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Original Exhibition Caption: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini 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.
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