harbor he publicly accused Adolf Hitler of telling the Japanese to attack the United States. In reality Hitler had repeatedly urged the Japanese to avoid war with the US, and instead overrun British colonies like Singapore.
- Seventh cousin once removed of Winston Churchill.
- The 32nd President of the United States, and the only one to serve more than two terms; he died three months after beginning his fourth term.
- Worked in public advocacy from 1907 until 1910.
- Member of the New York Senate from 1910 until 1913.
- Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1913 until 1920.
- Democratic Vice Presidential running mate to James Cox in 1920. They lost to Republicans Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
- Was elected New York Governor in 1928 and in 1930
- Was U.S. President from 1933-1945, first elected in 1932, defeating sitting President Herbert Hoover, and then re-elected in 1936 over Kansas Governor Alf Landon by the greatest electoral college landslide until Lyndon B. Johnson's victory over Barry Goldwater in 1964. Breaking with the "No Third Term" tradition established by George Washington, he ran in 1940, beating Wendell Willkie, and again in 1944, beating Republican Party stalwart Thomas E. Dewey in his first presidential bid. (Dewey later lost to Roosevelt's successor as President, New- and Fair-Dealer Harry S. Truman, in the spectacular upset of 1948.).
- His wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, was a niece of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.
- Pictured on a memorial series of 4 US postage stamps, issued 27 June 1945 (3¢ face value), 26 July 1945 (1¢), 24 August 1945 (2¢), and 30 January 1946 (5¢).
- Pictured on the 6¢ US postage stamp in the Prominent Americans series, issued 29 January 1966.
- Fifth cousin of President Theodore Roosevelt.
- Fifth cousin once removed of wife Eleanor Roosevelt.
- His lengthy presidency inspired the 22nd Amendment, which, ratified in 1951, limits a person to two elected terms (or a total of 10 years if a vice president succeeds to the presidency) as U.S. President. This amendment specifically exempted sitting-president Harry S. Truman, Roosevelt's third vice president who had succeeded to the presidency upon FDR's death in 1945. In his oral biography "Plain Speaking" by Merle Miller, Truman found the 22nd Amendment to be a source of amusement, as it had been promulgated by anti-Roosevelt Republicans, whom he had despised. If there had been no 22nd Amendment, Truman told Miller, Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower (whom Truman also despised for toadying up to red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy during the 1952 Presidential campaign) surely would have won a third term in 1960. However it is considered unlikely that Eisenhower could have won a third term due to his multiple health problems.
- Father of James Roosevelt and Congressman Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr..
- He was a B-student at Harvard College, where he was a member of the cheerleading squad, served as business manager of the "Harvard Lampoon", and was a member of the Hasty Pudding Club.
- Is one of only two men to appear on a major political party's presidential ticket five times: the other is Richard Nixon. After an unsuccessful campaign as the Democratic nominee for vice president in 1920, F.D.R. won four successive presidential campaigns in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944. Republican stalwart Nixon won the vice presidency twice as Dwight D. Eisenhower's running-mate in 1952 and 1956, but lost to Democrat John F. Kennedy in his first bid for the presidency in 1960. Nixon subsequently won two terms as president, defeating Democrats Hubert H. Humphrey and George McGovern in 1968 and 1972, respectively.
- Has been portrayed by Ralph Bellamy, Kenneth Branagh, Edward Herrmann, John Lithgow, Jason Robards, David Ogden Stiers, Robert Vaughn, Jon Voight, Christopher Plummer, Bill Murrayand voiced by Charlton Heston, and Roosevelt's grandson James Roosevelt Jr..
- First cousin of Tennis Hall of Famer Ellen Crosby Roosevelt.
- In his last will and testament, he named the Warm Springs Foundation the beneficiary of insurance policies totally $560,000. He left the remainder of his estate, valued at $1,900,000 to his wife, and on her death to their children.
- On the day of his funeral, all Parisian cinemas and "other places of entertainment" shut as a mark of respect.
- Spoke both French and German, albeit with a distinct New England accent. He also had a limited knowledge of Latin.
- Godfather to Prince Michael of Kent, who was born on Independence Day in 1942. One of Prince Michael's middle names is "Franklin", in honor of the president.
- According to writer Joe Eszterhas, Roosevelt wrote a 22-page treatment for a biopic of American naval hero John Paul Jones for Paramount Pictures that's sitting in a records storage vault in Missouri.
- An avid stamp collector, he was inducted into the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame in 1945.
- Depicted with Dr. Jonas Salk on the obverse of the USA's March of Dimes silver dollar commemorative coin, dated and issued in 2015.
- Officially ended any pretense at neutrality in World War II when Lend-Lease to the UK began in March 1941. It was extended it to the Soviet Union after the Axis invasion in June. Lend-Lease meant the US was effectively at war with the Axis Powers, despite not having formally declared war.
- Imposed an economic embargo on the Empire of Japan in July 1941, which took effect in the following month.
- On 11 September 1941 Roosevelt gave a speech in which he publicly confirmed that all American ships had been ordered to fire on all Axis ships. This became known as the "shoot on sight order".
- Sent American forces to China early in 1941 without declaring war on Japan, and ordered the US armed forces to draw up covert plans to launch pre-emptive strikes on Japanese military bases.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content