ELEANOR ROOSEVELT
A year before her death, the former First Lady regrets that she cannot send her photograph or her husband's autograph.
Typed Letter Signed: "Eleanor Roosevelt", 1p, 6x7. 55 East 74th Street, New York City, 1961 August 17. To Mrs. Pollock. In full: "Thank you very much for your kind letter. I so wish I could send you a picture but am sorry to say that I have long since stopped giving out any photographs. I regret to add that I cannot send you my husband's signature as all his papers have become Government property and can no longer be disposed of." Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) had married her distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, in 1905 (her uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt, gave her away). She would serve as First Lady for 12 years and 39 days (March 4, 1933 until her husband's death of a cerebral hemorrhage on April 12, 1945), longer than any other woman. Eleanor, who had previously been First Lady of New York when FDR was Governor of the state (1929-1933), later became known as "First Lady of the World" for her humanitarian efforts, including getting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations. Appointed by President Truman, she had been a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations from 1945-1952. On November 7, 1962, 78-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt died at her New York apartment, the address of which is imprinted on this letterhead. She was buried next to her husband in Hyde Park four days later. President Roosevelt's papers are in the FDR Library in Hyde Park, New York. Lightly creased. Fine condition.