Hand-WrittenDraft Of President Roosevelt's 1939 Last Will & Testament
In 1939, as Nazi troops were invading Poland, Franklin D. Roosevelt became concerned about the safety and welfare of his family in the event the war came to the United States. The President drafted these eight pages as a prelude to his Last Will & Testament which would not be promulgated until 1941 after the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor. In these hand-written notes he makes financial provision for his wife, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, and his four children and designates how he wants his properties to be dealt with at New Hyde Park, Campobello, and Warm Springs, GA. The President leaves $ 1,000 per year to his secretary, Marguerite "Missy" LeHand and states that his wife's friends, Nancy Cook and Marian Dickerman, may continue to live at Val-Kill.
Marguerite "Missy" LeHand who received $ 1,000 per year in FDR's Will
Eleanor Roosevelt with Nancy Cook & Marian Dickerman at Valkill
FDR with his sons, Franklin, Jr., Elliot, & John in the pool at Valkill
The Roosevelt FamilyMansion at Hyde Park, NY
The Roosevelt Family at their Summer Residence, Campobello, New Brunswick
FDR with young polio patients at Warm Springs, Georgia
FDR at St. James Church, Hyde Park, where he served as3 Senior Warden
FDR Drafted This Will after the 1939Nazi Invasion of Poland
1941 - Pearl Harbor Attacked By Japan