Excellent TLS signed “R. E. Byrd,” two pages, 8.5 x 11, October 31, 1941. Letter to John Shuttleworth. In part: “I am pleased beyond expression at the great compliment you paid me in putting our speech in your magazine. You could not have done a more effective thing…I was very long overdue in getting some word to you. The fact is they have been keeping me going very fast. Here is a report:
“1- I am making speeches at mass meetings combined with national hookups.
“2- Specifically at the moment I am trying to get over the idea that this country runs a grave danger of invasion eventually by the Nazi tyranny idea. An example of one of my speeches made over a national hookup is enclosed.
“3- I have been going to outlying critical areas such as Indiana and Ohio.
“4- I have been making talks to France because for some unaccountable reason I seem to stand better in France than I do in this country. I am also going to make a talk to Germany.
“5- I am working through some of the National Organizations of which I am a member.
“6- My biggest undertaking is to attempt to get a proclamation (at an early date) from all the Governors to be made simultaneously on a predetermined date asking Congress to give the President the powers he needs to meet this emergency…
“My speech was calculated to buck up the French and to show them the invincibility of the United States. I did not give this speech out to the papers because I meant it only for France but somehow it got out all over the country…I got an unexpected reaction in Washington and in the critical areas from the enclosed warmonger speech. I set out to tell who the warmongers really were but the part of the speech to which most attention was paid was my discussion as to why Hitler must finish us if he can…”
In fine condition, with intersecting mailing folds (one through a single letter of signature), staple hole to top left of both pages, and a mild shade of overall toning.
This correspondence is filled with superior content and comes from a time when the United States was marching toward its role in World War II. Byrd’s take on world events is amazing, with one of the “talks to France” he references taking place on October 19, in which he announced, via a short wave radio broadcast, that “Hitler will not win unless he attacks and defeats the United States.” Despite expressing a belief here that America ran “a grave danger of invasion eventually by the Nazi tyranny idea” he also touts his belief that Europe will not fall to the Nazis and, as he told the French in his speech, that “the day will come when the skies of Europe will be black with American planes.” His claim that his words held more weight before the French people than at home unquestionably dates to 1927, when the admiral was honored as a “citizen” of four French towns. At the time Byrd wrote this letter, America was not yet involved in WWII, and the attack on Pearl Harbor was still just a little over a month away. Prophetic statements commenting on his ultimately unsuccessful speech to rally national support for the war effort. RRAuction COA.
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