ALS, two pages both sides, 5.5 x 9, State of New York Assembly Chamber letterhead, January 31, 1882. Letter to “My dear Lehmair,” in part: “If I was not in the Legislature I should certainly extend you my most active support; as it is I give you my greatest sympathy. I hardly know what to advise about the project of making the club social; though the Garfield Club we visited was very pleasant, I should doubt if it had any great political weight. There would always be a great danger, that the club would become merely a pleasure resort. I think it would pay far better to have a few active members possessing a genuine interest in political reform, than to have a large number of men who wished to collect to talk and drink, and in reality cared little for the true objects of the association. We might have a large number of names on the list, of people who would take an interest in it as election day drew near, we might also have a few real men who would of necessity have the real work devolve upon them…If the club was put on a social basis I very much fear that it would come in the end to assume a social, and not political character; a result highly to be regretted. The fault of our organization last year was, largely, that it was a mere debating society; we must have the political purpose of the club declared and always kept before it. I doubt if any organization which did not mean honest hard work could get along, or be of much service.” In fine condition, with punch holes to left edge of both pages and a bit of trivial soiling.
When offered a chance to run for the New York Assembly in 1881, Roosevelt withdrew from his studies at Columbia Law School in hopes of an immediate entry into politics. Elected easily, he began his political career with insight well beyond his twenty-three years. In this letter to influential Republican leader James S. Lehmair, who would help secure Roosevelt’s nomination for mayor in 1886, he reflects on the ‘Garfield Clubs’ that rallied great excitement and public support for the presidential elections of 1880 but failed to build a serious Republican base. Noting “though the Garfield Club we visited was very pleasant, I should doubt if it had any great political weight,” he encourages Lehmair to steer away from the socially-based clubs and “have the political purpose…declared and always kept before it” to build stronger support for upcoming elections. A wonderful handwritten letter, offering an early glimpse of the no-nonsense leader’s insight that helped secure him his place as president nearly two decades later. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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