Description:

Franklin Roosevelt
Albany, NY, ca. 1930
New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt Considers Appointees to Narcotics Commission
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[FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT] Autograph Document, Preliminary List for Narcotics Commission, ca. March 1930, [Albany, New York]. 1 p., 8.5" x 5.625". General toning; tear at top slightly affecting one word; some edge loss at corners from previous mounting; very good.

Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt creates a draft list of appointees to a state narcotics commission. He notes that Father Robert F. Keegan (1887-1947) would be nominating a Catholic layman to the commission. Keegan, a graduate of the New York School of Social Service, was the first director of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, incorporated in 1920. During the 1930s, Keegan became an outspoken proponent of FDR's New Deal programs.

After his entry for "1 Woman," FDR wrote "L. Wald." Lillian Wald (1867-1940) was born into a Jewish family in Cincinnati, Ohio, and grew up there and in Rochester, New York. After failing to gain admission to Vassar College at age 16, she traveled the world for six years, sometimes working as a journalist. In 1889, she was inspired to go into nursing and graduated from the New York Hospital Training School in 1891. She began work at the New York Juvenile Asylum orphanage and provided nursing care to immigrant families in New York's Lower East Side. She organized visiting nursing services and became involved in the tenement house movement. She was active in the women's suffrage movement and as an advocate for immigrants, children, and laborers. She served as chair of the Committee on Community Nursing of the American Red Cross during World War I and led the Red Cross's campaign against the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918.

Although Roosevelt did not ultimately appoint Wald, he did appoint another on this preliminary list—Col. Michael Friedsam (1860-1931) was a leading Jewish merchant in New York City, president of Benjamin Altman and Company, and philanthropist. During World War I, he served as quartermaster general of the New York State Guard, where he attained the rank of colonel.

Complete Transcript
Father Keegan to suggest a Cath. layman
2. Lawyers (or 1 & [?])
1. Woman (L. Wald)
2 upstate -
Pete Brady
M. Friedsam

[File Note:] File Narcotic Commission

Historical Background
In March 1930, Republican Assemblyman Howard D. Dickey of Buffalo, New York, met with Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt to urge the governor to appoint a special commission on narcotic drug control. Dickey had sponsored numerous bills aimed at combatting the sale of narcotics, including one that criminalized the sale of "dope" as a felony punishable by up to ten years in prison.

On April 20, 1930, Governor Roosevelt invited nine people to serve as members of a Commission on Narcotic Control. The purpose of the commission was to "obtain data in relation to the extent of drug addiction in the state" and "attempt to determine the legitimate drug needs of New York State for medical purposes and devise ways and means to prevent the illegitimate sale of drugs." Roosevelt also announced plans to appoint 10 to 15 more persons to the Commission later. His initial appointees were Richard C. Patterson, the commissioner of corrections for New York City; Dr. Alexander Lambert, professor of clinical medicine at Cornell University; Col. Michael Friedsam of New York City; Walter R. Herrick, commissioner of parks and the chair of the former drug commission; Mary V. Hun, chair of the New York State Commission for the Blind; Judge Frederick R. Kernochan of the New York Court of Special Sessions; Mary L. Gibbons of Catholic Charities; attorney Martin Conboy; and John Palmer Gavit, an associate editor of the Survey.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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