Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. (August 17, 1914 – August 17, 1988) was an American lawyer, politician, and businessman. He served as a United States congressman from New York from 1949 to 1955 and in 1963 was appointed United States Under Secretary of Commerce by President John F. Kennedy. Roosevelt was appointed as the first chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1965 to 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Roosevelt also ran for governor of New York twice. Just after World War II, he served on Harry S. Truman's President's Committee on Civil Rights. Roosevelt was a son of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and served as an officer in the United States Navy during World War II.

Education Roosevelt graduated from Groton School in 1933, Harvard College in 1937 (Bachelor of Arts), and the University of Virginia School of Law (Bachelor of Laws) in June 1940.

U.S. Navy service World War II General C. R. Smith, Elliott Roosevelt and FDR Jr. at the Casablanca Conference, 1943 Roosevelt was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy Reserve on June 11, 1940. He was a junior naval officer in World War II and was decorated for bravery in the Naval Battle of Casablanca.

At the request of his father, along with brother Elliott Roosevelt, he attended both the Argentia (Atlantic Charter) summit with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in August 1941, and the Casablanca Conference in January 1943. Franklin also met FDR in Africa prior to the Tehran Conference. Returning from Argentia, he sailed with Churchill and stood with him at parades in newly American-occupied Reykjavik, Iceland to symbolize American solidarity with the United Kingdom.

Brother James Roosevelt summarized "Brud's" naval service: "Franklin served on a destroyer that dodged torpedoes from Iceland to Minsk [sic!][He, obviously, meant Murmansk]. He became executive officer of the destroyer , which was bombed at Palermo in the Sicilian invasion. The famed war correspondent Quentin Reynolds went out of his way to write mother how bravely Franklin performed in that bloody ordeal, in which he was awarded the Silver Star Medal for exposing himself under fire to carry a critically wounded sailor to safety."

Later, as a lieutenant commander, to which he was promoted to on March 1, 1944, Franklin became the commanding officer of the destroyer escort on July 18, 1944. Ulvert M. Moore served in the Pacific and shot down two Japanese aircraft and sank the Imperial Japanese Navy submarine . The Moore was in Tokyo Bay when Japan formally surrendered on September 2, 1945. James Roosevelt remembered that his brother was known as "Big Moose" to the men who served under him, he did "a tremendous job".

Military awards Roosevelt's military decorations and awards include:

Silver Star

Career Law practice Roosevelt served in several New York law offices after the war. He was senior partner in the New York law firm of Roosevelt and Frieden, later known as Poletti, Diamond, Freidin & Mackay, ) He triggered controversy for representing Dominican dictator Rafael Trujillo in the U.S., and dropped the account before Trujillo's assassination in 1961.

Politics Roosevelt was also involved in political affairs. He served on the President's Committee on Civil Rights in 1946 for President Harry Truman. Along with his brothers, he declared for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1948, as part of the draft Eisenhower movement.

Roosevelt Jr. joined the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution in 1946.

U.S. House of Representatives

Roosevelt Jr. was elected as a member of the United States House of Representatives in a special election in 1949, in which he ran as a candidate of the Liberal Party of New York. He was re-elected in 1950 and 1952 as a Democrat. He represented the 20th congressional district of New York from May 17, 1949, until January 3, 1955,

Seeking the governorship of New York Roosevelt sought the Democratic nomination for governor in 1954, but, after persuasion by powerful Tammany Hall boss Carmine DeSapio, abandoned his bid for Governor and was nominated by the Democratic State Convention to run for New York State Attorney General.

Kennedy later named Roosevelt Under Secretary of Commerce and chairman of the President's Appalachian Regional Commission. The Commerce post was given to him when Defense Secretary Robert McNamara vetoed his appointment as Secretary of the Navy. "JFK and Franklin were friends and their families were close. Socially, Franklin spent a lot of time in the White House during JFK's presidency. But when Kennedy was killed, Franklin fell from power."

Roosevelt served as chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from May 26, 1965 to May 11, 1966, during the administration of Kennedy's successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson. He also ran a small cattle farm and had an interest in Thoroughbred racehorses. In 1983, Roosevelt bred the colt Brothers N Law. A winner at age two, the New York-bred ran second in the 1986 Empire Stakes hosted that year by the Saratoga Race Course.

Personal life and death

Roosevelt married Ethel du Pont on June 30, 1937, in Wilmington, Delaware. They had two children: Franklin D. Roosevelt III (born July 19, 1938) and Christopher du Pont Roosevelt (born December 21, 1941). du Pont arrived in Reno, Nevada, on April 8, 1949, using the pseudonym Ethel Pyle in order to seek a divorce as Nevada law allowed for divorces after six weeks of residency. Roosevelt Jr. was the third of his father's children to get a divorce after Elliott and Anna. Their divorce was granted on May 21, 1949. They had two daughters before their divorce in 1970, which was obtained in Juárez, Mexico: and Laura Delano Roosevelt (born October 26, 1959). She had been previously married to Robert W. Sarnoff, chairman and president of the RCA Corporation. Her grandfather was gold mining tycoon Sir Harry Oakes.

On March 3, 1984, Roosevelt married his fifth and final wife, Linda McKay "Tobie" Stevenson Weicker. She was previously married to Theodore M. Weicker, the brother of Connecticut Governor Lowell P. Weicker Jr. They remained married until his death. after suffering from lung cancer.