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             Franklin"s rise to national popularity.

             Franklin gained quick recognition by his leadership of upstate New York Democrats in a fight against Tammany Hall"s nominee for US senate. At the 1912 Democratic National Convention, he supported Woodrow Wilson in a hard fought .

             contest for his party"s presidential nomination and was afterwards awarded the post of assistant secretary of the Navy. (Serving 1913-1920) He gained a lot of administrative skills while serving under Joseophus Daniels, a progressive news editor from North Carolina. .

             The Roosevelt name and his progressive image won him the party"s Vice-President nomination in 1920 on the ticket with the conservative newspaper publisher Gov. M. Cox of Ohio. The Democrats didn"t have much hope of winning. Americans were tired of World War I and Europe"s problems and voted for Warren G. Harding"s promise of a "return to normalcy." Roosevelt"s campaign was seen as a "sacrificial gesture" and was pointed out by a strong defense of Wilson"s support of the US membership in the League of Nations.

             In the summer of 1921, Franklin was vacationing at his summer home on Campobello Island in Canada. Franklin came down Poliomyelitis. His recovery was slow and his family"s wealth seemed to be enough for him to retire to his home in Hyde Park. His mother wanted him to come back home to live. But, Franklin decided to return to politics. With the encouragement of his wife, Eleanor and his advisor, Louis McHenry Howe he returned to public office. Franklin had a lot of physical therapy and almost had a complete recovery, but he never regained use of his legs. At the Democratic National Convention in 1924, Franklin officially returned to politics when he gave the "Happy Warrior" speech that made Gov. Alfred E. Smith of New York the nominee for president. Smith convinced Franklin to run to be New York"s governor. Franklin just barely won the election.