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    Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “When you come to the end of your rope, tie
a knot and hang on.” Many of us are approaching the end of our ropes, with the hard
economic times and other troubles that plague us in modern life. With patience and
persistence, we can succeed in achieving our dreams even when times get tough.

   We can learn a lot by studying how others succeeded in hard times, and FDR went through
a lot of hard times-- personally, politically and presidentially. Personally, after living an idyllic
and active youth in a wealthy and well-known family, Franklin was stricken with paralysis at the
age of 39. He never walked again. As Eleanor once said, Franklin developed infinite
patience and courageous persistence in dealing with his disability. And he did not retreat to
his family’s estate to be cared for by servants. He had a lot of ambitions and dreams and he
set about making them come true.

   Politically, FDR knew both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. As governor of the
State of New York, he knew the first criticism of his ideas of using government to help the
people who couldn’t help themselves. That is an idea that is just not popular in certain
quarters. He continued doing what he thought was right. There has always been controversy
over some of the actions Franklin took as President also, especially the major welfare and
social security legislation he implemented. But when we hear about the controversy, we really
need to dig back into history and take a long hard look at what he was dealing with throughout
his years as President. When you compare the hard times we have today, back when FDR
was president was much worse.

   After the stock market crashed in 1929, the bottom dropped out of the economy. Millions of
people were unemployed or underemployed. There was a mass migration of people looking
for any type of work. There were bread lines and soup lines that ran for blocks in every city.
And as Franklin Roosevelt was elected in 1932 for his first term, migratory workers were
dragging their children from state to state looking for the next crop to come in. Oklahoma and
the other Plains States were devastated by the Dust Bowl and the population drifted west to
the fields of California. These were not
just hard times; this was devastation.

   FDR rolled up his sleeves and got to work on the New Deal. He had a vision, you see, that
government should use some of its tax revenues to help the poor families and injured workers
and unemployed with public assistance until they could get back on their feet. He had this
idea of public works and public payrolls to get the economy going again. Not everyone was
sold on these programs, but the ones who were helped, millions of them, had to be grateful as
the country itself gradually built itself back up. But the hard times were not over yet. The
economy was improved by 1937, but then tyranny and fascism were rearing their ugly heads
in Europe. FDR was concerned, but the country would not get involved until Pearl Harbor
brought the war to our shores.

   Once again, FDR, keeping his physical infirmity private and keeping a vigorous and
confident appearance to help the country feel likewise, got to work. Victory had to be ours;
defeat was not an option. He knew our mission—in fact, he defined our role as making the
world safe for democracy. This man would lead us at home and across the world to victory.
With that vision, he energized the nation. With his energy, he tapped into the vast reservoirs
of power and persistence most in the country did not realize we had. With the nation
motivated and mobilized, there was no choice but success. And so with FDR as the symbol
of our single-minded focus, we achieved victory in the Pacific and in Europe, though he died
a month before the latter.

   How much power and dedication and vision can we analyze in this life story of FDR!
Anyone interested in developing his understanding of how the science of success works—
how the process leads inexorably from vision to achievement will find it here. His disability did
not stop him from running the White House and saving the world. He overcame adversity with
an iron will and a vision of improving the world. And because he shows us the way, we can
learn the principles which will lead us on to our own success.

 About the author: Celia Ann Rooney is a writer, teacher and attorney in Philadelphia and
is co-founder and chief financial officer of A New Success, LLC. She is the author of a series
of e-books devoted to self improvement and learning the principles of success through study
of the life stories of famous people, including Success Stories: the Science and Art of
Success, Success Stories II: Early Risers and Late Bloomers, and Success Stories III:
Success in Hard Times. Her books and articles are available on the website: www.
anewsuccess.com. You may contact her at: crooney@anewsuccess.com.
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