August 1921

Polio

While vacationing with his family on the coast of Maine, Roosevelt (at the time a big-city lawyer) became ill. The sickness left him paralyzed below the waist and completely unable to use his legs. He spent years working to walk again and even founded the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.

He went to great lengths to avoid being seen in a wheelchair once he returned to the public eye. Eventually he could walk short distances with the use of iron braces or a cane, but he often gripped family or advisors while walking out to speeches.

October 29, 1929

Black Tuesday

Not to be confused with Black Friday, this is the day when the Great Depression began in earnest; stock trading fell to a level not seen in 40 years, and the market lost $14 billion in a single day.

March 4, 1933

FDR's First Presidential Inauguration

Like his fast-paced cousin Teddy, the newly minted president started off his tenure with a bang. His speech, a call to action, marked the beginning of the very literally named "First 100 Days."

With every part of the country on fire (not literally—phew), FDR saw the need to act immediately. And what followed was the birth of the first New Deal programs.

March 9, 1933

Congress Passes Emergency Banking Act

Of all the problems plaguing the United States in the depths of the Great Depression, the most dangerous was the failing banks.

In the weeks leading up to the financial crash, state after state demanded enforced bank holidays to prevent full-blown panics from breaking out. FDR convinced Congress to press the reset button. The Emergency Banking Act set a four-day bank holiday to shore up funds, after which they reopened with full federal deposit insurance.

Before, when times were tough and people rushed to withdraw their savings, banks would crash and take all their customers' cash with them. But with these new measures in place, people could breathe a weary sigh of relief knowing the little money they had saved would stay that way.

March 12, 1933

FDR's First Fireside Chat

Eight days after his inauguration and the night before reopening his new and improved banks, President Roosevelt appeared live on radios across the nation. In the first of many addresses directly to the American people, he calmly explained the situation the country was facing and the next steps to follow.

Over his 12-year presidential tenure, he gave 30 of these speeches, stimulating public confidence at a time when morale was at an all-time low.

December 7, 1941

Pearl Harbor

Years of staying on the sidelines came to a close with Japan's sneak attack on the naval fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The following day, Congress declared war on Japan, followed soon after by a declaration of war against Germany. The United States was now in World War II.

February 4-11, 1945

The Yalta Conference

By the end of 1943, it had become clear that Hitler and the Nazis would ultimately lose the war. In order to end this kind of devastating warfare once and for all, the Allied powers met to decide what Europe would look like once the dust settled. And it was here that the seeds of the Cold War were laid; already the Red Army was pressing into Germany and threatening to engulf all of Eastern Europe. The conference remains controversial: critics believe Roosevelt could have done more to prevent Soviet intrusion into Europe.

April 12, 1945

FDR's Death

After years of poor health and over a decade in the Oval Office, Franklin Delano Roosevelt died of a massive stroke in the dwindling days of World War II. He had forged a new path for progressive politics in America, helped patch up a bruised and battered economy, and steered the United States toward becoming a global superpower.

We think it's safe to say he stepped out from his cousin Teddy's shadow.

May 8, 1945

V-E Day

Despite the fact that the writing had been on the wall for almost two years, it wasn't until 1945 that the Allies were finally able to capture Berlin and put an end to the Nazi regime. With the Soviet Red Army occupying the east of Germany and American, British, and French soldiers in the west, this date serves primarily as a marker between World War II and the beginnings of the Cold War.