Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr.

| image = FDR Jr 1945 (cropped).jpg

| caption = Roosevelt in 1945

| office = Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

| president = Lyndon B. Johnson

| term_start = May 26, 1965

| term_end = May 11, 1966

| predecessor = Position established

| successor = Stephen N. Shulman

| office1 = United States Under Secretary of Commerce

| president1 = John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson

| term_start1 = March 26, 1963

| term_end1 = May 16, 1965

| predecessor1 = Edward Gudeman

| successor1 = LeRoy Collins

| state2 = New York

| district2 = {{ushr|NY|20|20th}}

| term_start2 = May 17, 1949

| term_end2 = January 3, 1955

| predecessor2 = Sol Bloom

| successor2 = Irwin D. Davidson

| birth_name = Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.

| birth_date = {{birth date|1914|8|17}}

| birth_place = Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1988|8|17|1914|8|17}}

| death_place = Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.

| party = Democratic

| otherparty = Liberal

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Ethel du Pont
|1937|1949|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Suzanne Perrin
|1949|1970|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Felicia Schiff Warburg Sarnoff
|1970|1976|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Patricia Luisa Oakes
|1977|1981|end=divorced}}
{{marriage|Linda McKay Stevenson Weicker
|1984}}

}}

| children = 5, including Franklin III

| parents = {{plainlist|

}}

| relatives = Roosevelt family

| alma_mater = Harvard University (AB)
University of Virginia (LLB)

| profession = {{hlist|Lawyer|politician|businessman}}

| allegiance = United States

| branch = United States Navy

| serviceyears = 1938–1946

| rank = Lieutenant commander

| commands = {{USS|Ulvert M. Moore|DE-442}}

| battles = World War II

| mawards = Silver Star
Legion of Merit
Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart

}}

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (August 17, 1914 – August 17, 1988) was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman. He served as a United States congressman from New York from 1949 to 1955 and in 1963 was appointed United States Under Secretary of Commerce by President John F. Kennedy. He was appointed as the first chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1965 to 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Roosevelt also ran for governor of New York twice. Just after World War II, he served on Harry Truman's President's Committee on Civil Rights. Roosevelt was a son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II.

Early life

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. was born on August 17, 1914, the fifth of six children born to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) and Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962). At the time of his birth, his father was Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He was born at his parents' summer home at Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, which is now an international historical park.

His siblings were: Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1906–1975), James Roosevelt II (1907–1991), Franklin Roosevelt (1909; a brother of the same name who died in infancy in November 1909, having lived only for seven months), Elliott Roosevelt (1910–1990), and John Aspinwall Roosevelt II (1916–1981).

As a young man in 1936, he contracted a streptococcal throat infection and developed life-threatening complications. His successful treatment with Prontosil, the first commercially available sulfonamide drug, avoided a risky surgical procedure which the White House medical staff had considered, and the headlines in The New York Times and other prominent newspapers heralded the start of the era of antibacterial therapy in the United States.[https://web.archive.org/web/20081215084216/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,771900,00.html "Medicine: Prontosil"], Time, December 28, 1936.

=Education=

He graduated from Groton School in 1933, Harvard College in 1937 (Bachelor of Arts), and the University of Virginia School of Law (Bachelor of Laws) in June 1940.{{cite web|title=Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Jr. (1914–1988)|url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=R000425|work=Biographical Directory of Congress|publisher=Office of Art and Archives, Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives|access-date=June 19, 2011}}

The family thought that FDR Jr. was the one most like his father in appearance and behavior. James said "Franklin is the one who came closest to being another FDR. He had father's looks, his speaking voice, his smile, his charm, his charisma."Roosevelt, 313

U.S. Navy service

File:Elliot Roosevelt and FDR Jr - NARA - 195327.jpg, Elliott Roosevelt and FDR Jr. at the Casablanca Conference, 1943]]

=World War II=

Roosevelt was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve on June 11, 1940. He was a junior naval officer in World War II and was decorated for bravery in the Naval Battle of Casablanca.

At the request of his father, along with brother Elliott Roosevelt, he attended both the Argentia (Atlantic Charter) summit with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1941, and the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. Franklin also met FDR in Africa prior to the Tehran Conference. Returning from Argentia, he sailed with Churchill and stood with him at parades in newly American-occupied Reykjavik, Iceland to symbolize American solidarity with the United Kingdom.Hansen, 211–12, 262

Brother James Roosevelt summarized "Brud's" naval service: "Franklin served on a destroyer that dodged torpedoes from Iceland to Minsk [sic!][He, obviously, meant Murmansk]. He became executive officer of the destroyer {{USS|Mayrant|DD-402}}, which was bombed at Palermo in the Sicilian invasion. The famed war correspondent Quentin Reynolds went out of his way to write mother how bravely Franklin performed in that bloody ordeal, in which he was awarded the Silver Star Medal for exposing himself under fire to carry a critically wounded sailor to safety."Roosevelt, 269.

