FDR and Winston Churchill

Between the years of 1939 and 1945 the world was sent spiralling in a mess of corruption, violence and uncertainty. Allied powers were faced with the unparalleled task of protecting the world from tyranny. In terms of political power, this weight was bestowed upon the shoulders of two memorable individuals. By and large Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt can be labelled as beacons of democracy and leaders of the free world in their time.

Winston Churchill, the son of Lord Randolph Churchill, became an officer in the 4th cavalry in 1894. Between 1895 and 1899 he served in Cuba, India and South Africa as a reporter. Churchill entered politics in 1900 and held many government posts until he was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty prior to World War One. Due to logistical and tactical failures during wartime, Churchill was somewhat discredited and lost his naval post. In the inter war period, Churchill remained politically active and made his way up the ranks to become chancellor of the exchequer in Stanley Baldwin’s Conservative government. When World War Two broke out, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed him to his old post as First Lord of the Admiralty. When Chamberlain was forced to resign, Churchill became Prime Minister. He served throughout the war as Britain’s supreme leader until he was defeated in a 1946 general election. Churchill once again became prime minister from 1951 until his resignation in 1955. In 1953, he was knighted and received the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was a lawyer educated at Harvard and Columbia University School of Law. His political career started when he was elected to the New York State senate in 1910. He was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy, a position he held from 1913 to 1920. As a Democrat, Roosevelt ran as vice presidential nominee along side James M. Cox, an election that was lost to the republican candidates Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge. While vacationing on Campobello Island, N.B., Roosevelt was stricken with polio and became paralysed from the waste down. However, he eventually recovered partial use of his legs. In 1928 and 1930, Roosevelt was elected governor of New York. At the height of the great depression, in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt became the 32nd president of the United States. He went to work immediately utilising government resources to combat ...

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...d weaknesses as every individual does, but were, without a doubt, very successful leaders in their time. Churchill and Roosevelt were truly beacons of democracy and leaders of the free world.

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