Biography
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr. was the son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. He was born on August 17, 1914 at the Roosevelts' summer retreat on Campobello Island in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. He was the fifth of the Roosevelts' six children and the second to be named Franklin, Jr.; a boy with the same name was born on March 18, 1909 but died on November 7th of that year.
Following in the footsteps of his father, he was educated at the Groton School (Class of 1933) and Harvard College ('37). He also took a law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law ('40). He served as a naval officer during World War II.
He was elected to Congress from New York's 20th District in a special election held in 1949 and to an additional two full terms. Ironically for the son and namesake of the man most associated with the Democratic Party during the 20th Century, he first ran on the Liberal Party ticket, though he later ran as a Democrat, too, in a state that allowed multiple affiliations by candidates. He intended to run for governor of New York as a Democrat in 1954 rather than stand for reelection to Congress, but the New York City Democratic machine Tammany Hall convinced him to step aside to let 'W. Averell Harriman' become the party's gubernatorial candidate. FDR, Jr. ran for Attorney General instead, but lost to Republican Jacob Javits (a future U.S. Senator).
During the 1960 presidential nominating season, he campaigned for Roman Catholic John F. Kennedy in heavily Protestant West Virginia, where his father was considered a god for the succor he gave the state during the Great Depression. As a Catholic, Kennedy was expected to lose to Protestant Hubert H. Humphrey but scored an upset. JFK appointed FDR, Jr. Under-Secretary of Commerce. Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him the head of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 1965.
Stepping down from the EOC in 1966, FDR, Jr. realized his ambition and ran for governor of New York on the Liberal Party ticket. He was defeated by Nelson Rockefeller, the popular incumbent.
FDR, Jr. was was married five times and had five children; his second marriage to Suzanne Perrin lasted the longest, from 1949 to 1970, but it ended in divorce as did three other of his marriages. Afflicted with lung cancer, he died in Poughkeepsie, New York on August 17, 1988, his 74th birthday.
