Franklin D. Roosevelt
Born January 30, 1882, Hyde Park, New York · Died April 12, 1945, Warm Springs, Georgia · Holland Lodge No. 8, New York City
32nd President of the United States, raised in Holland Lodge No. 8, one of New York’s oldest lodges.
The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.
Contribution to History
In August 1921, at 39, Franklin D. Roosevelt fell ill on vacation at Campobello Island and was left permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Most people expected his public life to end. Instead he built a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs, Georgia, became Governor of New York in 1929, and was inaugurated President on March 4, 1933, in the depths of the Great Depression.
He talked to Americans directly over the radio in his “fireside chats,” and his New Deal left lasting institutions such as Social Security and the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then led the country through most of World War II.
Why It Matters Today
When a retiree cashes a Social Security check, or a family hears a leader explain a crisis plainly, they are living with Roosevelt’s legacy. The foundation he organized in 1938 to fight polio helped lead to the vaccines that nearly wiped out the disease. In his first inaugural address he told a frightened nation:
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1933
The Masonic Thread
Roosevelt was initiated in Holland Lodge No. 8 in New York City on October 10, 1911, and was raised a Master Mason six weeks later. In 1935 he was present at Architect Lodge No. 519 when his sons Franklin Jr. and James were raised. He carried heavy burdens without letting them harden him, and that is a lesson for anyone: steady the people around you when times are hard.
Sources
- https://fdr.blogs.archives.gov/2011/09/08/found-in-the-archives-12/
- http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/resources/pdfs/timelinedoc.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_who_were_Freemasons
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt
- https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt
- https://www.freemason.com/franklin-d-roosevelt-freemason/
- Portrait image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Franklin_D._Roosevelt,_formal_portrait_-_NARA_-_195454.jpg (Public domain)
Life & Masonic Timeline
Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Source