Details
ROOSEVELT, Franklin D. Typed letter signed ("Franklin D. Roosevelt") as President, to George Norton Northrop, Washington D.C., 20 April 1938. 1 page, 4to (8¾ x 7 in.), White House stationery, with White House envelope, in fine condition.
"IT ALMOST MAKES ME FEEL LIKE A DICTATOR!"
Roosevelt writes in a jocular mood to George Northrop of the Roxbury Latin School in Massachusetts. Commenting on a letter from an English friend of Northrop, Roosevelt heads the letter "Personal" and observes: "Is it not a funny thing that no European has the foggiest notion of our system of government or of our public thought in regard to European politics? His suggestion that the President should present five hundred aeroplanes to Great Britain is particularly joyous. Almost it makes me feel like a dictator! Can you see the expression on the face of the Congress or on the face of the Editors of the Boston Transcript and Boston Herald if I were to ask for such authority from the Congress? I am not even considering what the Boston Irish or the Kansas New Englanders would do."
Roosevelt's witticisms veil the darker background facing his presidency at this time. The escalating conflicts in Europe and the widespread criticism of his domestic agenda are both reflected here, and his remarks on presidential power are born from recent congressional battles: in 1937, conservative Southern Democrats teamed with Republicans against the president's second New Deal, charging that it infringed on Constitutional legislative powers. New Deal reforms were further obstructed in 1938 when the conservative coalition approved bills Roosevelt opposed and significantly amended key New Deal legislation.
Provenance: J. Grant Burke (sold Sotheby's New York, 3 October 1978, lot 127).
"IT ALMOST MAKES ME FEEL LIKE A DICTATOR!"
Roosevelt writes in a jocular mood to George Northrop of the Roxbury Latin School in Massachusetts. Commenting on a letter from an English friend of Northrop, Roosevelt heads the letter "Personal" and observes: "Is it not a funny thing that no European has the foggiest notion of our system of government or of our public thought in regard to European politics? His suggestion that the President should present five hundred aeroplanes to Great Britain is particularly joyous. Almost it makes me feel like a dictator! Can you see the expression on the face of the Congress or on the face of the Editors of the Boston Transcript and Boston Herald if I were to ask for such authority from the Congress? I am not even considering what the Boston Irish or the Kansas New Englanders would do."
Roosevelt's witticisms veil the darker background facing his presidency at this time. The escalating conflicts in Europe and the widespread criticism of his domestic agenda are both reflected here, and his remarks on presidential power are born from recent congressional battles: in 1937, conservative Southern Democrats teamed with Republicans against the president's second New Deal, charging that it infringed on Constitutional legislative powers. New Deal reforms were further obstructed in 1938 when the conservative coalition approved bills Roosevelt opposed and significantly amended key New Deal legislation.
Provenance: J. Grant Burke (sold Sotheby's New York, 3 October 1978, lot 127).