by Lorri Mealey

Created on: March 11, 2007   Last Updated: May 08, 2007

America's greatest president? That is a hard question to answer, because each era in our history has been plagued by different problems and circumstances. If I were to choose one president, however, it would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). No, he was not the first president (and is that enough justification to make GW our greatest?) and he didn't write the emancipation proclamation (so, Lincoln comes in at very close second). FDR did bring the United States through four hellish years of war, and dragged the country out of a depression that was unlike anything we have suffered before or since.

After suffering through a paralyzing bout of polio, FDR refused to abandon his dream of becoming president of the United States. Despite concerns from his family, especially his overbearing mother, FDR went on the campaign trail, carefully concealing the metal leg braces that he now needed to walk. This may seem unimportant in this day and age, but in the early nineteenth century, anyone with a visible handicap had little hope of being elected to any public office, let alone the highest one the country had to offer.

FDR brought his New Deal to the American people, and offered them a chance to work their way out the depression, with programs such as the Civilian Conservation Corp., and the Tennessee Valley Authority. FDR recognized that Americans wanted to work, there were just not enough jobs to go round.

When the WWII began, in Europe, FDR acted with great care not bring the United States into the conflict. He was acutely aware that Americans were still recovering from the losses of the "Great War" (WWI) twenty years earlier. However, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, on December 7, 1941, the American people united behind their Commander and Chief. Through his fireside chats, FDR buoyed the American spirit, with hope for a better world when the war was finished.

Throughout the war, FDR's health was fragile at best. He did not live to see the end of the war, dying in Warm Springs, Georgia in April, 1945. His legacy lives on through his civil rights movement, aimed at eradicating racial and religious prejudices, as well as his social programs. He embodied the American spirit of the 1930's and 1940's.

Learn more about this author, Lorri Mealey.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.