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Letter, Carl Sandburg to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg admired FDR and saw important parallels between him and President Lincoln. He wrote this supportive letter at a time when Roosevelt was facing growing criticism over his economic policies. Two years later, during the 1940 presidential campaign, Sandburg delivered a speech titled "What Lincoln Would Have Done," in which he concluded that Lincoln would have been a New Dealer.

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Letter, Carole Lombard and Clark Gable to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: Film stars Carole Lombard and her husband, Clark Gable, were friends of the Roosevelts. Three days after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor they sent this letter to FDR offering to help in any way. The couple soon began organizing war bond rallies and military camp shows. But just weeks later, on January 16, Lombard died tragically in an airplane crash while returning from a war bond tour. The Roosevelts sent a telegram to Gable expressing their distress. Gable later enlisted in the Army Air Corps and served in Europe.

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Letter, Cecil B. DeMille to FDR's secretary Grace Tully

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Original Exhibition Caption: Movie mogul Cecil B. DeMille was renowned for his epic films set in ancient civilizations. During the early 1920s, DeMille acquired a collection of Babylonian cuneiform tablets. In March 1944, he gave one to FDR. In this letter sent via the President's secretary, DeMille responds to Roosevelt's request for background information about the clay tablet. The tablet, which dates to 2350 B.C., was found at Drehem, a suburb of the ancient city of Nippur (in present-day Iraq). The characters on it record a tax list.

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Letter, Conde Nast to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: Publisher Conde Nast built a popular magazine empire that included Vogue and Vanity Fair. He sent this letter to FDR at a moment when the press was speculating whether Roosevelt would seek a third term as president in 1940. Nast enclosed this elaborate illustration depicting FDR's first inaugural, which had appeared in Vanity Fair in March 1933. He slyly asks the President who might be included in a similar illustration the editors planned to feature in the magazine after the 1940 election. One of FDR's assistants attached a note to Nast's letter: "This letter sounds like a stupid plan to get you to say if you will run!"

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Letter, Duke of Windsor to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: In 1936, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom abdicated his title and right to the throne in order to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. Edward became the Duke of Windsor and, during World War II, served as Governor of the Bahamas. In this letter, he inquires about plans for an American air base there. The base was part of the September 1940 "destroyers-for-bases" deal in which America provided 50 World War I-era destroyers to Great Britain in exchange for leases for American military bases in British territories in the Atlantic.

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Letter, F.D. Patterson, President, Tuskegee Institute to Franklin Roosevelt

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Letter, Gary Cooper to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: During a 1943 goodwill tour of the Pacific war zone, Hollywood star Gary Cooper met Marine Sergeant Anthony W. Mechowski. The sergeant showed Cooper an ashtray he had made from brass shells and bullets as a gift for President Roosevelt. Cooper promised to take the gift back to the United States and forward it to the President.

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Letter, General George S. Patton, Jr. to FDR's secretary Grace Tully with map of Sicily

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Original Exhibition Caption: 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.

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Letter, George Washington Carver to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: Agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver was born enslaved and gained fame developing techniques to improve Southern farmland depleted by repeated plantings of cotton. He encouraged farmers to restore nitrogen to their soil by practicing crop rotation, alternating cotton crops with legumes such as peanuts and soybeans. Carver established an industrial research laboratory at the Tuskegee Institute, where he popularized crops like peanuts by devising practical applications for them. Carver met FDR during the President's visit to the Tuskegee Institute on April 3, 1939. The following day, he sent this letter to Roosevelt, recommending he use peanut oil in his physical therapy treatments.

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Letter, H.G. Wells to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: British science fiction writer H.G. Wells's famous novels include The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. He and FDR corresponded on a variety of subjects during the 1930s and 1940s. In late October 1939, as World War II engulfed Europe, he sent Roosevelt this letter, enclosing a draft of his Declaration of the Rights of Man, which he hoped would rally opposition to Nazi Germany. FDR responded that the Declaration "embodies many of the fundamental rights of the individual expressed in a form which cannot fail to meet with sympathetic consideration among the democratic people of the world."

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Letter, Harpo Marx to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: Arthur "Harpo" Marx of the Marx Brothers comedy team sent FDR this witty letter after listening to California Governor Earl Warren's speech outlining the GOP's campaign platform at the 1944 Republican National Convention. Harpo had a silent role in the Marx Brothers act. He did not speak, instead blowing a horn or whistling to communicate. His stage name reflected his talent as a harpist, and he played the harp in some of the Marx Brothers films. When FDR wrote to thank Harpo for his letter, he noted: "I'll bet if you tried to, you could play those six lines on your harp beautifully."

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Letter, Helen Keller to Franklin Roosevelt

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Original Exhibition Caption: On March 3, 1936, FDR issued a proclamation marking the date as "National Helen Keller Day." It celebrated the 50th anniversary of the day when Keller, who was blind and deaf, first met Anne Sullivan Macy, the teacher who transformed her life and set her on a path to become an internationally recognized author, social activist, and advocate for the blind. Keller thanks the President in this letter. She corresponded with both the Roosevelts on disability issues and other social causes and became a lifelong friend of Eleanor Roosevelt.

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