Chapter 32 American Pageant APUSH PEOPLE

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

(1882-1945) The thirty-second president of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt was the only American president to be elected to four terms of office. He first won the presidency against Republican incumbent Herbert Hoover in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression and was credited with having developed a program, called the New Deal, that shepherded the nation out of crisis. When World War II broke out in Europe, he steered the United States into the war, which in the end proved more effective than the New Deal in helping the nation recover from difficult economic times. His gallant struggle against polio and his enormous talents as a politician made him a beloved leader for a dozen difficult years in the nation’s history.

Eleanor Roosevelt

(1884-1962) The wife of Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt was the most active First Lady the United States had ever seen and was known for her devotion to the impoverished and oppressed.

Harry L. Hopkins

(1890-1946) A former New York social worker, Hopkins came to be one of the major architects of the New Deal, heading up the Federal Emergency Relief Administration and Works Progress Administration and serving as a personal confidant to President Roosevelt.

Father Charles Coughlin

(1891-1979) A Catholic priest from Michigan who goaded 40 million radio listeners with his weekly anti-New Deal harangues. He was a well-known opponent of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies.

Francis E. Townsend

(1867-1960) A retired physician who had lost his savings in the Great Depression and promoted a plan, popular with senior citizens, to pay every person over sixty years old $200 a month, provided that the money was spent within the month. One estimate had the scheme costing one-half of the national income.

Huey P. (“Kingfish”) Long

(1893-1935) Louisiana governor, later U.S. senator, whose anti-New Deal "Share Our Wealth" program promised to make "Every Man a King." Long was gunned down in 1935.

John Steinbeck

(1902-1968) An American author known for his novels depicting the struggles of the working class, particularly during the Great Depression, with works such as "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Of Mice and Men." His writing often highlighted social issues and the human condition.

Frances Perkins

(1882-1965) The first woman cabinet member and secretary of labor under Roosevelt, Perkins helped draw labor into the New Deal coalition.

Mary McLeod Bethune

(1875-1955) The highest-ranking African American in the Roosevelt administration, Bethune headed the Office of Minority Affairs and was a leader of the unofficial "Black Cabinet," which sought to apply New Deal benefits to blacks as well as whites.

Robert F. Wagner

(1877-1953) A Democratic senator from New York from 1927 to 1949, Wagner was responsible for the passage of some of the most important legislation enacted through the New Deal. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was popularly known as the Wagner Act in honor of the senator. He also played a major role in the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 and the Wagner-Steagall Housing Act of 1937.