Franklin Delano Roosevelt ~ January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945

32nd President 1933-1945
FDR has lots of 'firsts' and I'm going to list just a few.
He was the first president whose mother was eligible to vote for him and he was the first president to be inaugurated on January 20. FDR was the first to appoint a woman to a cabinet post (Frances Perkins), the first to appear on TV, the first to fly in an airplane while in office, and he was the first (and last) president to serve more than two terms.
His plane can be found in the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.
On a White House tour, we found part of his State Service, made in Corning, New York.
This house in New York City was given to Franklin and Eleanor as a wedding present from Franklin's mother, Sara. Sara lived there from 1908 until her death in 1941, after which it was put up for sale. Franklin and Eleanor lived there intermittently before Sara's death (47-49 East 65th St).
Four Freedoms Park is a four acre memorial to FDR and is located on Roosevelt Island in New York City, in the East River. The park was originally designed in 1974 by Louis Kahn but was not completed until 2012. We visited in 2021.
The four freedoms were laid out by FDR in his 1941 State of the Union address.
It's a beautiful tribute on the southernmost point of Roosevelt Island and offers some great views.
Roosevelt spent many summers on Campobello Island in New Brunswick, Canada, both as a child and an adult. Eleanor kept this house until 1952. We didn't get to visit what is now an International Park owned by the U.S. and Canada but sailed past the island on a whale watching trip out of New Brunswick. If you get to the island, tours of the Roosevelt "cottage" are available. This is the light station on the tip of Campobello Island.
FDR's "Sunshine Special", a 1939 Lincoln limousine, is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.


"Be sincere; be brief; be seated."

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