A WWII Ration Book Issued to FDR. Franklin D. Roosevelt - Franklin D. Roosevelt - Relations with the Allies: From the start of American involvement in World War II, Roosevelt took the lead in establishing a grand alliance among all countries fighting the Axis powers. While change was slow, by the end of 1944 there were 700,000 African-Americans in the Army; 165,000 in the Navy; 5,000 in the Coast Guard; and 17,000 in the Marine Corps.Also by the end of 1944, over 5,000 African-Americans were commissioned officers including Benjamin O. Davis, the first African-American general. This speech was given only a day following the Empire of Japan's strike on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the Japanese declaration of war on the United States and the British Empire. Later that day, the United States formally declared that a state of war existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Second New Deal 6:15 Franklin D. Roosevelt's Foreign Policy Prior to World War II 8:48 Go to The Great Depression (1929-1940) 1939 - World War II was beginning in Europe. 1945 - By the end of World War II the Government's debt had grown to more than $258 billion. In 1921 Roosevelt was struck down by what doctors thought was Polio at the time, but is now believed to be Guillian-Barré’s Syndrome. The restrictions against the Italians were lifted in October 1942, although it was not until the Italian surrender in September 1943 that most internees were released.Lend-Lease was a method by which the United States could provide Great Britain and any other nation that the president decided was vital to US security, with arms, supplies and material. This paralyzed him from the waist down but he refused to surrender to disability, wearing painful leg braces in public and only drawing back to a wheelchair in private.I'm talking about another war. Harry (Hopkins) says he's not and that he doesn't want anything except security for his own country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he won't try to annex anything and will work with me for a world of democracy and peace.” Franklin Delano Roosevelt (/ ˈ r oʊ z ə v əl t /, /-v ɛ l t /; January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician who served as the 32nd President of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. Unfortunately, at the outbreak of the war, discriminatory barriers were still in place in the armed forces, often keeping African-Americans in servile roles or denying them enlistment. At 12:30 p.m. on December 8, 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt stood before Congress and gave what is now known as his "Day of Infamy" or "Pearl Harbor" speech. Nov 18, 2014 12:58 PM. He met with Churchill in a number of wartime conferences at which differences were settled amicably. Roosevelt held office for an unprecedented 12 years from 1933 to 1945, winning four presidential elections.