Franklin D. Roosevelt

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Franklin D. Roosevelt  link IMDB Powerbase Sourcewatch Spartacus (Lawyer, Politician)
Born	Franklin Delano Roosevelt January 30, 1882 Hyde Park, New York, U.S.
Died	April 12, 1945 Warm Springs, Georgia, U.S.
Victim of	poisoning
Alma mater	Groton School,Harvard University, Columbia Law School
Religion	Episcopalian
Parents	James Roosevelt I, Sara Roosevelt
Children	Anna Roosevelt Halsted,James Roosevelt,Elliott Roosevelt,Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr,John Aspinwall Roosevelt
Spouse	Eleanor Roosevelt
Party	Democratic
Relatives	See, Roosevelt family, Delano family
Widely recalled for strengthening the federal government and bringing the US into World War 2

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often only FDR was president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. A member of the Democratic Party, he won a record four presidential elections and directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda, while scheming to bring the US into World War 2.

File:FDR memorial.jpg

From the FDR memorial, text reads: "They [who] seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers...call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order." March 15, 1941 — full speech

The Good Neighbor Policy

Franklin D. Roosevelt started something he christened the "The Good Neighbor Policy" towards Latin America. While seemingly benign, it was entirely compatible with the Root doctrine. It simply required that Washington substitute support of local dictators for its previous policy of invasions and occupations, the latter being the ultimate forms of interference forbidden by the new policy. The historian William Keylor ascribes the adoption of this new policy to Washington's embarrassment at the obvious similarity between its previous invasions and occupations of Latin America and the then current aggression of Japan in China. The parallel was too obvious, and compelled the implementation of a new way to maintain hegemony in the hemisphere.

Frederick H. Gareau wrote that "Washington relinquished, at least on paper, its right to intervene. For direct forms of dominance, it substituted indirect ones, reminiscent of but less formal than those employed in British indirect rule in Africa. Central to this new scheme was support - economic, military and diplomatic - for local autocrats - for their currencies, their national constabularies, and their personal greed. In return, these autocrats suppressed local communists and radicals, protected American business, and performed other favors when called upon to do so. The good neighbor policy and the Root doctrine not only accomplished the same essential goals, but the latter was generally more cost effective and presented a smoother surface. No need to invade to change unwanted regimes. Better to support the local military that would make the changes for you."

Suspicious death

In a 1946 conversation with Elliott Roosevelt, Stalin said "When your father died, I sent my ambassador with a request that he be allowed to view the remains and report to me of what he saw", but was denied access. Stalin wanted Andrei Gromyko to see the body because he believed FDR was poisoned by 'the Churchill gang,' and Stalin feared there were similar plans for himself. "They poisoned your father, and they continue to try to poison me," Stalin said. In a 1983 article, Elliott also described seeing his father's body lying in state at the White House after FDR died in Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945. "I looked on father's face for the last time. I would hardly have known him...The cerebral hemorrhage that had caused his death also had caused extensive discoloration and distortion of his face."