he had many assets, mainly cash. He agreed to run, and worked to campaign, as he had never done anything before. Acquiring a beat up old car he canvassed the district looking for votes, ?The car had no top and no windshield, and they wore raincoats when it rained and dusters on dirt roads. They spoke in milk stations, grange halls, in village streets, they rang doorbells and shook hands?? (Morgan 115). FDR quickly made a name for himself when he opposed the corrupt Tammany Hall, the political machine that ran New York at the time. With his reputation as a charismatic hard worker, FDR earned key positions in Woodrow Wilson?s administration. Appointed Wilson?s Assistant Secretary of the Navy by Josephus Daniels, then Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt did an excellent job of gaining congressional support for the navy in World War I. In 1920 FDR was nominated as the vice presidential candidate on the Democratic ticket, running with James Cox, but they lost decisively to Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge. The next year tragedy struck as Roosevelt contracted poliomyelitis, otherwise known as polio, which attacked his central nervous system and left him paralyzed in his legs. Although devastated physically by the disease, FDR became a mentally and emotionally stronger person because of the disease. In 1924, FDR helped then governor of New York Alfred Smith gain the Democratic Presidential nominee. Smith then asked FDR in 1928 to run for his ticket on the governor ballot in New York, and Roosevelt agreed. FDR won the election for governor in an otherwise Republican year. At the time of this election, the US economy was largely unsteady, and Governor Roosevelt felt that a crash would come soon. In 1931, when the Depression was serious, Roosevelt became the first governor to set up an effective state relief administration. A very effective leader in New York, Roosevelt played the role of governor naturally, ?Roosevelt had a talent for governi...
