愛薇塔樂學英文

美國100位歷史名人榜(4)：Franklin Delano佛蘭克林·羅斯福

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) was the 32nd President of the United

0

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945) was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war. The only American president elected to more than two terms (he was elected to four but only served three full terms, dying in his fourth term), he was often referred to by his initials, FDR. Roosevelt won his first of four presidential elections in 1932, while the United States was in the depths of the Great Depression. FDR's combination of optimism and economic activism is often credited with keeping the country's economic crisis from developing into a political crisis. He led the United States through most of World War II, and died in office of a cerebral hemorrhage shortly before the war ended.

In his first term (1933–37) FDR launched the New Deal, a very large, complex interlocking set of programs designed to produce relief (especially government jobs for the unemployed), recovery (of the economy), and reform (by which he meant regulation of Wall Street, banks and transportation). The Conservative Coalition that formed in 1937 prevented his packing the Supreme Court or passing much new legislation; it abolished most of the relief programs when unemployment practically ended during World War II. Most of the regulations on business were ended about 1975-85, except for the regulation of Wall Street by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which still exists. The major surviving General Welfare clause program is Social Security (United States), which Congress passed in 1935.

As World War II loomed after 1938, with the Japanese invasion of China and the aggressions of Nazi Germany, FDR gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China and Britain, while remaining officially neutral. His goal was to make America the "Arsenal of Democracy"--supplying the munitions while others did the fighting. In March 1941, Roosevelt, with Congressional approval, provided Lend-Lease aid to the countries fighting against Nazi Germany, with Great Britain. He secured a near-unanimous declaration of war against Japan after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, calling it a "date that will live in infamy." He supervised the mobilization of the US economy to support the Allied war effort, taking criticism for fumbles early on, but saw unemployment evaporate and the industrial economy soar to heights no one ever expected.Roosevelt dominated the American political scene, not only during the twelve years of his presidency, but for decades afterward. He orchestrated the realignment of voters that created the Fifth Party System. FDR's New Deal Coalition united together labor unions, big city machines, white ethnics, welfare recipients, African Americans and rural white Southerners. Roosevelt's diplomatic impact also resonated on the world stage long after his death, with the United Nations and Bretton Woods as examples of his administration's wide-ranging impact. Roosevelt is consistently rated by scholars as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

State Senator
In the State election of 1910, Roosevelt ran for the New York State Senate from the district around Hyde Park in Dutchess County, which had not elected a Democrat since 1884. He entered the Roosevelt name, with its associated wealth, prestige, and influence in the Hudson Valley, and the Democratic landslide that year carried him to the state capital Albany. Roosevelt took his seat on January 1, 1911. He became the leader of a group of "Insurgents" who opposed the Tammany machine which dominated the state Democratic Party. The U.S. Senate election which began with the Democratic caucus on January 16, 1911, was deadlocked by the struggle of the two factions for 74 days. On March 31, James A. O'Gorman was elected, and Roosevelt had achieved his goal: to upset the Tammany machine by blocking their choice William F. Sheehan. Roosevelt soon became a popular figure among New York Democrats. He was re-elected for a second term in the State election of 1912, but resigned from the New York State Senate on March 17, 1913, to accept his appointment as Assistant U.S. Secretary of the Navy.

Assistant Secretary of the Navy
 FDR as Assistant Secretary for the Navy.Franklin D. Roosevelt was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy by Woodrow Wilson in 1913. He served under Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels. In 1914, he was defeated in the Democratic primary election for the United States Senate by Tammany Hall-backed James W. Gerard. As assistant secretary, Roosevelt worked to expand the Navy and founded the United States Navy Reserve. Wilson sent the Navy and Marines to intervene in Central American and Caribbean countries. In a series of speeches in his 1920 campaign for Vice President, Roosevelt claimed that he, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, wrote the constitution which the U.S. imposed on Haiti in 1915.

Roosevelt developed a life-long affection for the Navy. Roosevelt negotiated with Congressional leaders and other government departments to get budgets approved. He became an enthusiastic advocate of the submarine and of means to combat the German submarine menace to Allied shipping: he proposed building a mine barrier across the North Sea from Norway to Scotland. In 1918, he visited Britain and France to inspect American naval facilities; during this visit he met Winston Churchill for the first time. With the end of World War I in November 1918, he was in charge of demobilization, although he opposed plans to completely dismantle the Navy. In July 1920, overshadowed by the Newport Sex Scandal and its coverage in the Providence Journal and New York Times, Roosevelt resigned as Assistant Secretary of the Navy to run for Vice President.

1932 presidential election
Roosevelt's strong base in the most populous state made him an obvious candidate for the Democratic nomination, which was hotly contested since it seemed that incumbent Herbert Hoover would be vulnerable in the 1932 election. Al Smith was supported by some city bosses,but had lost control of the New York Democratic party to Roosevelt. Roosevelt built his own national coalition with personal allies such as newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Irish leader Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., and California leader William Gibbs McAdoo. When Texas leader John Nance Garner switched to FDR, he was given the presidential nomination.

