Franklin D. Roosevelt: Document Signed as Acting Secretary of the Navy....

Description

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A unique document from 1916 when Franklin D. Roosevelt was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. As Acting Secretary, he signs a U.S.S. Maine Certificate.  The certificate in its frame measures 14 ¼ x  10 3/8." The certificate was presented to Harry C. Dayton who was on board the U.S.S. Maine in 1916 and attended and successfully completed a prescribed course of instruction. There is an etching of the U.S.S. Maine which was the namesake of the grand battleship that was blown up in Havana Harbor that precipitated the Spanish American War in 1898. Harry C. Dayton was a native of Port Jefferson, Long Island, New York. He was a veteran of the Great War and ran for various political offices in Brookhaven Town, where Port Jefferson is located, after World War I. The certificate reads: "United States of America/ Navy Department/ To all who shall see these Presents, Greetings:/ Know ye, That Harry C. Dayton has, on board the U.S.S. Maine, attended and successfully completed the prescribed course of instruction for the Naval Training Cruise for Civilians in the year 1916, and this Certificate of Service is issued to him as a Testimonial of Fidelity and Patriotism./ Franklin D. Roosevelt/ Acting Secretary." FDR writes in his own hand the word "Acting" before "Secretary" below his signature on the certificate. A wonderful piece of Naval history, highlighting FDR's role as Acting Secretary of the Navy during the Woodrow Wilson Administration when his boss, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels was out of Washington, D.C.