August Adolph Gennerich
{{Short description|American bodyguard (1887–1936)}}
August Adolph Gennerich (February 10, 1887 – December 1, 1936) was an American police officer, U.S. Secret Service Agent, and the bodyguard of Franklin D. Roosevelt.{{cite news |title=Personal Loss |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757125,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930083858/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,757125,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |publisher=Time |date=December 14, 1936 |access-date=June 7, 2007}}Time magazine lists his birth year as 1886, but he listed his own birth day as February 10, 1887, when he registered for the draft in World War I
Early life
Gennerich was born on February 10, 1887, in Yorkville, Manhattan, New York.
Career
In 1909, Gennerich became a police officer with the New York City Police. He was cited three times for bravery, once for capturing bandits who "had peppered him for a mile and a half" with a machine gun until their car overturned. He later became a member of the bomb squad. In 1929 he was assigned as a bodyguard whenever New York's governor was in the city. He was assigned to Albany with then-Governor Roosevelt.
In the winter of 1933, when the Roosevelts moved to Washington, D.C., Gennerich was given a 60-day leave of absence so that he could complete his 25 years on the force, and retire on a $1,500-a-year pension. This allowed him to join the United States Secret Service and continue to work as President Roosevelt's bodyguard.{{cite news |title=President's Guard Dies in Restaurant. Body of Gus Gennerich Will Be Taken to Washington on the Cruiser Indianapolis. Rites to be held today. Roosevelt Cancels as Many of His Engagements as Possible and Arranges for Funeral. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/12/02/archives/presidents-guard-dies-in-restaurant-body-of-gus-gennerich-will-be.html |work=The New York Times |date=December 2, 1936 |access-date=February 14, 2018}} The very first executive order issued by the newly appointed President Roosevelt was Order 6071, which ensured Gennerich would be able to resume his position as Roosevelt's bodyguard immediately.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FnyLRSEgWdMC|page=210|title=Presidential executive orders: numbered 1-8030|volume=2|date=1944|access-date=November 7, 2018|publisher=Hastings House|series=Historical Records Survey|editor=Clifford Lee Lord}} Gennerich had grown close to Roosevelt and his family; Eleanor Roosevelt said in an edition of her newspaper column My Day that "He was cheerful, kindly and always willing to think of other people. He would play the piano for hours to amuse the children at Warm Springs. One and all they loved him."{{cite web|url=https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1936&_f=md054503|title=My Day|last=Roosevelt|first=Eleanor|author-link=Eleanor Roosevelt|access-date=November 7, 2018|date=December 2, 1936|publisher=George Washington University}}
Death
Gennerich died of a heart attack in the early hours of December 1, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, while dancing in a restaurant. Gennerich was 50.{{cite web |url=http://www.odmp.org/officer/5369-operative-august-gus-adolph-gennerich |title=August "Gus" Adolph Gennerich |access-date=2011-12-05 |publisher=Officer Down Memorial Page }}{{cite news|title=Bodyguard of Roosevelt dies in Argentina|date=December 1, 1936|access-date=November 7, 2018|newspaper=The Cedar Rapids Gazette|page=1|volume=54|issue=327|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/cedar-rapids-gazette-dec-01-1936-p-1/}}{{cite book|title=Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage|last=Rowley|first=Hazel|date=2011|access-date=November 7, 2018|publisher=Melbourne University Publishing|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X0_zPvzxYOUC|isbn=9780522851793|page=212}} Following his death, his body was returned to Washington DC on the {{USS|Indianapolis|CA-35|6}} and was laid in state at the White House on December 16; he was subsequently buried in New York City.{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2016870980/|publisher=Library of Congress|title=Body of Gus Gennerich lies in state at White House. Washington, D.C., Dec. 16|access-date=November 7, 2018}} In a letter to his wife shortly after Gennerich's death, Franklin Roosevelt wrote "Good old Gus was the kind of loyal friend who simply cannot be replaced".{{cite book|page=93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9bvKoNdaPrIC|title=Closest Companion: The Unknown Story of the Intimate Friendship Between Franklin Roosevelt and Margaret Suckley|last=Ward|first=Geoffrey C.|publisher=Simon and Schuster|date=December 11, 2012|access-date=November 7, 2018|isbn=9781439117668}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/gus-gennerich-seated-in-armchair-with-cigarette-im-the-news-footage/909461314 Behind the scenes at the White House]—A short 1930s interview with Gennerich
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Category:Law enforcement officials from Washington, D.C.
Category:New York City Police Department officers