The election campaign was conducted under the shadow of the Great Depression in the United States, and the new alliances which it created. Roosevelt and the Democratic Party mobilized the expanded ranks of the poor as well as organized labor, ethnic minorities, urbanites, and Southern whites, crafting the New Deal coalition. During the campaign, Roosevelt said: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people", coining a slogan that was later adopted for his legislative program as well as his new coalitionEconomist Marriner Eccles observed that "given later developments, the campaign speeches often read like a giant misprint, in which Roosevelt and Hoover speak each other's lines." Roosevelt denounced Hoover's failures to restore prosperity or even halt the downward slide, and he ridiculed Hoover's huge deficits. Roosevelt campaigned on the Democratic platform advocating "immediate and drastic reductions of all public expenditures," "abolishing useless commissions and offices, consolidating bureaus and eliminating extravagances reductions in bureaucracy," and for a "sound currency to be maintained at all hazards." On September 23, Roosevelt made the gloomy evaluation that, "Our industrial plant is built; the problem just now is whether under existing conditions it is not overbuilt. Our last frontier has long since been reached." Hoover damned that pessimism as a denial of "the promise of American life ... the counsel of despair." The prohibition issue solidified the wet vote for Roosevelt, who noted that repeal would bring in new tax revenues.Roosevelt won 57% of the vote and carried all but six states. Historians and political scientists consider the 1932-36 elections a realigning election that created a new majority coalition for the Democrats, thus transforming American politics and starting what is called the "New Deal Party System" or (by political scientists) the Fifth Party System.

After the election, Roosevelt refused Hoover's requests for a meeting to come up with a joint program to stop the downward spiral and calm investors, claiming it would tie his hands. The economy spiraled downward until the banking system began a complete nationwide shutdown as Hoover's term ended. In February 1933, Roosevelt escaped a possible assassination attempt by Giuseppe Zangara (which killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak sitting next to him). Roosevelt leaned heavily on his "Brain Trust" of academic advisors, especially Raymond Moley when designing his policies; he offered cabinet positions to numerous candidates (sometimes two at a time), but most declined. The cabinet member with the strongest independent base was Cordell Hull at State. William Hartman Woodin at Treasury, was soon replaced by the much more powerful Henry Morgenthau, Jr

First term, 1933–1937
When Roosevelt was inaugurated March 4, 1933 (32 days after Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany), the U.S. was at the nadir of the worst depression in its history. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Farmers were in deep trouble as prices fell by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million were homeless. Due to the lack of employment, organized crime and outlaws were on the rise, such as John Dillinger. By the evening of March 4, 32 of the 48 states, as well as the District of Columbia had closed their banks. The New York Federal Reserve Bank was unable to open on the 5th, as huge sums had been withdrawn by panicky customers in previous days. Beginning with his inauguration address, Roosevelt began blaming the economic crisis on bankers and financiers, the quest for profit, and the self-interest basis of capitalism:

“ Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence....The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit. ”

Historians categorized Roosevelt's program as "relief, recovery and reform." Relief was urgently needed by tens of millions of unemployed. Recovery meant boosting the economy back to normal. Reform meant long-term fixes of what was wrong, especially with the financial and banking systems. Roosevelt's series of radio talks, known as fireside chats, presented his proposals directly to the American public.

佛蘭克林· 德拉諾·羅斯福（Franklin Delano Roosevelt ，1882年1月30日－1945年4月12日）美國31位、第32任總統(1933年3月4日——1937年1月20日，1937年1月20日——1941年1月20日，1941年1月20日——1945年1月20日，1945年1月20日——1945年4月12日 ) 美國歷史上唯一蟬聯四屆(第四屆未任滿)的總統。羅斯福在20世紀的經濟大蕭條和第二次世界大戰中扮演了重要的角色。被學者評為是美國最偉大的三位總統之一。美國第26任總統希歐多爾·羅斯福是佛蘭克林·羅斯福的遠房堂叔。

1910年，羅斯福以民主黨人的身份開始涉足政界。當他把這個決定告訴身為共和黨人的總統叔叔時，對方怒任海軍助理部長時的羅斯福而罵道：“你這個卑鄙的兔崽子！你這個叛徒……”但是佛蘭克林·羅斯福沒有改變前進方向。他乘著一輛紅色的汽車，每天進行十多次演說，最終當選紐約市參議員。1913年，威爾遜總統任命他為海軍助理部長，他在任七年，表現傑出，主張建設"強大而有作戰能力的海軍"，羅斯福在海軍中建立了貫穿其一生的影響。1919年，羅斯福為威爾遜的國際聰明計畫奔走遊說，結果導致1920年競選副總統失敗。雖然此次競選失敗了，但他的作為政治新星的光芒卻未曾削減。此後，羅斯福出任馬里蘭信用與儲蓄公司的副董事長，同時又重操律師業。此外，羅斯福還從事各種商業冒險活動。　

智慧、幹練、胸懷寬廣、深孚眾望，似乎什麼都不能阻擋這個39歲的男人邁上政治峰巔的腳步。但是，無情的災難就在這時降臨。1921年8月，羅斯福帶全家在坎波貝洛島休假，在撲滅了一場林火後，他跳進了冰冷的海水，因此患上了脊髓灰質炎症。高燒、疼痛、麻木以及終生殘疾的前景，並沒有使羅斯福放棄理想和信念，他一直堅持不懈地鍛煉，企圖恢復行走和站立能力，他用以療病的佐治亞溫泉被眾人稱之為“笑聲震天的地方”。在康復期間，羅斯福大量閱讀書籍，其中有不少傳記和歷史著作，卻幾乎沒有經濟學或哲學著作。　　羅斯福的外交思想源於他最欽佩的兩位總統。他的遠房堂叔希歐多爾·羅斯福教給他如何捍衛民族利益，達到權力制衡。伍德羅·威爾遜教給他：國際秩序是建立在共同維護和平的基礎上的。1928年，在羅斯福夫人的理解與支持下，羅斯福重返政界，參加州長競選而險勝，於1929年出任紐約州州長（1930年再次當選州長）。紐約可以說是羅斯福培養進行政治活動和管理國家事務的能力的實驗場所。