Franklin D. Roosevelt: Typed Letter Signed as President....

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A wonderful letter signed December 31, 1936 with very significant content, on The White House Washington stationery, one page (conjoining leaves) to Mr. B. F. McLain, President of the National Retail Furniture Association, in which FDR highlights the economic accomplishments of his Administration through the New Deal. FDR writes: "My dear Mr. McLain:/ I send hearty felicitations and warmest personal greetings to the members of the National Retail Furniture Association. Your convention this year is held under auspicious conditions./ The furniture business has shared in the prosperity which has returned to the country. I am informed there is every indication that the return of prosperity in the furniture business which has been continuous for several years will be enhanced in the New Year. This enhancement will be the natural result of a wider distribution of earnings and wages which will permit the establishment of new homes and the re-establishment and rehabilitation of old homes which had been abandoned or allowed to decline during the years of the depression. I trust that the New Year, therefore, will bring happiness and prosperity to all./ Very sincerely yours./ Franklin D. Roosevelt." A very interesting letter, written by FDR shortly before the coming of what many were to refer to as the "Roosevelt Recession" of 1937-1938. Further, FDR specifically mentions the "depression" in the past tense in this December, 1936 letter, written the month after his reelection as President of the United States. Could it be that FDR considered his Administration through the New Deal had already ended the Great Depression? A fascinating choice of words by the President to a major retail business organization.