Franklin D. Roosevelt was born in New York on January 30, 1882, the son of a wealthy family. He attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School, but he never practiced law. Instead, he went into politics, serving in the New York State Senate from 1911 to 1913. In 1913, he was appointed assistant secretary of the Navy, and he served in that position during World War I. In 1920, he was the Democratic nominee for vice president, but the ticket lost. In 1921, he was diagnosed with polio, which left him paralyzed from the waist down.
Despite his disability, Roosevelt remained active in politics, and in 1928 he was elected governor of New York. He was re-elected in 1930, and in 1932 he was the Democratic nominee for president. He ran on a platform of "New Deal" reform, and he was elected in a landslide. As president, Roosevelt implemented a series of programs designed to help the country recover from the Great Depression. He also led the United States through World War II, and he helped to establish the United Nations. He died in office in 1945, and he was succeeded by Harry S. Truman.