FDR - Jean Edward Smith [445]
15. FDR to Harry F. Byrd, March 2, 1931, ibid.
16. FDR to Al Smith, February 28, 1931. 3 The Roosevelt Letters 67, Elliott Roosevelt, ed. (London: George G. Harrap, 1952) (FDR’s emphasis).
17. The New York Times, March 3, 1931.
18. Ibid.
19. FDR to Norman E. Mack, March 9, 1931. Mack was New York’s national committeeman and had accompanied Farley to the meeting. FDRL. Also see Farley, Behind the Ballots 73–76.
20. Cordell Hull, 1 The Memoirs of Cordell Hull 143–145 (New York: Macmillan, 1948).
21. Farley, Behind the Ballots 73.
22. Other early contributors included William A. Julian of Ohio, Laurence Steinhardt, Guy Helvering, Dave Hennen Morris, Eugene Lorton, and E. J. Machette, all of New York. Steinhardt later served as FDR’s ambassador to Peru (1937–39), the Soviet Union (1939–41), Turkey (1941–44), and Czechoslovakia (1944–48). Julian became treasurer of the United States; Helvering, commissioner of internal revenue; Morris, ambassador to Belgium; and Lorton a member of the International Joint Commission.
23. The New York Times, March 30, 1931. Also see Freidel, Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Triumph 205.
24. There were no replies from Oregon, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Straus did not poll New York, ostensibly because he thought it safe for Governor Roosevelt. More likely, he recognized it would spell trouble, given Tammany’s long affection for Smith. See Steve Neal, Happy Days Are Here Again 24 (New York: HarperCollins, 2004).
25. The New York Times, March 30, 31, 1931. The remaining votes were scattered among thirteen favorite sons, of whom ex-senator Reed of Missouri led with 15.
26. Roy V. Peel and Thomas C. Donnelly, The 1932 Campaign: An Analysis 60–61 (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1935).
27. Flynn, You’re the Boss 84.
28. Farley, Behind the Ballots 82.
29. Ibid. 83.
30. Ibid. 85.
31. “I’ve just come back from New England,” Harris added, “and I found there as much enthusiasm for Governor Roosevelt as I have found in the South. There is no question that Governor Roosevelt is the most popular man … in the country.” The New York Times, October 14, 1931.
32. FDR to James J. Hoey, September 11, 1931, 3 Roosevelt Letters 73.
33. Time, April 27, 1931. The comment was made by Mrs. Jesse W. Nicholson, president of the National Women’s Democratic Law Enforcement League.
34. FDR to Hamilton V. Miles, May 4, 1931, FDRL.
35. Looker to FDR, February 23, 1931. Reprinted in Earle Looker, This Man Roosevelt 134–135 (New York: Brewer, Warren & Putnam, 1932).
36. “Being assured of your integrity,” Roosevelt wrote Looker, “I am prepared to permit you to make an investigation of my physical fitness, to give you every facility for thoroughly making it, and authority for you to publish its results without censorship from me.” Ibid. 135.
37. Ibid. 156–157. The technical portion of the report, which was not reprinted in Looker, was first published by John Gunther in Roosevelt in Retrospect 267 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1950). It states:
Heart: regular; rate, 80; no increased cardiac dullness; no murmurs; aortic dullness is not widened. Blood pressure 140/100.
Pulse: Regular 80—after examination by three physicians rate is 84, returning to 80 after 3 minutes. Electrocardiogram—left preponderance. Inverted T3. PR and QRS intervals normal.
Lungs: No dullness, no changes in respiratory murmurs, no extraneous sounds or rales; no abnormalities in voice sounds or fremitus. Chest expansion good.
Abdomen: Liver and spleen, not enlarged, no pain, no masses. Abdominal muscles show slight bulging on left. No hernia. Umbilical excursion upward.
No evidence of columnar degeneration of spinal cord. Both optic nerves normal. A false Babinski reflex is present on both sides (old “polio” symptom). Right knee jerk absent. Left shows responses in upper