The Quotidian, September 2, 2010 ~ Fear

Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, Washington, D.C.

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” ~ Franklin D. Roosevelt

(January 30, 1882 to April 12, 1945)

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the 32nd President of the United States and the longest serving American President. He was elected in 1932 during the Great Depression and was re-elected in 1936, 1940, and 1944. He died on April 15, 1945 while in office. Roosevelt was an activist President and experimented widely in seeking to bring the U.S. out of the Great Depression. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Roosevelt – also known as FDR – led the U.S. much of the way to victories over Nazi Germany and Japan during World War II.

And here’s my initial installment of the “Did You Know?” feature:

Did you know? FDR was disabled and famously hid his disabilities from the American public. In 1921, at age 39 he was diagnosed with polio, and suffered paralysis from the waist down. However, it may have been Guillain-Barre Syndrome. According to Wikipedia, “after he became President, he helped… found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (now… the March of Dimes).”

http://www.marchofdimes.com/aboutus/aboutus.asp

This is a link to the “About Us” page of The March of Dimes; please support the essential work of The March of Dimes!

[Source for photo: Wikipedia Commons. Source for quotation: personal knowledge and verified through use of BrainyQuotes.com, accessed September 1, 2010. Source for biographical information: personal knowledge, and verified through use of Wikipedia, accessed September 1, 2010].