Franklin D. Roosevelt countries. Roosevelt also normalized relations with the Soviet Union, which the United States had refused to recognize since the 1920s. Roosevelt hoped to renegotiate the Russian debt from World War I and open trade relations, but no progress was made on either issue, and "both nations were soon disillusioned by the accord." The rejection of the Treaty of Versailles during the Wilson administration marked the dominance of isolationism in American foreign policy. Despite Roosevelt's Wilsonian background, he and Secretary of State Cordell Hull acted with great care not to provoke isolationist sentiment. The isolationist movement was bolstered in the early
First and second terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt First and second terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt The first and second terms of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt began on March 4, 1933, when he was inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States, and ended with Roosevelt's third inauguration on January 20, 1941. Roosevelt took office after defeating incumbent Republican President Herbert Hoover, who had presided over the start of the Great Depression. Upon his accession to office, Roosevelt led the implementation of the New Deal, a series of programs designed to provide relief, recovery, and reform to Americans and the American economy.