Born in Hyde Park, New York, in 1882, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) grew up in a family that enjoyed both wealth and political power. (President Theodore Roosevelt was a fifth cousin.) After beginning a promising political career of his own, FDR was stricken by polio in 1921. His condition left him unable to walk, but he nevertheless pursued an active political life. In 1932, as the Democratic nominee for president, FDR defeated Herbert Hoover, under whom the nation had plunged into the Great Depression. Taking office in a time of national crisis, Roosevelt saw that one of his first tasks was to restore American morale and faith in democratic government. He set out to achieve this aim in his first inaugural address.
The Great Depression. The Great Depression struck in 1929 and lasted until World War II. Its causes were complex, including the economic aftereffects of World War I, free-wheeling stock market speculation, and easy credit. Policies enacted by a series of Republican administrations exacerbated an already bad situation. Industrial production grew at a far more rapid rate than people's ability to buy consumer goods, and protectionist trade measures limited the foreign market for U.S.
