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Franklin D. Roosevelt in The Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt in The Great Depression

Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) was the 32nd President of the United States and the only chief executive to be elected to more than two terms in office. 

Roosevelt held the presidency from 1934 to 1945, leading the United States through the Great Depression and World War II. His legislative program, the New Deal, greatly expanded the role of the federal government in American society.

At times, Roosevelt's New Deal incorporated watered-down elements of more radical political ideas that became popular during the Great Depression. Social Security was a less ambitious version of the Townsend Plan, while the largely symbolic 1935 "Wealth Tax" was clearly designed to co-opt supporters of Huey Long's Share the Wealth program.