Franklin Delano Roosevelt And The World War II - 1165 Words

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York became the 32nd U.S. president in 1933. He was diagnosed with polio in the year 1921, making him paralyzed from the waist down. This, however, did not impede him from being the only person who has run for, and won, the presidency four times. Franklin died in 1945 from his illness but with great honor. FDR led this country through the Great Depression by implementing government spending programs that provided jobs in local areas, as well as leading the U.S through World War II with the help of this fine speech. December 7th, 1941, the Japanese launched a surprise attack on the U.S naval base, Pearl Harbor, near Hawaii. In efforts to disable the U.S, they used†¦show more content†¦After immediately meeting with members of his cabin, he was advised by Secretary of State, Cordell Hull, to address the matter aggressively and by deteriorating any U.S-Japan domestic relations. Roosevelt decided against it. Within hours, he instead dictated a short and emotional appeal to the people of the United States, as well as Congress. The speech was made at 12:30 pm on Monday December 8th, 1941 in Washington, D.C. Nicknamed the â€Å"Date of Infamy Speech,† it is one of the most famous political speeches of the 20th century. Franklin was heard by the largest audience in radio history. It pulled the nation together and away from their fear and dismay only hours previous to learning about the crippling event. The Japanese calculated one of the most daring and successful raids in all history, it was brilliant. Michael Slackman described the attack as â€Å"almost textbook perfect† in his book Target: Pearl Harbor (1990). â€Å"Toward the end of 1941. With the Soviets seemingly on the verge of defeat by the Axis powers, Japan seized the opportunity to try to take the oil resources of Southeast Asia. The U.S wanted to stop Japanese expansion but the American people were not willing to go to stop it.† With the U.S looking for an agreement, no one saw the attack coming. The age of new imperialism began in the 1870s when European states established vast empires mainly in Africa, but also in Asia and the Middle East. The United