DAVID CARROLL: Hail to the Chiefs, Part 4

This is the final column in a series about our presidents. Sadly, many young people are not familiar with most presidents, even the ones who made the greatest impact.

Our 32nd president, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is definitely one of those. Like the Mount Rushmore presidents before him, his legacy can be found on film, in books, and in the living memorial tributes to his life. His economic efforts rescued the nation from the Great Depression, he emerged victorious from the second World War, and spawned generations of “Yellow Dog Democrats,” particularly in the South. Nothing lasts forever, as FDR’s former Democratic strongholds are now solidly Republican states. Still, there’s no doubt that he and his wife Eleanor, our most influential first lady, were the right people at the right time. The fact that he accomplished so much while stricken with polio is better known now that it was at the time.