Franklin D. Roosevelt: Typed Letter Signed as New York Governor....

Description

FDR refers to himself as "...a veteran of the great war."

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Franklin D. Roosevelt. Typed Letter Signed. One page 4to, State of New York, Executive Chamber letterhead, June 25, 1932 to Joseph Omlor of Texas. FDR embellishes his military service record just two days before the convening of the 1932 Democratic National Convention in Chicago that nominated him for President on July 1, 1932 on the fourth ballot, just six days after this letter was written! FDR writes: "It was pleasant to hear from one who, like myself, was a veteran of the great war. I appreciate the militant (the word "militant" is corrected in FDR's own hand) spirit of your letter and your desire to fight through to the finish. Whatever the outcome at Chicago, the past weeks have shown me how many warm friends I have throughout the country, and I am glad to add you to their number./ Very sincerely yours,/ Franklin D. Roosevelt" (emphasis added). Fine condition, with a small correction made to the word "militant" in FDR's own hand. In this letter written just two days before the greatest challenge of his political life to date was about to commence, FDR elevated himself to the status of a "veteran" of World War I, and used that status to connect to a supporter of his from Texas, the home state of one of FDR's chief rivals for the 1932 Democratic nomination for President, John Nance Garner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, who in a compromise move ultimately accepted the Vice Presidential nomination after the third ballot (the details of this political maneuvering are covered in detail in the description of FDR's hand written letter to William Gibbs McAdoo, also part of this FDR Collection). It therefore appears that FDR was portraying himself to a strategically important supporter as "one who, like myself, was a veteran of the great war" just before the commencement of the 1932 Democratic National Convention. However, during the Great War, FDR served as Woodrow Wilson's Assistant Secretary of the Navy. For all his zest for his navy post, Roosevelt was well aware that it lacked a key ingredient for a future political career. At a dramatic moment in world history, when thousands of Americans were in uniform fighting overseas, FDR was stuck at a civilian desk in Washington, far from the real action. Also at this time FDR's distant cousin (and uncle by marriage), the popular former President Theodore Roosevelt was being critical of FDR's lack of service in uniform. After all, TR had resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1898 to serve as a 39-year old Lieutenant Colonel and ultimately lead the infamous charge up San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War. TR's heroic behavior in military uniform would make him a household name, and ultimately propel him to the Vice Presidency and then the Presidency upon President William McKinley's death in 1901. During 1918 FDR pressed his boss, Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, for a commission and active duty at sea, but the secretary rightly reminded him his service in Washington was far more important than anything he could do afloat. Daniels finally approved Roosevelt's request to inspect navy bases and confer with Allied leaders in Europe in the summer of 1918, a mission that only sharpened his disappointment at not being in uniform. At his own urging, FDR again went to Europe early in 1919 to negotiate the termination of navy contracts and the disposal of surplus property, an assignment he accomplished with his usual efficiency. FDR notes these accomplishments in his own hand in another piece in this FDR Collection, his Marquis' Who's Who in America biography revision of 1919 in which FDR writes that he was "in charge of inspection of U.S. naval forces in European waters, July-Sept. 1918 and of demobilization in Europe-Jan-Feb, 1919." Interestingly enough, FDR seems to overemphasize the significance of his executive duties vis-a-vis American demobilization in his 1919 Who's Who revision as well. These two European trips are the basis for the reported "war stories" that FDR would tell in future years, and write about in this letter when he refers to himself as a "veteran of the great war." No doubt FDR rationalized his service as Assistant Secretary of the Navy and his administrative oversight of aspects American demobilization in Europe at war's end as bequeathing to him "veteran" status, akin to those who served in uniform. FDR would later publicly raise the specter of his active military service as President running for  in 1936, facing the growing menace in Europe and the isolationist movement at home in his famous August 14, 1936 "I Hate War" speech at Chautauqua, New York. In this speech, FDR stated: "I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen two hundred limping exhausted men come out of line-the survivors of a regiment of one thousand that went forward forty-eight hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war." FDR may have in fact seen these horrors of war in his capacity as a civilian charged with aspects of demobilization of American forces in Europe at war's end, but not as a sailor or soldier. It would be interesting to note that FDR portraying himself as a "veteran of the great war" would in all probability not be received well in later political times.  Also interesting to note is that his "fight through to the finish" line in his June 25, 1932 letter to Joseph Omlor of Texas foreshadows other famous speeches he would later give as President, such as his January 6, 1942 State of the Union address (remembered as his "Four Freedoms" speech), where FDR stated: "Many people ask, ‘When will this war end?' There is only one answer to that. It will end just as soon as we make it end, by our combined efforts, our combined strength, our combined determination to fight through and work through until the end-the end of militarism in Germany and Italy and Japan. Most certainly we shall not settle for less." A magnificent letter, in which the most significant figure of the Twentieth Century, Franklin D. Roosevelt, goes to great lengths, in writing, to boost his own status as a military veteran just days before his Democratic nomination to the Presidency of the United States of America, a nomination that would lead to victory in the general election of 1932, and commence the longest, and most successful tenure of any President in the history of the United States.