FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT . 1933-1945

Assuming the presidency at the depth of the Great Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt helped Americans regain faith. He brought hope as he promised prompt, vigorous action, and asserted in his inaugural address, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Born on January 30, 1882, at Hyde Park, New York, he attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School. Following the lead of his fifth cousin, Theodore Roosevelt, he entered politics. By 1920 he was the Democratic nominee for vice president. In 1921, at age 39, he was stricken with poliomyelitis, and demonstrated an indomitable courage. He dramatically appeared on crutches to nominate Alfred E. Smith at the 1924 Democratic Convention. In 1928 he became governor of New York.

He was elected president in 1932. By early 1933 there were 13 million unemployed, and almost every bank was closed. He passed a sweeping program to bring relief to business, agriculture, the unemployed and those in danger of foreclosure. He created the Tennessee Valley Authority. By 1935, the nation was recovering, but businessmen and bankers had turned against Roosevelt's "New Deal." They disliked his concessions to labor and were appalled that he had taken the nation off the gold standard and allowed deficits in the budget. The president responded with heavier taxes on the wealthy, controls over banks and public utilities, a huge work relief program for the unemployed and a new program of reform: Social Security. Re-elected by a top-heavy margin in 1936, Roosevelt sought legislation that led to a revolution in constitutional law. Thereafter the government could legally regulate the economy.

He also sought through neutrality legislation to keep the United States out of the war in Europe, yet at the same time he pledged by a "good neighbor" policy to strengthen nations threatened or attacked. Thus when France fell and England came under siege in 1940, he began to send Great Britain all possible aid short of actual military involvement. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, though, drove Roosevelt to quickly direct the organization of the nation's manpower and resources for global war.

Feeling that the future peace of the world would depend upon relations between the United States and Russia, the president devoted much thought to the planning of a United Nations, in which, he hoped, international difficulties could be settled.

As the war drew to a close, Roosevelt's health deteriorated, and on April 12, 1945, while at Warm Springs, Georgia, he died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

HARRY S. TRUMAN . 1945-1953

Harry S. Truman had received no briefing on the development of the atomic bomb or difficulties with Soviet Russia when suddenly, on April 12, 1945, he became president. He told reporters, "I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."

Truman was born in Lamar, Missouri, on May 8, 1884. He grew up in Independence and worked as a farmer. Returning from France after World War I, he became active in the Democratic Party, becoming a senator in 1934. In World War II he headed the Senate war investigating committee before being elected vice president to Franklin Roosevelt.

As president, Truman made some of the most crucial decisions in history. Soon after the war against Japan had reached its final stage, an urgent plea to them to surrender was rejected. Truman, after consultations with his advisers, ordered atomic bombs dropped on cities devoted to war work. Two were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japanese surrender quickly followed. In June 1945, Truman witnessed the signing of the charter of the United Nations, hopefully established to preserve peace.

Thus far, he had followed his predecessor's policies, but he soon developed his own. He presented to Congress a program proposing the expansion of Social Security, a full-employment program, a permanent Fair Employment Practices Act, and public housing and slum clearance. The program, Truman wrote, "symbolizes for me my assumption of the office of President in my own right." It became known as the Fair Deal.

In foreign affairs he was already providing effective leadership. When the Soviet Union pressured Turkey and threatened to take over Greece, he asked Congress to aid the two countries, enunciating the program that bears his name - the Truman Doctrine. When the Russians blockaded the western sectors of Berlin, Truman created a massive airlift to supply Berliners until the Russians backed down. He also negotiated a military alliance to protect Western nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, established in 1949.

In June 1950, when Communist North Korea attacked South Korea, Truman conferred promptly with his military advisers. A long, discouraging struggle ensued as U.N. forces held a line above the old boundary of South Korea. Truman kept the war a limited one, rather than risk a major conflict with China and perhaps Russia.

Deciding not to run again, he retired to Independence. He died December 26, 1972, at age 88, after a stubborn fight for life.