TLS as president, one page, 7 x 8.75, White House letterhead, May 25, 1937. Letter to Ambassador William E. Dodd. In full: “Frankly, I was delighted with your letter to Bulkley. But because you are too honest and sincere to be a publicity expert, you did not realize that that one sentence about the billionaire would be the one thing in the whole letter seized on by the Press and a certain type of false liberal like Borah. No one can answer the main points you made, and we are truly at another very important crisis. Some of our Democratic ‘friends’ do not at all like the idea that I may keep on making speeches and radio talks for the next three and a half years. They think that a second term President should be duly grateful and retire into innocuous desuetude.” Roosevelt also adds “Private” at the top in his own hand. In fine condition, with a rusty paperclip mark to the upper left.
Since his appointment as the US Ambassador to Germany in 1933—a crucial position, as World War II loomed on the horizon—William Dodd was a polarizing figure. During President Roosevelt's 1936 run for reelection, Dodd sparked widespread outrage when he wrote a public letter warning that the defeat of Roosevelt's programs would produce a fascist dictatorship, saying, ‘There are individuals of great wealth who wish a dictatorship…There are politicians who think they may gain powers like those exercised in Europe. One man...who owns nearly a billion dollars, is ready to support such a program and, of course, control it’—at this time, John D. Rockefeller was the only billionaire in America. In response, several senators and newspapers called for Dodd to be recalled from Germany and resign his position; Senator William Borah, who FDR calls a "false liberal" in this letter, was one of the most vocal critics, calling Dodd 'an irresponsible scandalmonger.' In late 1937, Dodd finally resigned under pressure from the State Department. A fascinating letter detailing the forces of insider politics during a critical time in international relations. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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