Evening star., 1945-04-13
President Took Helm at 81
As Depression Gripped Nation
Ey the Associated Press.

lie lIdulUlOIl-Sl GtcIlllS pI cSl
Dental career of Franklin Delan,
Roosevelt spanned turbulent year
Of peace in which he worked t.
lift the Nation out of a depression
and tumultuous years of war wher
he played a dominant role in chart
ing an Allied victory.
While he gained the adulatior
of millions, the unprecedented
moves he made and the politica
theories he embraced made him tn,
frequent target for blistering criti
ciSm.
Accusations ranged from dem
agoguery" to dictatorship" Tn,
public debt jumped to recore
peacetime high, then to even greater
wartime peaks. Critics charged tht
President with trying to pack" tn,
Supreme Court after that tribuna
had thrown out several of his ia.
vorite projects and he sought to in.
ject new blood" by reorganizing tn,
membership. Some party stalwart!
forsook him.
But he became the first President
In history to be elected to thirc
term-and by smashing majority
and then won fourth again easily
An International Statesman.
Mr.. Roosevelt had attained a sub
stantial international stature in the
wears when he was concerned pri-
marily with applying revolutionary
remedies to an economic bllgh,
rooted in the World War.
And after the flames of SECOND
global conflict were kindled, he be-
came the pivotal statesman of more
than 30 United Nations which
pooled their might to smash Ger
man-Italian-J Japanese Axis.
Kings and queens, Presidents ano
prime ministers, travelled to the
White House to consult him.
The military strategy of nations
representing IS per cent Of the
earths surface and so per cent of its
population-a strategy that sent
American fighting men, American
war weapons. American food and
American dollars to combat the
Axis-was mapped at conferences
in which he took leading part.
In Unprecedented Parleys.
He constantly shuff1ed and revised
prodigiouS war production pro-
gram, framed stupendous war budg-
cts to be met by taxes that hurt
and, also at home, fought an infla-
ton peril hardly less dangerous to
the Nation than its enemies at
arms.
He drew up with United Nations
colleagues, as the war progressed,
blueprints for peace-a peace de-
signed to avoid the hasty mistakes
of the Versailles Treaty.
International conferences on a
scale never before seen in history
helped the President to formulate
his war plans. Rising to a pinnacle
of world attention with him in these
councils was Britain's sturdy Prime
Minister, Winston Churchill.
His intimates said nothing less
than the threat of war, and finally
war itself could have prompted
Mr.. Roosevelt to stir up political
turmoil in tremendous proportions
by shattering the 150-year-
two-term presidential tradition be-
gun by George Washington, and
then running for fourth term.
SAYS He Preferred To Retire.
In 1910, the Chief Executive told
the Democratic National Conven-
tion he was accepting denomination
for a third term only because of a
storm raging in Europe. He was
reelected overwhelmingly over
Wendell L. Willkie, the Republican
candidate.
Four years later, Mr.. Roosevelt
said his preference was to retire to
the family estate at Hyde Park, N
Y. where he was born January 80
1882. He told Democratic Chair
man Robert E. Hannegan in let
ter:
"All that is within me cries out to
go back to my home on the Hudson
River, to avoid public responsible
ties, and to avoid also the publicity
which in our democracy follows
every step of the Nations Chief
Executive.
Such would be my choice. But
we of this generation chance to live
In a day and hour when our Nation
has been attacked, and when its fu-
ture existence and the future ex-
istence of our chosen method OF
government are at stake.
ITO win this war wholeheartedly,
uneouivocally and as quickly as we
can is our task of the first impor-
tance. To win this war in such a
way that there be no further wolld
wars in the foreSeeable future is
our second objective. To provide oc-
cupations, and to provide decent
standard of living for o'r men in
the armed forces after the war, and
for all Americans, are the final OBJ
jectives.
Therefore, reluctantly, but as a
good soldier l will accept ana
serve in this office, if I AM SC or
dered by the commander in chief
of us all-the sovereign people of
the United States
His Republican opponent was
Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Of New York.
No Time to Campaign.
As in the third-term campaign
Mr.. Roosevelt said he would not
have time to campaign in the usual
partisan sense, but would reserve. the
right to answer what he called mis-
representations"
Dewey opened his campaign Sep
tember 7 with a speech at Philadel-
phia. The President got going Sep
tember %, accusing the opposition
of "callous" and "prazen' falsehood
Mr.. Roosevelt was elected, by an
electoral vote of 432 to SO. He car
ried 36 States and Dewey II.
Because of the war, the fourth
term inaugural ceremony was trans
ferred from the Capitol to the White
House and shorn of all customary
trappings. 1t required but IA min
utes for the swearing in of President
Roosevelt and his running mate
Senator Truman of Missouri, and
for the Presidents brief inaugural
address. Less than 10000 persons