And it is birthday of the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born in Hyde Park, New York (1882). His mother, Sara, was in labor with him for more than 24 hours, and the doctor was beginning to fear the worst. He gave Mrs. Roosevelt some chloroform to calm her, and 45 minutes later, young Franklin made his entrance into the world: blue, unmoving, and weighing nearly 10 pounds. The doctor blew into the babys lungs and revived him. Due to the traumatic and dangerous birth, the Roosevelts decided Franklin would be an only child. The family was comfortably wealthy, having made a reasonable fortune in real estate and trade, and the boy grew up surrounded by love, indulgence, and attention; the universe revolved around him, at least as far as his mother was concerned. He grew up in relative isolation, and was schooled by private tutors until he left to attend the prestigious Groton School in Massachusetts at the age of 14. In order to be popular at Groton, a student needed to be a star athlete or a rebel, and Roosevelt was neither. He just wanted to please his teachers, who instilled in their wealthy pupils a sense of obligation to help the less fortunate. Roosevelt went on to Harvard, where he had a much more active social life and participated in many extracurricular activities — at the cost of his grades. Marriage and law school followed Harvard, and he first entered the political arena in 1910, after some fellow New York Democrats asked him to run for office. Politics seemed a perfect fit for the outgoing Roosevelt, who loved to meet new people and longed to be a leader. Roosevelt possessed a zest for life, an easy confidence, and an optimistic outlook, traits that stayed with him even in his darkest days. He was diagnosed with polio in 1921, and Eleanor Roosevelt later recalled: I know that he had real fear when he was first taken ill, but he learned to surmount it. After that I never heard him say he was afraid of anything. He never gave up hope of a complete recovery, and managed to conceal the extent of his paralysis from the public for the rest of his life. Even while steering the country through the Great Depression and World War II, Roosevelt still had time for his favorite hobbies. He enjoyed collecting stamps, playing cards, bird-watching, and swimming in a pool he had built at the White House. He had a special fondness for Mickey Mouse cartoons. He held a nightly cocktail hour for his close associates. Above all, FDR enjoyed entertaining. He was gregarious and loved to be surrounded by people. There were the usual formal state dinners one might expect, but the Roosevelts also hosted teas, childrens parties, dances, cocktail parties, and game nights. Sometimes, Roosevelt would lead his guests in an impromptu sing-along, and his birthday parties usually featured friends and family members acting in comedy skits. White House staff had to cope with guest lists that were twice what had been planned for, or last-minute overnight guests when all the rooms were already full. The Washington Post reported that the Roosevelts had 28,000 visitors in 1936 alone: a mix of policy makers, school children, the press corps, visiting dignitaries, royalty, and celebrities. Once the war started, they didnt host as many events, but the scale of the events remained large. Two thousand people attended FDRs 1945 inaugural luncheon, and consumed chicken salad made from 200 chickens, plus 170 dozen rolls, almost 100 gallons of coffee, and 165 cakes (which were unfrosted because sugar and butter were rationed). Through it all, his beloved Scottish terrier, Fala, was never far away. Fala — whose full name was Murray, the Outlaw of Falahill, accompanied the president on his travels and slept in a special chair at the foot of FDRs bed. He was brought a bone every morning, and Roosevelt fed him his dinner every night. The dog was so popular with the American people that he needed his own secretary to deal with the overwhelming volume of mail that he received. When Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1945, the little dog was inconsolable. Eleanor reported that Fala grew to tolerate her, but spent the rest of his life waiting for the master to return.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:59:37 +0000
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