Lot 638: 2 Franklin D. Roosevelt Signed Letters as Navy Secretary

Autograph: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945, president 1933-1945), two TLS to Major General George Barnett and his wife, Lelia (Montague) Gordon, both written while Roosevelt was Assistant (Acting) Secretary of the Navy, on Navy stationery and signed in pen. The first letter, to Gen. Barnett, is dated July 30, 1920. It offers thanks for a previous note "from one for whom I have always had the greatest admiration and sincere friendship" but that "that visit of mine to Wakefield [Barnett's Virginia mansion] will have to be given up until some other day." The second letter, dated 15 May 1919, designates Mrs. Barnett as sponsor for the Destroyer No. 275, "now under construction at Squantum, Mass., named Sinclair in honor of your grandfather Captain Arthur Sinclair, U.S. Navy." Dimensions: 9" x 7" and 6 1/2" x 6 3/4".

PROVENANCE: By descent in the family of Lelia Sinclair (Gordon) Dickey Noyes Lucas, the wife of Newbold Noyes, Associate Editor of the Washington Star, and daughter of USMC General George Barnett, Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps. Her family's ancestral home, Wakefield Manor Farm in Virginia, was acquired by wealthy tobacco planter Bazil Gordon in 1822.

CONDITION: Both letters with handling grime and minor toning and wear. Roosevelt's signature on the letter to Gen. Barnett in excellent condition, strong and bold. The letter to Mrs. Barnett has been cut at lower edge and has a 1/2" hole to center. Crease across signature.