Franklin D. Roosevelt

format_quote A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.

stars  In his last will and testament, he named the Warm Springs Foundation the beneficiary of insurance policies totally $560,000. He left the remainder of his estate, valued at $1,900,000 to his wife, and on her death to their children.

stars  First cousin of Tennis Hall of Famer Ellen Crosby Roosevelt.

stars  Has been portrayed by Ralph Bellamy, Kenneth Branagh, Edward Herrmann, John Lithgow, Jason Robards, David Ogden Stiers, Robert Vaughn, Jon Voight, and voiced by Charlton Heston, and Roosevelt's grandson James Roosevelt Jr..

stars  The sixth U.S. president to die in office. Ironically, all presidents to have died in office since the first (William Henry Harrison in 1841) were elected 20 years apart: Harrison in 1840, Abraham Lincoln in 1860, James Garfield in 1880, McKinley in 1900, Warren G. Harding in 1920, Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940, and John F. Kennedy in 1960. Ronald Reagan (elected 1980) was the victim of an assassin's bullet in 1981, but he survived and broke the 120-year curse that had plagued the U.S. Presidency.

stars  President-elect Roosevelt was the target of an attempted assassin during a speech in Miami, Florida on February 15, 1933, three weeks before he was to be inaugurated on March 4th. Giuseppe Zangara, an unemployed brick layer, shouted "Too many people are starving!" and fired his revolver at Roosevelt, who had just delivered a speech in at Bayfront Park and was sitting in the back seat of his open touring car with Chicago Mayor Anton J. Cermak. Zangara six shots hit five people, including Cermak, who was mortally wounded. However, Roosevelt was untouched, and retained his composure, preventing the crowd from lynching the diminutive would-be assassin. Ironically, his cousin Theodore Roosevelt also was the target of an attempted assassin during his unsuccessful, third party (Progressive Party or "Bull Moose" Party as it was popularly known) campaign for the presidency in 1912. On October 14, 1912, T.R. was shot during a campaign stop in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. With a bullet lodged in his chest and blood soaking through his clothes, Roosevelt nevertheless addressed the Milwaukee audience for 80 minutes, joking at one point that "It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose." The coolness under fire of both men helped to contribute to their legends.