FDR on What a Life Should Be: Happy, Active and Useful
He sends his personal monogrammed handkerchief to a young namesake; it is included
Franklin D. Roosevelt was enormously popular as his first term began and his New Deal fought the Depression. As we see here, people looked for ways to honor him and identify with his efforts. Typed Letter Signed, on White House letterhead, Washington, March 22, 1933, to Mr. and Mrs. James T. Cluster,...
Franklin D. Roosevelt was enormously popular as his first term began and his New Deal fought the Depression. As we see here, people looked for ways to honor him and identify with his efforts. Typed Letter Signed, on White House letterhead, Washington, March 22, 1933, to Mr. and Mrs. James T. Cluster, who had just named their newborn son after him. “May I extend my hearty congratulations on the birth of your son, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Cluster? I am enclosing a small memento for my namesake with the hope that he will have a happy, active and useful life.”
The memento Roosevelt sent, one of his personal white silk handkerchiefs embroidered with a facsimile of his signature and the words “Happy Days”, is still present. The handkerchief measures about 17 by 16 inches, and is folded loosely four times to about a 5 by 5 inch square. This is an extremely rare opportunity to obtain something personal that belonged to FDR, with the provenance of a White House cover letter sending it. The letter also gives us a very interesting and unexpected glimpse of what Roosevelt considered most important in life. When he determined what to wish for the baby who carried his name, he wanted most that he should be happy, active and useful. All of these characteristics were not haphazardly selected, but each had real resonance with FDR. Happiness was something he believed in and built into every day. He would finish work in the late afternoon or early evening and relax with friends and relatives over a drink, jovial even during a crisis. Nobody, not even Eleanor, was permitted to discuss serious subjects like business or politics or the war; it was his down time. As a man bound to a wheel chair, FDR worked very hard to overcome his disabilities. To him, being active was crucial, and his effort was to remain active to the extent he could despite the polio. Boys of privilege and wealth in his generation were taught at private school that to be useful was a duty, it made a life worthy. That is why so many of them gravitated to public service. A telling letter, accompanied by his personal handkerchief.
The original envelope bearing a March 22, 1933 postal cancellation is also included. We obtained these directly from the recipient.
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