Otto von Habsburg was born November 20, 1912, in Reichenau, Lower Austria. He was the last crown prince of Austria-Hungary from 1916 until the dissolution of the empire in November 1918. From the 1930s on, he had a long career in European politics, advocating for European union. His family lived in exile in France, where he spoke up against the Nazi regime during WWII, acting as the unofficial head of several resistance groups in Central Europe. He fled to Portugal and then the United States once Germany invaded France. Otto lived in Washington, D.C. from 1940 to 1944. There, he and his brothers were often in contact with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the federal government, advocating for Austria. Otto died July 4, 2011, in Pöcking, Germany, at the age of 98.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was born January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. He attended Harvard University and Columbia Law School and became a corporate lawyer. In 1905, Roosevelt married Eleanor Roosevelt. He was elected to the New York Senate in 1910 and was appointed by President Wilson to be the Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913. In 1920, Roosevelt was the Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States. In 1928, he became Governor of the state of New York. In 1932, Roosevelt was elected President of the United States, eventually serving four terms, and lead American into World War II in 1941. Roosevelt passed away while still serving in the office of president on April 12, 1945, in Warm Springs, Georgia.