Original Item. Only One Available. This is a great example of the letter President FDR sent to the troops of the U.S. Armed forces on November 11th, 1942. It has become heavily sought after and is often displayed alongside the letters sent by Eisenhower before and after D-Day.

The letter itself is a letter of encouragement and praise to ‘the United States Army Expeditionary Forces.’ The encouragement is apparent throughout the letter. Interestingly, Roosevelt actually makes the decision to separate himself from the soldiers, drawing a very clear line between the ‘you’ of the soldiers, and the ‘we’ of those ‘who stay[ed] at home.’ There are in fact 13 occurrences of ‘you’ or ‘your,’ as opposed to the single occurrence of ‘we,’ suggesting that he is putting the focus entirely on the soldiers and almost minimises the role of himself as the president. His position as president is, in fact, not mentioned until the very last word of the letter. In a sentence that is entirely focused on the soldiers, who ‘bear with [them ...] hope, […] confidence, […] gratitude and […] prayers,’ of their families and citizens, Roosevelt chooses the last word, almost as an extension of his own signature, ‘your president.’ He is including himself in the dept owed to the soldiers but only makes mention of himself as their president in the two last paragraphs. The soldiers are responsible for ‘the freedom of the lives of those you love - your fellow-citizens – your people.’ These people are a ‘god-fearing, proud, courageous,’ people, putting their ‘freedom under God before all other purposes.’ In the second to last paragraph, importantly, he acknowledges that he himself, included in the 'we,’ owes his 'duties […] in many ways to [the soldiers].’ This suggests that he shares the respect and gratitude of the soldiers’ loved ones.

This is a great example, with just basic folding marks. The first example of this scare letter we have offered, ready for further research and display.