FDR was a leader for his time. He deserves credit for navigating the U.S. through the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s. What he realized was that the Government needed to be a positive actor in stimulating opportunities where there were none. His actions brought relief to the country and helped reform the U.S. economic system for decades to come. He did this against the reflexive instincts of the opposition conservatives. The traditional view of economic cycles was that boom and bust were simply realities that needed to be accepted. The famous exchange when told by the conservatives that the economy will work itself out in the long run, the famous reply was, People dont eat in the long run, they eat every day.

He was elected in his first term because he had been a successful governor of NY, we were in the beginnings of the Great Depression, and he advocated for actually trying to fix the economy instead of waiting as Hoover was for the Depression to be over.Second term- He wins because everyone knows him. He’s popular, optimistic, he got rid of Prohibition, he created agencies which got a lot of people working and people have hope that things are getting better. Third term - 1940. FDR is incredibly smart and not naive about what is happening in Europe. The Republicans have a long history of isolationism and the America First party - a homegrown party which supported the Nazis - was growing. WWII is already engulfing Europe.

FDR also pushed to eliminate prohibition, and his campaign song Happy Days are Here Again also referred to the bars opening up, after being closed for 10 or 12 years. Bars often had a portrait of FDR behind the bar, and I suspect it might have been provided by breweries

FDR also had weekly radio broadcasts, aimed at encouraging the people, and talking in a very direct manner, often about his wife Eleanor and dog Fala. And about Eleanor, she would often travel across the county to represent FDR and report back on this and that, his mobility being impaired owing to polio. She also wrote a popular newspaper column, My Day, also keeping people connected with the various goings on

Fun Fact!: FDR was the first sitting president to fly in a plane