Later, as a lieutenant commander, to which he was promoted to on March 1, 1944, Franklin became the commanding officer of the destroyer escort {{USS|Ulvert M. Moore|DE-442}} on July 18, 1944. Ulvert M. Moore served in the Pacific and shot down two Japanese aircraft and sank the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine {{ship|Japanese submarine|Ro-115||2}}. The Moore was in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945. James Roosevelt remembered that his brother was known as "Big Moose" to the men who served under him, he did "a tremendous job".

=Military awards=

Roosevelt's military decorations and awards include:

style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Silver_Star_ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=Legion of Merit ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Bronze Star ribbon.svg|width=106}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Purple Heart BAR.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Navy and Marine Corps Commendation ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=American Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=4|type=service-star|ribbon=European-African-Middle_Eastern_Campaign_ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=8|type=service-star|ribbon=Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}

{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=World War II Victory Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Army of Occupation ribbon.svg|width=106}}

|{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=Phliber rib.svg|width=106}}

class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;"

|Navy Commendation Medal

|American Defense Service Medal
with Service star

American Campaign Medal

|European-African-Middle Eastern
Campaign Medal with
four campaign stars

|Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
with eight campaign stars

World War II Victory Medal

|Navy Occupation Medal

|Philippine Liberation MedalSons of the American Revolution Membership Application

Career

=Law practice=

Roosevelt served in several New York law offices after the war. He was senior partner in the New York law firm of Roosevelt and Frieden, later known as Poletti, Diamond, Freidin & Mackay, before and after his service in the Congress. (On December 3, 1945, Time magazine announced that Roosevelt had joined Poletti, Diamond, Rabin, Frieden & Mackay.

{{cite magazine| title = People| magazine = Time | url = https://time.com/vault/issue/1945-12-03/page/48/| date = December 3, 1945| access-date = April 16, 2020}}) He triggered controversy for representing Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in the U.S., and dropped the account before Trujillo's assassination in 1961.

=Politics=

Roosevelt was also involved in political affairs. He served on the President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 for President Harry Truman. Along with his brothers, he declared for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1948,[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1948/04/04/96590995.html?pageNumber=45 "Democrats Urged to Run Eisenhower"], The New York Times, Sunday April 4, 1948. as part of the draft Eisenhower movement.

He joined the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1946.{{cite web|url=http://interactive.ancestry.com/2204/32596_242286-00444/668791?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26db%3dSARMemberApps%26rank%3d1%26new%3d1%26MSAV%3d0%26msT%3d1%26gss%3dangs-d%26gsfn%3dfranklin%26gsln%3droosevelt%26dbOnly%3d_F0006399%257c_F0006399_x%26uidh%3dvt7%26pcat%3d39%26fh%3d0%26h%3d668791%26recoff%3d%26ml_rpos%3d1&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord#?imageId=32596_242286-00446|title=Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.|work=Ancestry.com|publisher=Silver Lake, GIC Private Limited, Permira, and Spectrum Equity|location=Lehi, Utah|access-date=September 5, 2020|archive-date=March 5, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305020645/http://interactive.ancestry.com/2204/32596_242286-00444/668791?backurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ancestry.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fsse.dll%3Findiv%3D1%26db%3DSARMemberApps%26rank%3D1%26new%3D1%26MSAV%3D0%26msT%3D1%26gss%3Dangs-d%26gsfn%3Dfranklin%26gsln%3Droosevelt%26dbOnly%3D_F0006399%257c_F0006399_x%26uidh%3Dvt7%26pcat%3D39%26fh%3D0%26h%3D668791%26recoff%3D%26ml_rpos%3D1&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnRecord#?imageId=32596_242286-00446|url-status=dead}}

==U.S. House of Representatives==

Roosevelt Jr. was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives in a special election in 1949, in which he ran as a candidate of the Liberal Party of New York. He was re-elected in 1950 and 1952 as a Democrat. He represented the 20th congressional district of New York from May 17, 1949, until January 3, 1955, then based in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Despite his name and connections, he became unpopular with the Democratic leadership. When brother James Roosevelt was elected to the House, Speaker Sam Rayburn told him to "not waste our time like your brother did." James wrote that Franklin "had a dreadful record in Congress. He was smart, but not smart enough. He had good ideas and the power of persuasion, but he did not put them to good use. He coasted instead of working at his job, considering it beneath him, while he aimed for higher positions. He may have had the worst attendance record of any member of those days, and it cost him those higher positions."Roosevelt, 314

