Elliott Roosevelt | |
|---|---|
 Roosevelt in 1945 | |
| 24thMayor of Miami Beach | |
| In office June 1, 1965 – June 6, 1967 | |
| Preceded by | Melvin Richard |
| Succeeded by | Jay Dermer |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1910-09-23)September 23, 1910 New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Died | October 27, 1990(1990-10-27) (aged 80) Scottsdale, Arizona, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart andliver failure |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Other political affiliations | Progressive Citizens of America(1947) |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5 |
| Parent(s) | Franklin Delano Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt |
| Relatives | Roosevelt family |
| Education | Hun School of Princeton Groton School |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Army Air Forces |
| Years of service | 1940–1945 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Commands | 3rd Reconnaissance Group Northwest African Photographic Reconnaissance Wing 90th Photographic Wing 325th Photographic Wing |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Legion of Merit Distinguished Flying Cross Air Medal (12) |
Elliott Roosevelt (September 23, 1910 – October 27, 1990) was an American aviation official and wartime officer in theUnited States Army Air Forces, reaching the rank ofbrigadier general. He was a son of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt and First LadyEleanor Roosevelt.
As a reconnaissance commander, Roosevelt pioneered new techniques in night photography and meteorological data-gathering, but his claims to a distinguished record on combat missions have been largely discounted. After the war ended, he faced an investigation by theUnited States Congress on charges of corruption, including accusations that he had recommended the purchase of theHughes F-11[a] reconnaissance aircraft ahead of a Lockheed model that was believed to be superior. Ultimately, he was found blameless.
Roosevelt published a book about his attendance at several major Allied war conferences and a controversial exposé of his parents' private life. He also wrote 22 mystery novels. Besides writing, his career embraced broadcasting, ranching, politics and business. He served as the 24thmayor of Miami Beach, Florida, from 1965 to 1967.
Elliott Roosevelt was a son of PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) and First LadyEleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962). He was named after his maternal grandfather,Elliott Roosevelt (1860–1894). His siblings wereAnna (1906–1975),James (1907–1991),Franklin Jr. (1914–1988), andJohn (1916–1981).
An older brother, Franklin, died in 1909 as an infant.
Roosevelt attended theHun School of Princeton[1] and went toGroton School, as did his brothers. He refused to attendHarvard College. Instead, he worked a series of briefly held jobs, beginning with advertising and settling in broadcasting in the 1930s, including a management position in theHearst radio chain.[2]
Roosevelt had always been interested in flight, and in 1933 he briefly served as general manager ofGilpin Airlines of Glendale, California, a small airline owned by Rep.Isabella Greenway (D-AZ), a close friend of the family. Later that year he became aviation editor for theWilliam Randolph Hearst newspapers. After controversial involvement in theAir Mail Scandal and a secret attempt to sell bombers in civilian disguise to theUSSR, he was hired as vice president of the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce (seeAerospace Industries Association), a post he held until 1935. That year, he moved toFort Worth, Texas and became involved in broadcasting and farming.
Roosevelt received a captain's commission in theUnited States Army Air Corps on 23 September 1940, his 30th birthday. His appointment in the middle of the 1940 election campaign caused a furious political row, although GeneralHenry H. Arnold, the Chief of the Air Corps, asserted that there was no pressure or nepotism involved. After brief service atWright Field, Ohio, he took an intelligence course and served with the21st Reconnaissance Squadron at the newU.S. facility inGander, Newfoundland.
