II.

Early Life

Born at Hyde Park, New York, on January 30, 1882, he was the only child of James Roosevelt and Sara Delano Roosevelt. His father, a semi-retired railway executive, was a cousin of Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States. Although they were not wealthy by late 19th-century standards, the Roosevelts of Hyde Park led a comfortable, gracious existence, and young Franklin's life was sheltered; he was educated by governesses and indulged by his father. A handsome youth, he was an excellent athlete, expert at boating and swimming, and he also collected stamps, birds, and model ships—hobbies that he pursued all his life.

His formal education began at the Groton School in Massachusetts, where the headmaster, Endicott Peabody, stressed to his affluent young students their obligation towards those who were less fortunate in society. After graduation from Harvard University in 1904, Roosevelt attended Columbia University Law School without taking a degree and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1907. In 1905, despite his widowed mother's objections, he married a distant cousin, Eleanor Roosevelt, in a gala society wedding at which President Theodore Roosevelt gave the bride away.