Object Image

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was the first and last president to serve three terms (1933–1945), orchestrated the greatest expansion of executive power in American history. Roosevelt’s implementation of the New Deal—with its many agencies and bureaucracies—sanctioned government intervention in the economic and social crises that stemmed from the Great Depression. When the United States entered the Second World War, in 1941, factories went into high gear, which in turn drove the economy’s recovery.

Harry Truman, who became president following Roosevelt’s death, was the first to lead the country in the postwar era. The threat of the atomic bomb and the ascendance of communist powers brought on the ...

1945
Gelatin silver print on paper
NPG.2004.37

Where you'll find this

Deepen your knowledge