Merry Christmas, President Roosevelt: Seasons Greetings from Everyday Americans

*Detail from hand drawn Christmas card to the Roosevelts from Louis Simon, supervising Library architect, and his staff, December 1939.*

As illustrated in the previous post about holiday greetings from our armed forces during World War II, everyday Americans, and well-wishers from abroad, along with Roosevelt associates and notables, also sent Christmas cards and letters to the President. These reflected the current political and economic climate as well as the President’s particular interests, hobbies, and international outlook.

Above: This 1933 card uses a quote by Herbert Hoover during a 1932 campaign address warning of the damage FDR would wreak on the economy if elected. The quote itself was drawn from the “Cross of Gold” speech by William Jennings Bryan.

Seasons greetings came in many forms and formats, some of which are presented here. They need greater exploration, for they are windows into the viewpoints and attitudes of the public at large and the creativity and ingenuity of people from many walks of life. They are fun and serious and definitely worth a look. They remind us that there is still much to discover at the FDR Library.

Above top: This Christmas card includes a calendar to mark the days until the repeal of Prohibition, which would come early in FDR’s first Administration. Above bottom: Swells await cocktails, shaken, not stirred, by Santa himself to celebrate Christmas, a wet one, not dry. *Both December 1933.*

Above: Joseph Reichl, manager of the Netherland Plaza Hotel, only recently opened in Carew Tower, Cincinnati’s tallest building for decades, sent Christmas greetings to FDR with a striking art deco image of the building on the card’s cover. His signature is equally stylized and dramatic. December 1933.

*Above: Colonel Masachika Hirata from the Empire of Japan sent this December 1933 Christmas card featuring a hand-painted scene on handmade paper.*

*Above: This handmade card is composed of shadow portraits of both FDR and ER with the holiday message tied to a hopeful economic chart in Christmas colors, December 1933.*

*Above: This unusual card for its time came from a tattoo artist whose back was emblazoned with presidential portraits and patriotic scenes, December 1933.*

*Above: A simple, unsigned and homemade card offered a bipartisan message–“From all the Republicans in N. Dak. and the Democrats, too!”* *December 1933.*

The examples below evidence the creativity and ingenuity of Americans in crafting holiday cards. Christmas greetings sent to FDR by H. T. Dye of Akron, Ohio, took the form of a carved wood panel, pasted with a stamp and sent to Washington. Other than a small loss of wood along the bottom edge, the card made it to the White House, postmarked, too.

*Above: Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Sand of Loomis, Nebraska, crafted their Christmas card out of corn husks, December 1937.* *They even included a husk with artwork depicting the star of Bethlehem.*

*Above: This Christmas card was hand carved out of Venezuelan softwood by a Venezuelan living in Puerto Rico, December 1938.*

*Above and below: These envelopes held progressively larger foldouts wishing the best for 1940 with the largest almost 3’X5′*, *December 1939.*

*Above: The last in the series of fold out Christmas messages was certainly a novelty the Alkire family must have enjoyed sending to FDR, December 1939.*

*Above: Two novelty cards highlighted the New Deal, one of which appears to be a bridge tally sheet and another a Christmas tree fashioned out of “alphabet soup” agencies*, *December 1933 and December 1937.*

Above and below: Pardon the language, but Frank A. Miller was making a point about his taxes. He also wished the President a “successful” term while noting “and this is from a Republican.” December 1944.

*Above left and right: To FDR, the fisherman, came a rhyme about the WPA along with a fishing lure, December 1939.*

Above left: From one stamp collector to another came a card from Thomas Nance. Above right and above: A Hoboken, New Jersey, resident sent FDR a map of the United States made of Presidential stamps, n.d.

Above left and right: And to let everyone know that the White House filing of Christmas cards made no distinction of class or rank, tucked in among these many expressions of Christmas cheer from people from all walks of life is the above limited edition card by French artist Edouard Halouze sent from the Bahamas by a woman perhaps more controversial than Eleanor Roosevelt in the late 1930s–the Duchess of Windsor. For her, the former Wallis Simpson of Baltimore, did King Edward VIII abdicate the British throne. During the war, his brother King George VI named him governor of Bahamas.

Selections from our collection not focused on Christmas are featured in our current special exhibit, “Signature Moments: Letters from the Famous, the Infamous, and Everyday Americans.” It highlights the dizzying array of people who engaged with the President and Mrs. Roosevelt during their long careers in public life. They aren’t in holiday mode like these, but fascinating and revealing nonetheless.

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