Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

Our countdown to America250 continues with this gem from John Paul Jones.

FDR was fascinated by Jones, the naval hero of the Revolutionary War who is considered the “father” of the United States Navy. Jones triumphed in a famous 1779 naval clash that pitted the outgunned USS Bonhomme Richard against the British frigate HMS Serapis. During the desperate battle, Jones is reputed to have shouted, “I have not yet begun to fight!”

Roosevelt collected many items related to Jones, including portraits, prints, drawings, and manuscripts. During the early 1920s, he even wrote a treatment for a feature film that would be based on Jones’s life. But his efforts to interest Hollywood in the project proved fruitless.

In this letter to Silas Deane, an American diplomat in France, Jones discusses naval matters, including the possible exchange of a captured British warship (Ariel) for a different warship (Terpsicore). He also mentions his efforts to obtain the prize money for merchant ships he has captured.

On this day in 1883, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was born.

Mussolini (1883-1945) composed this friendly letter to FDR several months after the President took office. Roosevelt’s ambassador had recently arrived in Rome bearing FDR’s letter of introduction and a gift copy of his inaugural address. Mussolini responded with enthusiasm, noting, “The relations of the United States and Italy were never more cordial and friendly and I firmly believe and confidently hope that they will continue … to grow stronger with each succeeding year.”

In fact, Mussolini would soon embark on a path of military aggression and alliance with Nazi Germany that ended with Italy’s defeat by an Allied coalition—and his death in April 1945 at the hands of Italian partisans.

See this letter from Mussolini to FDR and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

Happy Birthday Amelia Earhart!

Aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart and her husband, publisher George Putnam, were friends of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and stayed at the White House on several occasions. During their April 20, 1933, visit, Earhart, Putnam, and Eleanor took an impromptu after-dinner flight. Departing the White House for a nearby airfield, they boarded an Eastern Airlines plane for a roundtrip flight from Washington, DC, to Baltimore. Some press accounts reported that Earhart piloted the aircraft during part of their journey. She mentions the flight in this letter.

In 1937, the Roosevelts would share in the nation’s sorrow when Earhart disappeared during her attempt at an around-the-world flight. Her fate remains a mystery.

“Thank you for giving us so much of your gracious self.”

See this letter from Earhart to ER and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

On this day in 1892, Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie I was born.

In 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia and drove Emperor Haile Selassie (1892-1975) into exile. Allied armies liberated Ethiopia in 1941, allowing Selassie to return to his native country. In this letter, he thanks FDR for a photo the President sent to mark the third anniversary of his return. The Emperor forwarded an autographed photograph of himself with his letter. In February 1945, he and FDR would meet face-to-face for the only time in Egypt, where the President stopped during his return trip from the Yalta Conference.

“May God grant you continued health and ever His wise guidance in the momentous days which lie ahead”

See this June 20, 1944, letter from Selassie to FDR and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

Happy birthday to Ernest Hemingway!

Eleanor Roosevelt first met Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) in 1937, when he and ER’’s friend, journalist Martha Gellhorn, visited the White House. Gellhorn and Hemingway were involved in a romantic affair and would eventually wed in December 1940. In this letter, Hemingway thanks Eleanor in a deeply personal manner for a letter that she had written to him. There is no record of ER’s letter to Hemingway in the Roosevelt Library’s collections.

“But your letter brought something into mine that I have never received from anyone but Martha’s mother”

See this letter and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

Happy belated 90th birthday to the Dalai Lama!

In 1942, FDR sent Lieutenant Colonel Ilia Tolstoy (a grandson of the famous Russian novelist) of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) on a goodwill mission to Tibet as his personal envoy to the Dalai Lama. Tolstoy brought along gifts from the United States government, including a gold watch and an autographed photograph of President Roosevelt. In response, the seven-year-old Dalai Lama sent this letter thanking the President and enclosing gifts of four thangkas (sacred paintings on silk), two silk embroidered scarves, three gold Tibetan coins, and a photo of himself in a hand-carved and painted frame.

See this letter and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

Happy birthday to Mary McLeod Bethune!

