Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York, in 1882. He graduated from Harvard and attended Columbia University law school, becoming a lawyer and banker. He served as a New York state senator and governor and assistant secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson. After securing the Democratic nomination for President in 1932, he campaigned vigorously while promising the New Deal to address the Nation’s dire economic situation. Although he had been stricken with polio in 1921, Roosevelt went on to be considered one of our most consequential chief executives, presiding over both the Great Depression and World War II. He served three full terms and died in Warm Springs, Georgia, in 1945, just a few months after beginning his fourth.
Coinage legislation under President Roosevelt
- Act of June 19, 1934: Required the proportion of silver to gold in the monetary stocks of the United States to be increased and maintained at one-fourth of the value of the nation’s monetary reserve. It authorized the Treasury secretary to purchase silver at home and abroad.
- Act of August 13, 1935: Authorized the secretary of war to transfer to the jurisdiction and control of the secretary of the Treasury portions of the property within the Fort Knox Military Reservation in Kentucky. The secretary of the Treasury was authorized to construct a building for use as a depository and for carrying out any other functions or duties of the department.
- Act of June 22, 1936: Appropriated approximately $1.48 million through June 30, 1937, to cover the cost of transporting bullion and coins from the mints and assay offices to the U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.
- Act of August 21, 1937: Authorized the secretary of war to transfer to the jurisdiction and control of the secretary of the Treasury portions of the property within the West Point Military Reservation in New York. Authorized the secretary of the Treasury to construct a building for use as a depository and for carrying out any other functions or duties of the Department of the Treasury.
