When it comes to the First Family, it’s not uncommon for the sitting president to give their grown children cushy jobs in the White House, yet James Roosevelt – the son of President FDR – was arguably the most important of them all.
Serving as the official Secretary to the President from July 1937 to November 1938, James went on to become a decorated Marine Corps officer during WWII, successful businessman, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, congressman and UNESCO delegate.
Early Life
James Roosevelt II was born in New York City on December 23 1907 as the second of six children born to lawyer (and the future 32nd President of the United States) Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and his wife, Eleanor.
Born into the wealthy Hyde Park Roosevelts, whose relatives included then-President Teddy Roosevelt and dozens of wealthy businessmen, James was named in honor of his paternal grandfather and split his time between the family’s townhouse at 123 East 36th Street and Springwood homes.
The eldest son and heir to a huge fortune, James Roosevelt was given the best education money could buy at the time, attending the prestigious Potomac School in Virginia from first to third grade and later the St. Albans School in Washington, DC from fourth to seventh grade.
From eighth to twelfth grades, James attended the equally prestigious Groton School, where he excelled academically and in sports like football and rowing and was a prefect in his senior year.
After graduating Groton in 1926, James headed to where most of the school’s alumni went: Harvard.
Joining various Harvard rowing teams, James continued the family tradition of joining the Signet Society, Hasty Pudding Club, Fly Club and the Institute for the 1770, as his father and maternal granduncle had done before him.
His fifth cousin once removed, former President Teddy Roosevelt, had also been a member of the Signet Society and Hasty Pudding club too.
Intending to follow in his father’s footsteps of becoming a lawyer, James enrolled in the Boston University School of Law in 1930 and took a job as an insurance broker at Boston-based insurance broker, Victor De Gerard.
A Start in Politics
The son of a wealthy and politically connected family, James Roosevelt had been surrounded by politics his entire life.
James was barely four years old when his father took his first political post, representing New York’s 26th Senatorial District, meaning a young James was constantly around New York State senators who had come to see his father.
In March 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed FDR the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, where he’d serve during both Wilson presidencies. However, his father didn’t do Wilson’s entire second term, resigning in August 1920 to run for vice-president alongside Ohio Governor James M. Cox.
Though he was only 12 at the time, a young James was often seen on the campaign trail with his father, with FDR hoping to stoke his image as a “family man” in the process. Sadly, the Cox-Roosevelt ticket failed to gather support outside of the South, and the Harding-Coolidge ticket ultimately won in a landslide.
After the election defeat, FDR retired from public service due to his paralysis and took a job with the Fidelity and Deposit Company. It wouldn’t be until 1924, when Franklin and James Roosevelt would gain national attention once again.
That year, the Democrats were looking to nominate a presidential candidate, and FDR, as a former vice-president candidate, delivered a speech nominating New York Governor Al Smith for it. For his part, James helped his father write the speech and served as his “page and prop”, though Al Smith was ultimately passed over in favor of John W. Davis and Charles W. Bryan.
Four years later, James was still a major supporter of Al Smith and led a campaign for Al Smith with a group of his fellow Harvard classmates. Though Al Smith won the nomination this time, anti-Catholic sentiment, opposition from the media and poor policies prevented the Irish-Catholic Al Smith from gaining the White House.
Despite having campaigned twice in vain, when his father ran for Democratic nomination in 1932, against Al Smith, James was eager to join his father’s campaign.
Heading his father’s Massachusetts campaign (a state with a large Democratic base), James was vital in gaining the support of several local Democrats – including the Kennedy family and Boston Mayor James Michael Curley – and delivered over 200 speeches in support of his father.
Once again, James was unsuccessful in getting Massachusetts to pledge themselves for his father, though FDR ultimately won the primary.
With his father’s success in the primaries, James was now the son of the Democratic hopeful and worked diligently to get his father elected. He continued to give speeches about how with his father in the White House, he would help reverse the devastating effects of the Great Depression, that he claimed Hoover had allowed to get out of hand.
And this message was reflected across the rest of FDR’s campaign, seeming to resonate with voters, who elected FDR in a landslide…
First Son
Business Career
Whilst campaigning for his father in Massachusetts, James met businessman Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., a self-made billionaire with lofty political aspirations for his four sons, hoping to make one of them the first Irish Catholic President of the United States.
Impressed with the young man and his father, Kennedy through his support behind
Hollywood
Early Military Career
Not long after his father was re-elected in 1936, James received a direct commission as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Marine Corps, despite the fact James Roosevelt had no military experience to speak of.
Obviously, it didn’t take long for the press and opponents of his father to pick up on this, claiming that James had been given such a rank to please the president, or that the president had put pressure on the military to give his son a rank he hadn’t earned.
To make matters worse, his first official act as a member of the Marine Corps was to attend the Inter-American Conference (a trade conference between the US and various Latin American countries) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Attending as his father’s military aide, James spent most of his time advising his father how certain policies may impact national defense – despite there being more qualified men to advise the president.
For the next three years, James was officially a Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps, despite not really being a part of the Corps as other Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonels would be.
Three years later, on September 1 1939, Britain and France declared war on Nazi Germany. A month later, James resigned his commission in the Marine Corps and took a commission as a Captain in the Marine Corps Reserve.
Despite being a valuable prisoner if taken alive and having the flat feet postural deformity which prevented him from wearing standard issue boots, instead having to wear sneakers, Captain James Roosevelt was allowed to serve in active duty from November 1940 onwards.
Five months later, in April 1941, James was sent on a top-secret, around-the-world diplomatic mission to assure various world leaders that it wouldn’t be long until the US entered the war, and the Nazis and the Japanese were on their knees.
Among the world leaders James met were: King Farouk of Egypt, Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek and King George of Greece. He also traveled to Britain, where he met Lord Mountbatten, a high-ranking naval officer and member of the British royal family.
Whilst on his trip, the Germans unknowingly shot at his transport aircraft on two occasions, the first in Iraq on their way to meet with King Farouk, and the second time in Crete, on their way to meet King George.
Both times, James managed to escape unharmed.
WWII
And the US didn’t have to wait long to deliver on James’ promise. On December 7 1941, the Japanese Imperial Navy launched a surprise attack on the US Pacific Fleet at Hawaii, which killed over 2,000 American servicemen.
With this, the US had its pretext for war against Japan.
The following day, on December 8 1941, James sat next to his father as he delivered his now-famous “Day of Infamy” Speech. An hour after the speech was delivered, Congress declared war on Japan.
