Franklin Roosevelt Timeline Franklin Roosevelt Timeline

January 30, 1882 - Born in Hyde Park, New York 

1900 - Graduates from Groton, an elite boarding school 

1904 - Graduates from Harvard University

1907 - Completes law degree from Columbia University and passes bar exam

March 17, 1905 - Marries Anna Eleanor Roosevelt 
They would have five surviving children: Anna (1906-1975), James (1907-1991), Elliott (1910-1990), Franklin Jr. (1914-1988), and John (1916-1981).

1910 - Elected to New York State Senate
First Democrat elected from his district since 1884. 

April 1913 - Appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson 

November 2, 1920 - Nominated for Vice President alongside James N. Cox 
Lost to Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge.
Popular Vote: 60% Harding/Coolidge, 34% Cox/Roosevelt
Electoral Vote: 404 Harding/Coolidge, 127 Cox/Roosevelt.

August 1921 - Stricken with poliomyelitis at Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada 

November 6, 1928 - Elected Governor of New York 

November 8, 1932 - Elected President. Defeats incumbent Herbert Hoover
Popular Vote: 57.4% Roosevelt/Garner to 39.6% Hoover/Curtis
Electoral Vote: 472 Roosevelt/Garner to 59 Hoover/Curtis 

March 4, 1933 - Inaugurated as 32nd President 
First inaugural address includes famous lines: “We have nothing to fear but fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life, a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.”

March 4 - June 16, 1933 - First Hundred Days 
Dedicating himself immediately to the national emergency of a collapsed economy, FDR and his Administration pass several new pieces of legislation. These included: Civilian Conservation Corps, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Tennessee Valley Authority, the Farm Credit Act, the Railroad Coordination Act and the Glass-Steagall Act (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation). 

June 6, 1934 - Creation of Securities and Exchange Commission 
New government agency tasked with the regulation of stocks and bonds transactions. FDR picks Joseph Kennedy as the first chairman.

August 14, 1935 - Signs Social Security Act 
Creates an Administration for the disbursement of pensions to retirees 

November 3, 1936 - Reelected President. Defeats Republican nominee Alfred Landon 
Popular Vote: 60.8% Roosevelt/Garner to 36.5% Landon/Knox
Electoral Vote: 523 Roosevelt/Garner to 8 Landon/Knox 

September 16, 1940 - Congress approves Selective Service Act 
At FDR’s insistence, Congress enacts the first peacetime draft in U.S. history, based on a lottery system 

November 5, 1940 - Reelected President. Defeats Republican nominee Wendell Willkie 
Roosevelt breaks two-term precedent set by George Washington.
Popular Vote: 54.7% Roosevelt/Wallace to 44.8% Willkie/McNary
Electoral Vote: 449 Roosevelt/Wallace to 82 Willkie/McNary. 

January 6, 1941 - Delivers State of the Union Address to Congress 
Roosevelt announces his determination to continue aid to the Allies, stating that the country would “make secure” a world based on “four essential human freedoms.” These were: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. 

March 11, 1941 - Signs Lend-Lease Bill 
The act allows the United States to send much needed war materiel to Great Britain (and after June of 1941, the Soviet Union), without regard to payment. Rather, it was understood that recipients of Lend-Lease aid would repay it after the war was over. 

December 8, 1941 - Joint Address to Congress Leading to a Declaration of War Against Japan 
One day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, FDR asks Congress for a declaration of war against Japan, announcing simply, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan." Days later, Germany and Italy would declare war on the United States, committing Americans irrevocably to the defeat of the Axis powers. 

February 19, 1942 - Issues Executive Order 9066 for the internment of Japanese Americans 
Citing security concerns raised by the Army, Roosevelt allows for the relocation of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans to camps in Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado. The Order would stand until December of 1944. 

January 14 to 24, 1943 - Attends Casablanca Conference with Churchill and Charles de Gualle 
Allies agree to the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, further aid to the Soviet Union, eventual invasion of Italy, and the composition of the French government-in-exile. 

November 22-26, 1943 - Attends Cairo Conference with Churchill and Chiang Kai-Shek 
Allies agree to dismember the Japanese empire following its eventual defeat. 

November 28 - December 1, 1943 - Attends Tehran Conference with Churchill and Stalin 
U.S. and Great Britain agree to the opening of a second-front by way of a cross-channel invasion in 1944. 

November 7, 1944 - Reelected President. Defeats Republican nominee Thomas E. Dewey 
Popular Vote: 53.4% Roosevelt/Truman to 45.9% Dewey/Bricker
Electoral vote: 432 Roosevelt/Truman to 99 Dewey/Bricker 

February 4 to 11, 1945 - Attends Yalta Conference with Churchill and Stalin 
Allies issue Declaration on Liberated Europe, decide on structure of United Nations, divide Germany into zones of occupation, agree to free and fair elections in Poland and other areas in Eastern Europe controlled by the Soviet Union, negotiate for the entry of the Soviet Union into the war against Japan

April 12, 1945 - Died in Warm Springs, Georgia. Cause of death: cerebral hemorrhage 

April 15, 1945 - Buried in Hyde Park, New York 


Sources: 
Esterly, Larry et. al. Encyclopedia of American Parties, Campaigns & Elections. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1999.
Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1940. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1963.
MacGregor Burns, James. Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, 1940-1945. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1970.