TLS as President, two pages, 7 x 8.75, pale green White House letterhead, May 3, 1939. Roosevelt writes to his friend Gertrude Ely in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. In full: “Thank you for your note. That Charleston paper, ‘The News and Courier,’ represents everything that is reactionary in the South. It is the old row between the landed gentry and the field laborers, white and colored—only in this case the landed gentry are not South Carolinians but are Northerners who have bought up the old places and use them for winter sojourns. A few of them, like Nick Roosevelt of Philadelphia, do a good job by raising cattle, etc., but most of them are distinctly rich absentee landlords. Most of the opposition to Santee-Cooper comes from them, aided and abetted by the anti-Administration Democrats. As a matter of fact, it is perfectly reasonable to admit that the success of the Santee-Cooper project cannot be guaranteed. But the fact remains that it will develop power, it will prevent floods, and will, first and last, give a tremendous lot of work. The complaint that it will kill all the ducks from Florida to Maine is silly. As an old-line professional ornithologist, I vouch for this! The thing is not political any more than building a schoolhouse or a bridge or a Boulder Dam or a Grand Coulee is political—and the fact remains that the opposition comes 100% from every non-liberal element in the State of South Carolina. It was approved four years ago—it is under way—it could not be stopped even if I wanted to—and I don't.” The Santee Cooper Power and Navigation Project, constructed in 1939, improved navigation on and provided hydroelectric power from the Santee and Cooper Rivers in South Carolina. In 1934, legislation under Roosevelt’s public works programs allowed South Carolina to obtain federal grants and loans for the creation of the South Carolina Public Service Authority, with the primary purpose of constructing and operating the Santee Cooper Project. At that time, 93% of the state’s residents lived without electricity. Private power companies fought the project, and the battle was eventually taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. In April 1939, injunctions against the project were overturned and construction proceeded for 27 months until completion. The $48.2 million project was the largest land-clearing project in U.S. history, with more than 12,500 workers clearing over 177,000 acres of swamp and forestland. The plant first generated electricity on February 17, 1942. In very good condition, with expert restoration to both pages, which had previously been torn into several pieces (tear touching first two letters of signature), a few creases, and light soiling and handling wear. Great content related to FDR’s historic measures to overcome the Depression! JSA/John Reznikoff Auction LOA and RRAuction COA.
