Description:

Roosevelt Franklin

1p TLS on gilt embossed "State of New York, Executive Chamber, Albany, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Governor" letterhead signed by then Governor of New York Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945) as "Franklin D. Roosevelt" at bottom right. A dark, elegant, and bold signature. In very good condition, with expected paper folds. Overall toning and some dinginess, especially verso. Page measures 8" x 10.5".


44th Governor of New York Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote this TLS on March 11, 1932 from his chambers in Albany, New York. He thanked his correspondent, New York lawyer Harold Roland Shapiro, for providing him with his "views on Mr. Walter H. Pollak".


Walter Heilprin Pollak (1887-1940) was a New York attorney who argued several important cases before the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1920s and 1930s. A Harvard University graduate, Pollak befriended future Supreme Court Associate Justice Benjamin Cardozo at a New York law firm. Pollak was politically liberal and championed civil liberties like freedom of speech. Some of his most famous defendants included Communist leader Benjamin Gitlow and the "Scottsboro Boys", a group of nine black teenagers accused of sexual assault against white women in 1932 Alabama.


Harold Roland Shapiro (active 1930-1970) was admitted to the New York bar in 1927. Shapiro served for many years as a New York City Assistant District Attorney dealing mainly with criminal cases. He was also a writer. His What Every Young Man Should Know About War (1937) shocked many with its gruesome descriptions of modern warfare. Shapiro's scholarly interests were diverse: he also published monographs on topics ranging from labor law to Lincoln biography. Shapiro also contributed to the New York Times. His sketch of Pollak might have been published here.


Franklin D. Roosevelt was nine months out from finishing his gubernatorial term in March 1932. He would win the Democratic Party presidential nomination in July 1932. His unprecedented twelve-year-long presidential term began a year later, in March 1933.


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