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Lot #25
Franklin D. Roosevelt

FDR to the Family Welfare Committee—"Our distressed families need a good deal more than the things that merely keep them alive"

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Description

FDR to the Family Welfare Committee—"Our distressed families need a good deal more than the things that merely keep them alive"

TLS as president, one page, 8 x 10.5, White House letterhead, November 2, 1933. Letter to James G. Blaine in New York City, in full: "I am glad to send a message to the Family Welfare Committee of New York City. This year I have said many times that the Government’s part in relief, great and important though it is, is nowhere near enough to meet existing conditions. Our distressed families need a good deal more than the things that merely keep them alive. Particularly, unemployed heads of families need the kind of social service which will maintain them in proper condition to fill jobs when jobs are opened for them. Only thus can the Administration’s recovery program have its proper cumulative effect. For recovery does not mean just some of the people. From personal observation I know about the family societies of New York. They have a vital and intensely important job to do this year. No one would deny that their work has been necessary since its inception. Now it is doubly so. If economic and social recovery do not go hand in hand, we will not be able to say truthfully that we have recovery. Yet by itself the Government—Federal, State and Municipal—cannot encompass recovery in the social field. The job is one which can only be handled by a partnership between Government on the one hand and public generosity on the other." In fine condition, with a few light stains.

In March 1933, Roosevelt began the unenviable task of segueing from New York governor to American president at the very peak of the Great Depression. With unemployment at 25%, nearly 5,000 banks out of business, and a forlorn American public demanding that his New Deal programs expedite the recovery process, FDR’s first 100 days in office witnessed an unprecedented fifteen major laws enacted. The creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, in particular, addressed the needs of the poor and unemployed with an infusion of $500 million in state relief and finding rural job opportunities for over 250,000 young men.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts
  • Dates: #565 - Ended September 12, 2019





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