PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT - TYPED NOTE SIGNED 01/21/1930 - HFSID 279376

FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT
Typed Memo signed "FDR" as Governor, proposing for the Prison Commission Raymond Moley, a key ally who later became a major opponent. FDR cites as a reference Jane Hoey, later a controversial figure in his new Social Security Administration.
Typed Note signed in pencil: "FDR" as Governor, 1 page, 5½x8½. No place, 1930 January 21. On printed memorandum letterhead to "J.J.M." In full: "Raymond F. [sic] Moley for Prison Commission. See Jane Hoey's letter." Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), formerly a state legislator, Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the Wilson administration, and the Democratic Party's Vice-Presidential nominee in 1920, was elected Governor of New York in 1928 and re-elected in 1930. He was elected President in 1932, going on to become the longest serving President (1933-1945) and the first to be elected a third and then a fourth time. Raymond Charles Moley (1886-1975, whose middle initial FDR gets wrong here), a professor at Barnard College, an expert on the criminal justice system, and a strong supporter of Roosevelt as Governor, was a logical choice for membership on New York's prison commission. Moley also strongly supported Roosevelt's election as President, helping to recruit the academic advisers who became known as FDR's "Brain Trust" and writing much of his First Inaugural Address. Soon disillusioned with the New Deal, Moley, became one of the most powerful journalistic critics of liberalism and the Democratic Party. Jane Hoey (1892-1968), whose resume included the New York City Board of Child Welfare, the American Red Cross, and the New York Crime Commission, spent 10 years on the New York Corrections Commission, helping to write parole laws still in effect. When the Social Security Administration was created in 1936, Roosevelt appointed Joey head of its Bureau of Public Assistance, a post she held for 17 years. When President Eisenhower sought to remove her to make way for a Republican appointee in 1953, the combative Hoey refused to resign and accept transfer to another position long enough to qualify for federal pension benefits. Instead, the incoming administration was forced to fire her, thus nullifying her pension benefits. Pencil notes (unknown hand) at right. Fold crease, not near signature. Fine condition.