Roosevelt, Eleanor

Totalling 3 pages (9 1/8 x 6 1/8 in.; 234 x 155 mm) on 3 sheets of The White House | Washington letterhead, 31 December 1934 (1 page) and 16 January 1935 (2 pages), the second headed "Personal and Confidential -- Not for Publication" and accompanied by the original typed envelope; some light browning and marginal spotting. Also accompanied by a packet of contemporary newspaper reports of the event.

"Both the President and I would be very much opposed to having anything out of the ordinary done for Franklin Jr."

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.'s arrest on 22 December 1934 for speeding at 78 miles per hour on the Milford Turnpike caused no little embarrassment for the White House. The younger Roosevelt had his case postponed several times, ostensibly so as not to interfere with his class schedule at Harvard. One of the postponements was acknowledged by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt in the first of her two letters to David N. Torrance, town prosecutor for Orange, Connecticut: "Mr. James Hoey has told me about your kindness and my son Franklin, Junior, will stop at 205 Church Street, New Haven, about five o'clock on January third. The letter is signed "With deep  appreciation."

The case was eventually heard on 5 January, and FDR Jr. was fined $10 plus $9.75 in court costs after pleading guilty. According to contemporary newspaper accounts, after the judge's docket was completed, Roosevelt went home with him for dinner. Prosecutor Torrance was quoted as saying Roosevelt "was a very good sport about it." This may shed some light on whatever else it was that FDR Jr.'s lawyer had requested from Torrance, which Mrs. Roosevelt refers to in her second letter.

"I wrote you originally entirely under a misapprehension. I supposed that Mr. Hoey had simply asked that the date for Franklin, Jr.'s appearance be made a little later on account of his return. I did not realize that he had asked for anything else.

"Both the President and I would be very much opposed to having anything out of the ordinary done for Franklin Jr. We were extremely annoyed when his grandmother gave him a larger car which has resulted in these numerous violations, and we spent an hour arguing with him about his behavior and told him that his car must be laid up for the winter. This was before he left Washington and had the last accident, but--Thank Heaves--nothing serious happened. He has been obliged to turn his car in as a result.

"I agree with you that Franklin Jr. has not intended to do anything wrong and that it is hard for all of our boys on account of their father being President. The others have been less in the public eye than Franklin and I am glad that you did nothing less than you did and would have been glad if the Judge had fined him even more heavily and been more sever with him. We never expect our children to receive any special consideration and think it is very bad for them when they do. I would certainly not have asked, or have written at all had I realized what Mr. Hoey's firm had done."