Roosevelt took office in the midst of the Great Depression, the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. A quarter of the workforce was unemployed. Farmers were in deep trouble as prices had fallen by 60%. Industrial production had fallen by more than half since 1929. Two million people were homeless. And 32 of the 48 states--as well as the District of Columbia--had closed their banks.

The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by FDR between 1933 and 1939. It responded to needs for relief, reform, and recovery from the Great Depression.

Roosevelt harnessed radio to speak directly to the American people, giving 30 "fireside chat" radio addresses during his presidency and becoming the first American president to be televised. Roosevelt spoke with familiarity to millions of Americans about the banking crisis, the recession, New Deal initiatives, and the course of World War II. On radio, he was able to quell rumors and explain his policies during times of despair and uncertainty. Roosevelt was regarded as an effective communicator, and the fireside chats kept him in high public regard throughout his presidency.

With the economy having improved rapidly from 1933 to 1936, Roosevelt won a landslide reelection in 1936, easily defeating Republican Alf Landon. Roosevelt won 60.8% of the vote and carried every state except Maine and Vermont.

FDR had three vice-presidents during his four terms in office: John Nance Garner (1933-1941), Henry A. Wallace (1941-1945), and Harry S. Truman (1945).

The election was contested in the shadow of World War II in Europe. Republican Wendell Willkie accused Roosevelt of secretly planning to intervene in the war, but Roosevelt promised there would be no involvement in foreign wars if he were re-elected. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term in office with 55% of the popular vote, 38 of the 48 states, and almost 85% of the electoral vote.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, an event he famously called "a date which will live in infamy", Roosevelt obtained a congressional declaration of war on Japan, and, a few days later, on Germany and Italy.

Roosevelt won a fourth term in 1944 by a comfortable margin, defeating Republican Thomas E. Dewey with 53.4% of the popular vote and 432 out of the 531 electoral votes, but he died in April 1945, less than three months into his fourth term.

On April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia, President Roosevelt was sitting for watercolorist Elizabeth Shoumatoff. She was commissioned to paint his portrait and started her work around noon. While she was working, Roosevelt said "I have a terrific headache." A few moments later, he slumped forward in his chair, unconscious. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed the medical emergency as a massive intracerebral hemorrhage. At 3:35 p.m. that day, Roosevelt was pronounced dead at the age of 63.

Soon after the death of President Roosevelt in 1945, legislation was introduced by Virginia Congressman Ralph H. Daughton that called for the replacement of the Mercury dime with one bearing Roosevelt's image. The dime was chosen to honor Roosevelt partly due to his efforts in the founding of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis--later renamed the March of Dimes.