Franklin Roosevelt as Senator

How Franklin D. Roosevelt got into politics

After he passed the bar, Franklin D. Roosevelt joined a New York City law firm. But all the while Franklin D. Roosevelt  was making plans for entry into the political arena. The opportunity came in 1910 when the Tammany Hall scandal broke, and the Democratic Party needed respectable names to regain its standing. Franklin D. Roosevelt was nominated to run for the state senate in New York, a battle no one expected him to win. But Franklin D. Roosevelt amazed them with his vigor and determination. Franklin D. Roosevelt put the enemy on the defensive with strong, fiery speeches. He took to the backroads of the state in his old red Maxwell sedan, becoming the first candidate to campaign by car in New York. To almost everyone's surprise Franklin D. Roosevelt won.

What was Franklin Roosevelt like as Senator?

As a state senator, Franklin D. Roosevelt argued for the then unpopular idea of woman's suffrage and supported progressive Woodrow Wilson at the Democratic national convention. Franklin D. Roosevelt was rewarded when Wilson was elected and handed Franklin D. Roosevelt the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Franklin D. Roosevelt loved his new job - now he could combine his favorite hobby, the sea and ships, with his official work.

Franklin Roosevelt and the First World War

The First World War gave Roosevelt plenty of opportunity to exercise his skill and expertise in matters of the sea. His use of submarine chasers helped defeat the fearsome German subs and he himself went on secret missions in a destroyer to various naval stations. He gained a reputation as a man who gets things done. When the war ended he'd made enough of a name for himself to be nominated as his party's vice-presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention. He campaigned hard - making over 800 speeches - but the Democrats lost to the Republicans Harding and Coolidge.

Franklin D. Roosevelt had won something else however, - the attention of the nation. His tall handsome and urbane ways captured their imagination and his powerful speeches made a lasting impression. Franklin D. Roosevelt was 38 by now, and although most people liked him, he was seen almost as a dilettante - a charming but superficial man without serious opinion or intention, who felt he deserved a high office simply because of who he was. That was all soon to change.

Franklin Roosevelt and his battle with Polio

It was the next year that Franklin Roosevelt took his swim off Campobella, went to bed, and found he couldn't get up again. Throughout his four-year battle with polio, Franklin D. Roosevelt refused to allow any pity from either himself or others. "No sob stuff," he told his family. By the time Franklin D. Roosevelt was 42 he was able to make a dramatic appearance at the National Convention, rising from his chair and approaching the podium, slowly and painfully, on crutches to give a nomination speech. When Franklin D. Roosevelt reached it, he gave a triumphant smile and the entire audience rose to its feet to applaud him. Those who had said Franklin Roosevelt's political days were over, began to reconsider.