His third and fourth terms were dominated by World War II, which ended shortly after he died in office. He is usually rated by scholars among the nation's greatest presidents, after George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but has also been subject to substantial criticism. In the 1932 presidential election, Roosevelt defeated Republican President Herbert Hoover in a landslide. Sara was the dominant influence in Franklin's early years. Though Roosevelt won the backing of Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo and Governor Martin H. Glynn, he faced a formidable opponent in the Tammany-backed James W. Gerard. He also lacked Wilson's backing, as Wilson needed Tammany's forces to help marshal his legislation and secure his 1916 re-election. Roosevelt was soundly defeated in the Democratic primary by Gerard, who in turn lost the general election to Republican James Wolcott Wadsworth Jr. Roosevelt learned a valuable lesson, that federal patronage alone, without White House support, could not defeat a strong local organization.
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