"Liberty is the air that we Americans breathe. Our government is based on the belief that a people can be both strong and free, that civilized men need no restraint but that imposed by themselves against the abuse of freedom."
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945)
U.S. President
Law 1905–07
The thirty-second president of the United States, Roosevelt led the country through the Great Depression and most of World War II. He was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. An aristocrat descended from one of America's oldest families, FDR championed the cause of ordinary people who had been economically devastated by the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929. As a wartime leader, he infused the nation with hope and determination, regularly communicating with the public through radio addresses that were also known as fireside chats. Stricken with polio in 1921, he prevailed over his infirmity and his mother's wishes to remain a presence in New York politics. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945.
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