Educator, government administrator, and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune was the highest-ranking African American in the Roosevelt administration. She served as Director of Negro Affairs at the National Youth Administration (NYA) from 1935 until Congress ended funding for the agency in 1943. Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt became political associates and close friends during the 1930s.

In this somber letter, she reflects on the NYA’s legacy and mourns its end. The NYA was a New Deal agency that assisted young people aged 16 to 24 with education and job training, including trade school and work-study programs. ER’s handwritten note indicates she hoped to secure a new position for Bethune: “Write her a letter Tell her I’ll see her the first time I��m back (ask FDR if he found anything for her).”

See this letter and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

On July 9, 1943, Allied forces unleashed Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Three weeks later, George S. Patton, Jr. (1885-1945), commander of U.S. forces in the operation, forwarded this map to FDR via the President’s secretary, Grace Tully. It indicates the extent of Allied gains and includes a handwritten message signed by the general:

“Mr. President:

As of July 26 your 7th Army has captured all of the island west of the green line. We are now attacking east between Nicosia and St. Stefano. Now our south boundary is broken black line. So far 72,000 prisoners 250 guns 60 tanks.

GSP Jr.

Pardon this dirty map. I actually carried it.”

In his cover letter to Tully, Patton notes he had been carrying the map in his pocket throughout most of the campaign.

See the map, letter, and much more on display in our current exhibition “SIGNATURE MOMENTS: Letters From the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” Open through July 7, 2026.

Map of Sicily with handwritten message from General George S. Patton to Franklin Roosevelt

Letter, General George S. Patton, Jr. to FDR’s secretary Grace Tully, July 27, 1943

Happy 249th birthday America!

Today kicks off the one year countdown to America250 and to celebrate we will be highlighting early American history items from our collection which were collected by FDR - starting with Benjamin Franklin!

In December 1776, the Continental Congress sent Benjamin Franklin to France to gain French assistance for America in the War for Independence. Franklin soon developed a close relationship with Leray de Chaumont, a French aristocrat in the court of King Louis XVI who was sympathetic to the American cause and invited Franklin to live at his chateau in Passy. In this letter to Chaumont, written from Passy, Franklin discusses recent political and military developments, including the excitement in Paris surrounding the Marquis de Lafayette’s preparations to return to America with fresh troops.

Come see this letter on display in our new special exhibition - “Signature Moments: Letters from the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans” - open now.

fdrlibrary:

FDR the Art Collector
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This undated sketchbook contains watercolors and pencil drawings by Alexander Jackson Davis (1803-1892), one of the most prominent American architects of the nineteenth century.
Davis began his career in New York illustrating various buildings in the northeastern United States. In 1829, he started his first architectural firm, Town & Davis, with partner Ithiel Town, and then later opened his own firm. As one of the most prolific American architects of the nineteenth century, Davis designed buildings all over the US, including government buildings, commercial buildings, churches, and private homes. He favored Gothic Revival, Greek Revival, and Italianate styles. He also designed interior elements and even furniture.
Franklin D. Roosevelt purchased the sketchbook in February 1942—two months after Pearl Harbor and amid some of the darkest weeks of World War II.
This acquisition illustrates two important things about Franklin Roosevelt. He had an extraordinary ability to compartmentalize his life—using hobbies and personal interests to help himself manage the many stresses of the presidency. And he had an abiding love of and interest in the history, landscape, and culture of the Hudson River Valley.
Shortly after purchasing the Davis sketchbook, FDR shipped it to his distant cousin, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, an archivist at the Roosevelt Library, to be added to his collection of Hudson River Valley art and artifacts. “I bought this several days ago,” he wrote Suckley, “and it should go to the Dutchess County collection as a loan. Some of the watercolors are really lovely.”
See more sketches by Davis on our Digital Artifact Collection: https://fdr.artifacts.archives.gov/objects/1944
Join us throughout 2023 as we present #FDRtheCollector, featuring artifacts personally collected, purchased, or retained by Franklin Roosevelt, all from our Digital Artifact Collection.