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Franklin D. Roosevelt

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In the 1930’s the United States need a president that would be able to lead the country through the tough times of the Great Depression and World War II. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the man who was capable to lead the country through these challenging times. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the adored only child of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt born on January 30, 1882 at Hyde Park, New York. Both sides of the family, the Delano and the Roosevelt had business associates of shipping interests in coal and railroads. They both had long English-Dutch patrician pedigrees (Franklin D. Roosevelt 1). The estate where Franklin grew up had everything that a boy could want. “There were devoted servants; fields and woods to play in and horse, dogs, …show more content…

Franklin came down with polio while at Campobello for summer vacation. Poliomyelitis (polio) is disease that affects the muscle and the nerves and can lead to partial or full paralysis. Symptoms of polio include fever, muscle spasms, and muscle pain. The treatment is heat pads to reduce pain, therapy and pain killers. Franklin was paralyzed from the chest down at first than the disease relaxed and only paralyzed him from the hips down. No one knew how polio was contracted. It may have been because of the exhausting weeks with the Navy Administration or from the chill he received after falling in to a cold bay while fishing. It also may have been the combo of tiredness and the chill (Tugwell 56). Doctors were called for a diagnosis and each time they gave a wrong diagnosis. It wasn’t until two weeks after contracting the disease that a specialist gave a correct diagnosis and it was two weeks after the specialist came that Franklin was transported to New York for therapy (57). He was so determined to overcome his disability that he devoted seven years of his life to grueling physical therapy (Goodwind 109). But unfortunately he would never walk again without the help of steel braces on his legs and a strong- arm to lean on.
As Franklin was recovering Eleanor really became important to Franklin as his representative. She made appearances to keep his name in public so that the people and the political party

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