PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT - MEMORANDUM SIGNED 10/03/1917 - HFSID 4957

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
He signs a lengthy, war-dated, typed memorandum as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, making recommendations in the case of an honorably discharged sailor who has just been drafted into the army.
Important Lengthy Typed Memorandum signed: "Franklin D. Roosevelt" as Acting Secretary of the Navy, 2 ½ pages, 8x10½, separate sheets. Navy Department, Washington, 1917 October 3. Headed: "From: The Secretary of the Navy./To: The Secretary of War." The United States had entered World War I six months earlier. In part: "Subject: Status with regard to registration and draft under the Selective Service Law approved 18 May, 1917 of persons who were in the Naval service on registration day (5 June, 1917) and who were subsequently honorably discharged while still within the age limits prescribed by said Selective Service Law...Forwarded for decision whether under the provisions of section 5 of the Selective Service Law, Archie P. Glime, Musician first class, upon the facts hereinafter stated, is exempt from registration and draft as therein provided...The inclosed (sic) correspondence discloses that Glime was honorably discharged from the Navy as musician first class, on 15 July 1917, and that on 16 July 1917, he was compelled to register by the City Clerk at Norfolk, Va. under the Selective Service Law and he has since been called and examined by the local board for service in the Army...Section 5 of the Selective Service law provides, in part,--'Sec. 5. That all male persons between the ages of twenty-one and thirty, both inclusive, shall be subject to registration in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the President...' In the President's proclamation of 18 May 1917 it is expressly provided-'that the time and place of such registration shall be between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. on the fifth day of June, 1917...." Roosevelt then quotes from President Woodrow Wilson's Registration Regulations (May 18, 1917) and a telegram from the Provost Marshal General (May 24, 1917) concluding that, in part: "In view of the foregoing it seems clear that by the above Legislation the Congress intended to exempt from the operation of the Selective Service Law all persons who were in the Naval service on the date proclaimed by the President to be the time of registration (5 June 1917) and such intention is carried out in the regulations prescribed by the President...Therefore if Glime has been compelled to register as alleged and been drafted and enlisted into the Army, such enlistment appears to have been procured in violation of the provisions of the Selective Service Law and regulations as above set forth and contrary to the best interests of the Naval service...Inasmuch as Glime is not now in the Naval service this Department does not feel in a position to contend in his behalf with the same force for his exemption from service in the Army as it could if he were in the Naval service, nevertheless in view of his expressed preference for reenlistment in the Naval service and the precedent which will be established by your decision in this case as governing other cases of this nature it is earnestly desired that your decision will result in his being declared exempt from the operations of the Selective Service Law and discharged from the Army if his enlistment therein has been completed...." A GOOD CONTENT WORLD WAR I LETTER IN WHICH 35-YEAR-OLD FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT NOTIFIES SECRETARY OF WAR NEWTON D. BAKER THAT A MISTAKE HAS BEEN MADE AND THAT ARCHIE P. GLIME, MUSICIAN FIRST CLASS, SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DRAFTED INTO THE UNITED STATES ARMY. Staple holes at top of each page, with filing marks at top of first page. Worn and lightly creased, not by signature.