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President Franklin D. Roosevelt to Winston Churchill, January 20, 1941
President Roosevelt wrote this letter to Churchill in January 1941, quoting from the Longfellow poem "The Building of the Ship." It was then hand-delivered to the British Prime Minister by Wendell Wilkie, Roosevelt's Republican opponent in the 1940 Presidential election. Churchill, desperate for U.S. support, found the letter "an inspiration" and told Roosevelt that he would have it framed. The letter hung for a long time at Chartwell, Churchill's home, hence it has faded from the original green of White House stationery to brown.
Object Details:
Facsimile. Churchill Additional Papers, Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, U.K. (112)
Related Theme:
American Presidents
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Transcript:
January 20, 1941
Dear Churchill
Wendell Wilkie will give you this--He is truly helping to keep politics out over here.
I think this verse applies to you people as it does to us:
"Sail on, Oh Ship of State!
Sail on, Oh Union strong and great.
Humanity with all its fears
With all the hope of future years
Is hanging breathless on thy fate."
As ever yours
Franklin D. Roosevelt |
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