==Seeking the governorship of New York==

Roosevelt sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1954,{{cite news|last1=Moscow|first1=Warren|title=Tammany Still Seeking Jobs for the Faithful: In Fight Against FDR Jr., the Hall Hopes to Prove All Is Not Lost|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/04/17/84206078.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 17, 1949}} but, after persuasion by powerful Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio,{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/28/nyregion/carmine-de-sapio-political-kingmaker-and-last-tammany-hall-boss-dies-at-95.html | work=The New York Times | first=Jonathan | last=Kandell | title=Carmine De Sapio, Political Kingmaker and Last Tammany Hall Boss, Dies at 95 | date=July 28, 2004}} abandoned his bid for Governor and was nominated by the Democratic State Convention to run for New York State Attorney General. Roosevelt was defeated in the general election by Republican Jacob K. Javits, although all other Democratic nominees were elected. Following his loss, Eleanor Roosevelt began building a campaign against the Tammany Hall leader that eventually forced DeSapio to step down from power in 1961.

He again ran for governor of New York on the Liberal Party ticket in 1966, but was defeated by the incumbent Republican Nelson A. Rockefeller.

==Ties to John F. Kennedy==

File:FDR Jr.gif

At the instigation of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., he campaigned for John F. Kennedy in the crucial 1960 West Virginia primary, falsely accusing Kennedy's opponent, Hubert Humphrey, of having dodged the draft in World War II.{{citation|last=Caro|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Caro|title=The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power|pages=85–86|chapter=3. Forging Chains|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|location = New York|year = 2012}}

Kennedy later named him Under Secretary of Commerce and chairman of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. The Commerce post was given to him when Defense Secretary Robert McNamara vetoed his appointment as Secretary of the Navy. "JFK and Franklin were friends and their families were close. Socially, Franklin spent a lot of time in the White House during JFK's reign. But when Kennedy was killed, Franklin fell from power."Roosevelt, 315

He served as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from May 26, 1965, to May 11, 1966, during the administration of Kennedy's successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson.

=Entrepreneur=

Roosevelt was also a distributor of FIAT and Jaguar automobiles in the United States. In 1970, he sold the distributorship Roosevelt Automobile Company. He was a personal friend of Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli.{{cite news|last1=Bachrach|first1=Judy|title=La Vita Agnelli|url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2003/05/gianni-agnelli-200305|access-date=August 13, 2016|date=March 22, 2011}} He also ran a small cattle farm and had an interest in Thoroughbred racehorses. In 1983, he bred the colt Brothers N Law. A winner at age 2, the New York-bred ran second in the 1986 Empire Stakes hosted that year by the Saratoga Race Course.[http://www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=Horse&refno=963404®istry=T Brothers N Law pedigree at Equibase] Retrieved August 30, 2018

Personal life and death

File:FDR Jr (cropped).jpg, September 11, 1937]]

Roosevelt married Ethel du Pont on June 30, 1937, in Wilmington, Delaware. They had two children, Franklin D. Roosevelt III (born July 19, 1938) and Christopher du Pont Roosevelt (born December 21, 1941). du Pont arrived in Reno, Nevada, on April 8, 1949, using the pseudonym Ethel Pyle in order to seek a divorce as Nevada law allowed for divorces after six weeks of residency. Roosevelt Jr. was the third of his father's children to get a divorce after Elliott and Anna.{{Cite news |date=April 9, 1949 |title=Mrs. F.D.R. Jr. in Reno For a Friendly Divorce |page=C3 |work=New York Daily News |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/162310907/ |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=April 9, 1949 |title=Mrs. F.D. Roosevelt, Jr., Goes to Reno for Divorce |page=1 |work=The Post-Standard |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-post-standard/162310903/ |via=Newspapers.com}} Their divorce was granted on May 21, 1949.

