In the 1930s the United States needed a president who could lead the country through the difficult times of the Great Depression and World War II. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the man to lead the country through these difficult times. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the beloved only son of James and Sara Delano Roosevelt born January 30, 1882 in Hyde Park, New York. Both sides of the family, the Delanos and the Roosevelts, had business partners with shipping interests in the coal and railroad industries. Both had long English-Dutch patrician pedigrees (Franklin D. Roosevelt 1). The estate where Franklin grew up had everything a boy could want. “There were devoted servants; fields and woods to play in and horses and dogs and all the usual farm animals (Tugwell 1-2).” As a boy, Franklin had rooms where he could store all his toys and his collections of stamps, stuffed birds, and minerals (1-2). He would be outside in all seasons and absolutely loved it, but most of all he loved being on the water sailing (Susskind Early Years). Even though he would have preferred to be outside, he had to go to school. Well, he attended a formal school until the age of fourteen, instead he had tutors and governesses. These teachers had such an impact on him that he never forgot them (4). When Franklin finally entered Groton he was behind as the other students had already attended for two years. After graduating from Gorton he went to Harvard University. Roosevelt studied history and economics as a graduate student (Nelson 372). After Harvard Roosevelt went to Columbia University to study law, he passed the bar but never graduated from Columbia (372). While Franklin was at Harvard he courted Eleanor Roosevelt. They had met years before in a family...... middle of paper ......remember on the Fireside Chats (110). Press conferences and fireside chats were a very public thing. The press conferences were handled on a personal and public level. Reporters went everywhere with Franklin. They went to Warm Springs and Hyde Park with Franklin. While the United States was recovering from the Depression, Europe was on the brink of war. “Roosevelt urged Congress to revise the Neutrality Act of 1937. Its purpose was to discourage saber-wielding dictators by warning them that in the event of war America's war factors would be available to the French and British democracies. But a determined isolationist bloc in Congress, strongly supported by pro-neutrality sentiment across the country, has stymied all revision efforts (Kimbal 21).” As Americans learned what was happening in Europe, they wanted to stay out of the war.