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was 32nd president of the US 1933-45, a Democrat. He served as governor of New York 1929-33. Becoming president during the Great Depression, he launched the New Deal economic and social reform program, which made him popular with the people. After the outbreak of ....

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.... spirit of hope by his skillful "fireside chats" on the radio and his inaugural-address statement: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." Surrounding himself by a "Brain Trust" of experts, he immediately launched his reform program. Banks were reopened, federal credit was restored, the gold standard was abandoned, and the dollar devalued. During the first hundred days of his administration, major legislation to facilitate industrial and agricultural recovery was enacted. In 1935 he introduced the Utilities Act, directed against abuses in the large holding companies, and the Social Security Act, providing for disability and retirement insur ....