Franklin D. Roosevelt was an American politician who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. Born in Hyde Park, New York, he studied at Harvard and Columbia Law School before entering politics. He served as a New York state senator, assistant secretary of the Navy and governor of New York. In 1921, he developed a paralytic illness that permanently impaired the use of his legs.

Elected president during the Great Depression, Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, a series of programmes intended to provide relief, promote economic recovery and reform financial institutions. He won an unprecedented four presidential elections. During the Second World War, he supported the Allied powers and, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, directed the US war effort as commander-in-chief. His administration also authorised the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans. Roosevelt died in office in April 1945, shortly before the war in Europe ended.