The RMS Titanic at 100
One hundred years ago, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sank on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic.Considered a marvel of sumptuous luxury and Progressive Era industrial engineering, the ship charged confidently through icy waters at high speeds, struck an iceberg off the coast of Newfoundland, then went down in under three hours.
More than 1,500 people died, including very wealthy Americans and many poorer European emigrants. 710 survivors of the wreck were rescued from life boats and carried to New York by the British ship, RMS Carpathia. The Roosevelt and Delano families knew several of the first class passengers who died.
In honor of the Titanic‘s 100th anniversary, we look back at how FDR’s family reacted to the infamous disaster.
Photographs of the Edwardian-era Roosevelts
Daybook and Personal Letters
Sara Delano Roosevelt’s 1912 Daybook (left): “Heard of the Titanic’s collision with an iceberg”
FDR to Sara Delano Roosevelt, April 17th, 1912: “We know practically no details, only scraps here and there.”
Sara Delano Roosevelt to FDR, April 24th, 1912: “…oh! the tragedies in steerage as well.”
Eleanor Roosevelt to FDR, April 17-24, 1912: “I don’t think I will ever let you go away alone again.”
Yes, it is true that FDR was born in the Victorian era, grew to adulthood in the Edwardian era, and then led this nation OUT of the misery of the Great Depression and into the modern Roosevelt era of great human decency.