Franklin Roosevelt Biography

Below is a short biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Please check our other sections for more Franklin D. Roosevelt biography.

When was Franklin D. Roosevelt born?

Until he emerged from the ocean in 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt had known almost nothing of suffering and adversity. Franklin Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882. He was the only son of James Roosevelt II and his wife Sara Delano. Franklin Roosevelt's birthplace was the family mansion at Hyde Park, New York. Nowhere on either side of the family tree was there anything but wealth and prominence.

Franklin Roosevelt 's mother

Franklin Roosevelt 'smother Sara, was one of the strongest influences on Franklin. She was a beautiful and class-conscious woman who liked to remind Franklin Roosevelt that thanks to her, he could trace his lineage to seven passengers on the Mayflower. She passed on her sense of confidence and entitlement to her child, and she also dominated him and tried to control his life. His mother gave him a rigid schedule for his daily activities, including when he should eat, study, and play. Even after Franklin Roosevelt was a grown man with children of his own, she would order him to put his boots on before going out in the rain.

What was Franklin Roosevelt 's childhood like?

As a boy, Franklin Roosevelt was raised in luxury. Franklin Roosevelt had his own boat for sailing and his own pony. Franklin Roosevelt visited Europe ten times before he was even fifteen years old, was tutored privately at home, and was waited on by the family's numerous servants. Besides boating, his favorite hobbies were stamp and bird collecting, which Franklin Roosevelt was allowed to pursue to his heart's content. Franklin Roosevelt  was given everything a child could want - except perhaps freedom. Franklin Roosevelt was not an unhappy child, but he was private and seldom confided his innermost thoughts.

Until he was fourteen, Franklin Roosevelt spent barely more than a few hours away from his mother and father. Then, he was sent away to the prestigious boarding school, Groton, to prepare for college.

Coming from the sheltered background he did, Franklin D. Roosevelt had a hard time at Groton. Franklin D. Roosevelt seldom mingled with the other boys and in classes did just enough work to get by. Mostly Franklin D. Roosevelt played tennis, read sea stories, and wrote to his mother, whom he deeply missed.

Early sign of leadership

There was only one sign in his years at Groton that Franklin Roosevelt was destined for leadership. When he failed to qualify for the baseball team, Franklin D. Roosevelt organized a new one and led it to victory against the other. There was something else that emerged at Groton too - Roosevelt began to develop political opinions. These opinions, which were not at all what one would expect from the child of aristocrats, made him a name as a non-conformist and a dissident. Franklin D. Roosevelt became interested in Blacks and Jews, and in the struggle of the Boers against the British in South Africa, he took the unpopular side of the Boers.