On August 31, 1949, Roosevelt married for the second time to Suzanne Perrin (May 2, 1921 – December 23, 2022), the daughter of Lee James Perrin, a New York attorney.{{cite news|title=Representative Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. To Marry Miss Suzanne Perrin in August|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1949/07/30/86778875.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 30, 1949}} They had two daughters before their divorce in 1970, which was obtained in Juárez, Mexico: Nancy Suzanne Roosevelt (born January 11, 1952), who married Thomas Ellis Ireland, grandson of Robert Livingston Ireland Jr. in 1977,{{cite news |title=Nancy Suzanne Roosevelt Fiancee of Thomas E. Ireland |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/04/17/archives/nancy-suzanne-roosevelt-fiancee-of-thomas-e-ireland.html |access-date=April 26, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=April 17, 1977}} and Laura Delano Roosevelt (born October 26, 1959).

On July 1, 1970, Roosevelt married for the third time to Felicia Schiff Warburg Sarnoff (born 1927). She was the granddaughter of Felix M. Warburg (1871–1937) and great‐granddaughter of Jacob Schiff (1847–1920).{{cite news|title=Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. To Wed Felicia Sarnof|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/01/archives/franklin-d-roosevelt-jr-to-wed-felicia-sarnoff.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=July 1, 1970}} She had been previously married to Robert W. Sarnoff, chairman and president of the RCA Corporation. The marriage was childless and ended in divorce in 1976.

On May 6, 1977, Roosevelt married for the fourth time to Patricia Luisa Oakes (born 1951), the daughter of British actor Richard Greene (1918–1985) and Nancy Oakes von Hoyningen-Huene (1924–2005),{{cite news|title=Nancy Oakes von Hoyningen-Huene|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/nancy-oakes-von-hoyningen-huene-2jfg2cjbgdg|access-date=August 13, 2016|work=The Times|date=January 21, 2005}} and the granddaughter of gold mining tycoon Sir Harry Oakes (1874–1943). They had one son before divorcing in 1981: John Alexander Roosevelt (born October 18, 1977).(FDR Presidential Library){{cite news|last1=Laskey|first1=Margaux|title=Lacy Garcia, Jack Roosevelt|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/fashion/weddings/19garcia.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 18, 2010}}

On March 3, 1984, Roosevelt married his fifth and final wife, Linda McKay "Tobie" Stevenson Weicker (born 1939).{{cite web|title=Roosevelt Genealogy|url=http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/resources/genealogy.html|website=fdrlibrary.marist.edu|publisher=Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum|access-date=August 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190301034423/http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/resources/genealogy.html|archive-date=March 1, 2019|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|last1=Pederson|first1=William D.|title=The FDR Years|date=January 1, 2009|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=9780816074600|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cv-kRJoXag4C&q=%22Franklin+D.+Roosevelt+Jr.%22+patricia+oakes&pg=PA234|access-date=August 13, 2016}} She was previously married to Theodore M. Weicker, the brother of Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr.{{cite news|title=Miss Stevenson Becomes Bride Of T.M. Weicker|url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/09/17/121510074.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 17, 1967}} They remained married until his death.

On August 17, 1988, his 74th birthday, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. died at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York,{{cite news|last1=Mcquiston|first1=John T.|title=Franklin Roosevelt Jr., 74, Ex-Congressman, Dies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/08/18/obituaries/franklin-roosevelt-jr-74-ex-congressman-dies.html|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 18, 1988}} after a battle with lung cancer.{{cite news|title=Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. Dies|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1988/08/18/franklin-d-roosevelt-jr-dies/a41b3e13-b9fc-4dfc-a244-b71d49c5ca0b/|access-date=August 13, 2016|newspaper=Washington Post|date=August 18, 1988}}

References

=Citations=

=Sources=

{{See also|Bibliography of Eleanor Roosevelt|Bibliography of Franklin D. Roosevelt}}

{{Congbio|R000425}} Retrieved on May 19, 2009
Roosevelt, James: My Parents: A Differing View, Playboy Press, 1976 (with Bill Libby)
Hansen, Chris: Enfant Terrible: The Times and Schemes of General Elliott Roosevelt, Able Baker Press, 2012.

External links

{{Congbio|R000425}}
{{Internet Archive film clip|id=gov.archives.arc.95792|description="Longines Chronoscope with Rep. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1952)"}}
{{Find a Grave|8508|Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Jr}}

{{US House succession box |

state=New York|

district=20 |

before=Sol Bloom |

after=Irwin D. Davidson |

years=1949–1955

}}

{{s-ttl|title=Chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission|years=1965–1966}}

{{succession box|title=Democratic Nominee for New York State Attorney General|before=Francis D'Amanda|after=Peter Crotty|years=1954}}

{{succession box|title= Liberal Nominee for Governor of New York|before=Robert Morgenthau|after=Arthur Goldberg|years=1966}}

{{USCongRep-start|congresses= 81st-83rd United States Congress |state=New York}}