In the summer of 1941, Roosevelt searched for and located air base sites inLabrador,Baffin Island, andGreenland and reported on conditions in Iceland and along the rest of the embryonic North Atlantic ferry route. During this time, he coordinated closely with FDR, Prime MinisterWinston Churchill, and General Arnold. Elliott Roosevelt was the first to interest Churchill in American bases in Africa (includingBathurst inthe Gambia), a step for which his father was not yet ready.[citation needed] He served as a procurement specialist, navigator, and intelligence and reconnaissance officer and rose to brigadier general by January 1945. Despite having poor eyesight and being classified 4-F (unfit), he also became a pilot and reportedly flew 89 combat missions by the time of his inactivation from theUnited States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in August 1945.[3]
While Roosevelt operated from Gander in August 1941, FDR detached him and his brother Franklin Jr. to attend the Atlantic Conference (Atlantic Charter) in Argentia between Churchill and FDR, which was nearby. In January 1943, Roosevelt accompanied FDR as amilitary attaché to theCasablanca meeting and the subsequentCairo andTehran Conferences in November–December 1943. At a dinner during the Tehran Conference,Joseph Stalin proposed to round up and shoot some 50,000 German officers and technicians after the war in order to permanently incapacitate Germany.[4] Roosevelt spoke in favor of the proposal[4] which earned him Stalin's cheers and the vocal and lasting hostility of Churchill[5] who said "I would rather be taken out into the garden here and now and be shot myself".[4]
Following a navigator/bombardier course in the fall of 1941 and a brief stint on antisubmarine patrol duty with the 6th Reconnaissance Squadron atMuroc AAB, Roosevelt received a top-secret assignment to carry out clandestine reconnaissance flights over the Sahara Desert, with emphasis onFrench West Africa, with which the United States was not at war. Having been successful with this (Project Rusty), he was given command of the new3d Reconnaissance Group at Colorado Springs. From Gibraltar and then Oran, Algeria, he led this unit inOperation Torch, the invasion of Northwest Africa in early November 1942. Roosevelt (with a pilot) flew the first U.S. reconnaissance missions over the theater in a borrowed RAFde Havilland Mosquito. This led to a long campaign for the U.S. adoption of this British aircraft, as Roosevelt held the American counterparts (modifiedBoeing B-17Cs and earlyLockheed P-38s) to be inadequate and unlikely to survive in contested airspace.
FromMaison Blanche, Algeria, and after the fall of Tunis, La Marsa near ancientCarthage, Roosevelt pioneered new tactics, including night aerial photography and obtained before and after imagery of Rome during that city'sfirst heavy bombing on 19 July 1943.
After his detachment to investigate reconnaissance issues in the United States (see the Hughes scandal section below), Roosevelt received command of the8th Air Force's reconnaissance wing in England: the 8th Provisional RW, later renamed the325th Reconnaissance Wing. During this period, Roosevelt worked on theshuttle-bombing project with the USSR, and participated in the May 1944 mission to the USSR which inspected the new American bases atPoltava,Mirgorod, andPiryatin. His units also supported theD-Day invasion ofNormandy and the bombing campaign against V-weapon sites.
Following threats of resignation and pressure from "very high topside," in January 1945 General Arnold ordered GeneralCarl Spaatz in England to appoint Roosevelt a rated pilot, and the president submitted his son's name to the Senate for promotion to brigadier general. By standard rules, Roosevelt was eligible for the rank, but not for the pilot's wings. Roosevelt continued in that rank in Europe until his father's death on April 12, 1945. AfterVE-Day, the Air Forces could no longer find a "suitable vacancy" for him, and he was on leave and had staff duties in the United States. By coincidence, his last day of service wasVJ-Day.
Roosevelt commanded the following units:
Roosevelt stated that he flew 89 combat missions and 470 combat hours prior to being called back for his father's funeral in April 1945 (he did not return to active theaters). His decorations included theDistinguished Flying Cross.[10] He also received theOrder of the British Empire, theCroix de Guerre andLegion d'Honneur, the MoroccanOrder of Ouissam Alaouite, and the U.S.Legion of Merit. He ended the war holding theAir Medal with reportedly eleven clusters.[11] As a chase pilot for theOperation Aphrodite flights in 1944, Roosevelt said he witnessed the death ofJoseph P. Kennedy Jr. over Blythburgh, England (there is no evidence in Aphrodite files that Roosevelt participated in this project, nor did he fly as chase pilot and witness the death of Joseph P. Kennedy).[12][13]
After the war, Roosevelt no longer played a significant role in aviation, although he maintained a private pilot's license and owned a small aircraft. He briefly served as the president of short-lived Empire Airlines of New York (1946), citing his influence with theCivil Aeronautics Board (CAB), which, however, did not result in route awards. Reported attempts to assistHoward Hughes'sTWA in obtaining air routes to the USSR also did not succeed.
