Beschreibung:

ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. Autograph note signed ("FDR.") as President, TO ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, n.p., [Washington, D.C.], n.d. [1940?]. 1 page, a small oblong, 3 x 5 in., lined paper, written beneath a brief typed note of Eleanor Roosevelt to him. With a letter of Ruth Googins Roosevelt, wife of Elliott Roosevelt, to Eleanor Roosevelt. 2 pages, 8vo, blue paper. A note which vividly shows F.D.R.'s certainty that America would inevitably be drawn into the European War. Elliott, the second son of the First family, had enlisted in the Army in 1940, but, as Ruth's letter explains, was in a quandry over whether to apply for an assignment in Texas, where he would be close to his civilian firm, during his one-year enlistment. Ruth asks the First Lady what she thinks of this plan. Eleanor, in turn, has referred the question to FDR, and has typed a brief message at the top of the small sheet: "For the President - To let me know what he thinks about Elliott . E.R." Beneath, in bold ink, the Commander-in-Chief replies: "ER - He may go to Texas (Ft. Worth) in the new plant. Should not talk about 'getting out' [of the military] now. FDR." Once America entered the war, Elliott would serve with distinction in the Army Air Force and accompany his father as aide to the Casablance and Tehran Conferences. He saw military service as a reconaissance pilot in North Africa, the Mediterranean and Northern Europe, finishing the war as Brigadier General, a rank "justly earned in a particularly hazardous line of duty" (Graham & Wander, Franklin D. Roosevelt, His Life and Times , p.368).