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Franklin D. Roosevelt Exceedingly Rare Autograph Letter Signed as President...
Description
FDR Writes to General "Hap" Arnold About Elliott Roosevelt's Top-Secret North Africa Assignment
Franklin D. Roosevelt Exceedingly Rare Autograph Letter Signed
as President ("Franklin D Roosevelt") to General Henry
Arnold. One page of a bifolium on White House letterhead, 7 x 9
inches; Washington D.C.; March 7, 1942. Marked "Private" at
the upper left.A highly personal wartime letter from President Roosevelt to General Arnold, in which he discusses his son Elliott Roosevelt's recent assignment to the Twelfth Air Force's 3d Reconnaissance Group as part of the North African campaign in Algeria and Tunisia. He writes, in full:
"Dear Hap-
I am a bit concerned because Elliott has a rather bad & chronic case of hehmoroids [sic] that need to be operated on. He rightly insists on going through with his new assignment, but when he gets back, I hope you can give him enough time off in Texas to have them taken out!
Sincerely
Franklin D Roosevelt."
Following a navigator and bombardier training course in the fall of 1941, and a brief period on antisubmarine patrol duty with the 6th Reconnaissance Squadron, Elliott Roosevelt received a top-secret assignment in 1942 to conduct clandestine reconnaissance flights over the Sahara Desert, with particular emphasis on French West Africa, a region with which the United States was not formally at war. After successfully completing this mission, known as Project Rusty, he was given command of the newly formed 3d Reconnaissance Group at Colorado Springs.
From bases at Gibraltar and later Oran, Algeria, Elliott led the unit during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of Northwest Africa in November 1942. He went on to play a significant role in developing advanced reconnaissance techniques, including night aerial photography, which proved critical to Allied operations.
That this important assignment was nearly complicated by what Roosevelt describes as "a rather bad & chronic case" of hemorrhoids is perhaps an unexpected detail of Elliott's service. Written more as a note between friends than as correspondence between the President and a senior military commander, the letter gives a rare glimpse into Roosevelt's dual role as both Commander-in-Chief and concerned father.
Despite his condition, Elliott did not take the anticipated leave in Texas following his North African service. Instead, he remained overseas, continuing his reconnaissance work. Aside from a brief return to the United States on assignment, he would not come home permanently until after V-E Day.
Condition: Very fine. Single horizontal mailing fold at center and light thumbsoiling at bottom edge.
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