TLS, one page, 7 x 8.75, White House letterhead, December 26, 1940. Roosevelt writes to Basil O’Connor, his former law partner and then-president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, whom he addresses as “Doc.” In part: “I have been thinking aboiut the dedication of the medical unit at Tuskegee on January fifteenth together with a suggestion that I make a brief radio talk upon that occasion. I know very well what the situation here will be on January fifteenth, a few days before and the following week or so—preparation of the Inaugural address, all the visiting firemen, the Inaugural itself, etc. I have been looking for a way out and I think I have found one. You are it. Seriously, I would like you to go to the Tuskegee dedication and deliver my remarks for me, explaining to those present and those listening in on the radio how very much I had hoped to be there in person and to participate in the dedication of this new and very important medical unit…. Tell [Dr. Bousfield], also, how sorry I am that the dedication takes place at a time when it is simply impossible for me to do more than this, however much I would like to….” Faint paperclip mark, otherwise very fine, fresh condition. Auction LOA John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.
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