In August 1943, Colonel Roosevelt was asked by the Chief of the Army Air Forces, GeneralHenry H. Arnold, to investigate several reconnaissance aircraft under development to select a successor to theLockheed P-38 Lightning (F-4 and F-5 in the recon version), but the reason for Arnold's choice of Roosevelt was not made public.[14] Roosevelt assembled a group of five air officers, including veteranRAF reconnaissance pilot Wing Commander D.W. Steventon. Upon their arrival in Los Angeles, Roosevelt and his group were met by eight limousines arranged by John W. Meyer, a publicist and former nightclub owner who was employed byHughes Aircraft Company. On his first day in town, Roosevelt was taken by Meyer to the Hollywood film studio ofWarner Bros. and introduced toFaye Emerson, an actress with whom Roosevelt was linked romantically (the two would eventually marry).[15] Over the next three days, Roosevelt and his group were seen with Meyer in Hollywood nightclubs and at parties in luxurious mansions in the company of aspiring actresses paid $100–400 per night by Meyer (equivalent to $1817–$7268 in 2024).[16]
On August 11,Howard Hughes showed the group his Culver City aircraft factory, then personally flew them to see the private-ventureHughes D-2, an experimental twin-engine wooden aircraft then being test-flown at a Hughes facility at Harper Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert.[15] The aircraft had already been turned down ten months earlier by Chief of Army Air Forces Material DivisionOliver P. Echols, for being inadequate for military service; it was considered unlikely to become successful for numerous reasons, wooden construction and Hughes's limited facilities among them.[17][b] Roosevelt and his committee, however, fervently recommended the D-2. When Roosevelt returned to the East Coast of the United States, Meyer hosted another round of parties and nightclub outings in Manhattan and arranged for Faye Emerson to accompany Roosevelt. Among many favors, Meyer gave Emerson $132 (equivalent to $2,399 in 2024) worth of nylon stockings, a rare treat during wartime rationing.[15]
On August 20, Roosevelt sent a report to General Arnold recommending immediate purchase of the D-2. On September 1, Arnold ordered Echols to contract with Hughes for an all-metal reconnaissance aircraft "against my better judgment and the advice of my staff."[19] During these two weeks, Arnold, Elliott Roosevelt, and FDR conferred frequently at the White House, and it is documented that Elliott Roosevelt complained to his father about Arnold's reluctance to order the aircraft.[20]
Major General Charles E. Bradshaw wrote to Arnold to suggest that the LockheedLockheed XP-58 Chain Lightning was much farther along in development and could outperform the D-2 in every important aspect, but was unsuccessful in halting the Hughes contract.[19] Implicating Roosevelt andUnited States Secretary of CommerceJesse H. Jones,[21] Assistant Secretary of WarRobert A. Lovett noted to Major General Bennett E. Meyers that "Hughes has got powerful friends here in Washington" and that, if the background of the contract were uncovered, "there's going to be an awful smell." Nonetheless, Hughes was given $43 million (equivalent to $781.36 million in 2024) to build 100 all-metal aircraft to be designated theHughes F-11.[19][22][a] The program was substantially delayed by logistical and managerial problems along with disputes instigated by Howard Hughes oversunk costs from the D-2 and the extensive design changes demanded by the USAAF, notably the elimination of wood; the war ended before an XF-11 prototype was completed, the production contract was canceled, and Hughes was nearly killed in thecrash of the first prototype during itsmaiden flight on 5 April 1946. A second XF-11 prototype was only flight-tested for a short time before being converted into a stationary maintenance trainer and scrapped.[22]
In 1947, Roosevelt telephoned Hughes to warn him that a United States Senate subcommittee (the "Brewster Committee", formerly the "Truman Committee") intended to call them both to account for financial irregularities regarding the XF-11 as well as for Hughes'H-4 Hercules, popularly known as the "Spruce Goose". As part of the ongoing "Investigation of the National Defense Program", on August 4, 1947, the subcommittee called Roosevelt and Meyer to testify about the Hollywood and Manhattan parties and women that Meyer had arranged and paid for. Meyer's extensive financial records during such parties showed him paying $200 for "presents for four girls" and $50 for "girls at the hotel (late)".[14] At one point, Roosevelt asked Meyer: "Any of those girls who were paid, were they procured for my entertainment?" Meyer responded: "I don't like the word 'procured,' because a girl who attends a party and is given a present is not necessarily 'procured'."[23] The committee found that Meyer had spent at least $1,000 in picking up Roosevelt's hotel bills as well as his nightclub and party checks,[24] and Faye Emerson's bets atAgua Caliente Racetrack,[25] and that Meyer had arranged for weekends in Palm Springs, California and Washington, D.C. for Roosevelt and Emerson, who eventually married in December 1944[14] after Roosevelt divorced his second wife in March 1944. The wedding at the Grand Canyon was also paid for by Meyer.
