Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR)
Elected in 1932, Roosevelt took office as the 32nd President in 1933 and led the USA through the dark days of the Great Depression and then through the even more challenging times of the Second World War.
The only US President to serve more than two terms, Roosevelt was elected four times and he died in office in April 1945 just as the War in Europe was ending and four months before the end of the War in the Pacific.
Born in Hyde Park, New York in 1882 Roosevelt attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School.
On St Patrick's Day, 1905, he married his fifth cousin, once removed, Eleanor Roosevelt.
FDR greatly admired another fifth cousin, President Theodore Roosevelt, and he entered public service through politics. However, while Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican, FDR was a Democrat.
Roosevelt was elected to the New York Senate in 1910. Thereafter, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him Assistant secretary of the Navy and he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1920.
In the summer of 1921, disaster struck when, at the age of 39, he was stricken with poliomyelitis.
Demonstrating great courage he fought to regain the use of his legs, especially through swimming.
At the 1924 Democratic Convention he dramatically came forward on crutches to nominate Alfred E Smith as the Democratic nominee for President.
Roosevelt became Governor of New York State in 1928.
Elected as POTUS in November 1932, to the first of four terms, when he took office there were over 13 million unemployed and almost every bank in the country had closed.
In his first "hundred days" he proposed and Congress enacted, a sweeping program to bring recovery to business and agriculture, relief to the unemployed and to those threatened with losing their homes, farms and businesses, under the heading of "The New Deal".
While many conservatives and neo-conservatives criticised him both at the time and retrospectively, there is no doubt that the application of FDR's programs and policies carried America and the rest of the world out of Depression.
Those who criticised him opposed public expenditure, allowing deficits and making concessions to labour.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 bringing America into WWII, Roosevelt directed the organisation of the US resources and manpower for global war.
During the War he worked with Churchill from Britain and Stalin from the USSR to ensure that the allies successfully defeated the axis powers.
Knowing that the future peace of the World would depend upon relations between the USA and Russia, he devoted a good deal of thought and planning that led to the establishment of the United Nations after his death.
A truly inspirational leader whose fireside chats on the radio provided succour to the American people, FDR's health deteriorated towards the end of the War and he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia, on 12 April 1945.