All told, Meyer reported to the committee that he had spent $5,083.79 ($90,807 in 2024 dollars) on entertainment for Roosevelt. In his own defense, Roosevelt testified that he never heard of the XF-11 until General Arnold let him know about it, and that several of the parties appeared to have taken place on days when he was out of the country on active duty. Roosevelt said: "If it is true that for the price of entertainment I made recommendations which would have in any way endangered the lives of the men under me...that fact should be made known to the public."[14]
Roosevelt was active in theDemocratic Party as early as 1932, when he attended theDemocratic National Convention that nominated his father for President.[26] He was later elected a delegate to the1936[27] and1940 DNCs representingTexas,[28] and at the latter convention attempted to secure the nomination of fellow TexanJesse H. Jones for Vice President.[29]
After his father's death, Roosevelt began to drift away from the Democratic Party. In1946, he endorsedAmerican LaboriteEugene P. Connolly over Democrat Daniel Flynn forCongress inNew York's 21st district.[30] In 1947, he gave a speech at a sold-out "Crisis Meeting" hosted by theProgressive Citizens of America atMadison Square Garden in which he attacked theTruman Doctrine for threatening world peace. He further criticizedTruman's domestic policies as leading the nation toward anotherdepression, and encouraged PCA members to storm the1948 DNC and nominate former Vice PresidentHenry A. Wallace for President.[31]
In March 1948 however, Roosevelt abruptly changed course and joined theDraft Eisenhower movement alongside his brother Franklin, denouncing Wallace's proposed third party. JournalistCurtis D. MacDougall posits this sudden shift in opinion was likely the result of "economic pressure" from his mother.[31]
After FDR's death in 1945, Roosevelt and his family moved toTop Cottage to be near his mother, who considered him her favorite child.[2] She gave him financial assistance throughout her life. In 1947, Eleanor bought from the FDR estate Val-Kill farms, the home she lived in after FDR's death, and deeded the property to Elliott Roosevelt. After he moved to Miami Beach and Havana with his fourth wife in 1952, his brother John bought the Hyde Park tract. Later, the property became theEleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site.
Roosevelt pursued many different careers during his life, including owning a pre-war radio station network (Texas State Network) in Texas and living as a rancher. He again moved to Florida and was elected mayor ofMiami Beach in 1965, then was unseated two years later.[2] After a business career marked by ties to thenational crime syndicate, he was investigated by theU.S. SenatePermanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) under SenatorHenry M. Jackson in 1973.
During the PSI hearings on corruption, Roosevelt was accused of involvement in a 1968 plot to assassinateBahamian prime ministerLynden Pindling as revenge for Pindling's refusal to grant a gambling license to a criminal associate of Roosevelt and mob bossMeyer Lansky. Roosevelt and "alleged mobster front man"Michael McLaney (another known associate of Lansky) offered FloridaMafia figure and purportedhitman Louis Mastriana[32] the sum ofUS$100,000 (equivalent to $904,000 in 2024) to assassinate Pindling.
Roosevelt gave Mastriana a signed check forUS$10,000 (equivalent to $90,000 in 2024) as a down payment on the hit. Mastriana taped all of his conversation with Roosevelt, allegedly using equipment from the U.S. Postal Service. Roosevelt maintained that he was innocent and that Mastriana was lying.[33][34][35]
Roosevelt emigrated to Portugal in 1972, but left for England after the PortugueseCarnation Revolution in 1974. He moved back to the United States, living in Bellevue, Washington; Indian Wells, California; and Scottsdale, Arizona.[36] As Roosevelt approached his eightieth year, his final ambition was to "outlive James." However, Roosevelt died at age 80 of heart and liver failure.[10] Brother James died 10 months later in August 1991.
Elliott authored numerous books, including a mystery series in which his mother,Eleanor Roosevelt, is the detective, asMurder and the First Lady (1984). Roosevelt described his experiences with his father during five important war conferences in his best-selling bookAs He Saw It. He also editedFDR: His Personal Letters, published after the war in four volumes. With James Brough, Roosevelt wrote a highly personal book about his parents calledThe Roosevelts of Hyde Park: An Untold Story, in which he revealed details about the sexual lives of his parents, including his father's relationships with mistressLucy Mercer and secretaryMarguerite ("Missy") LeHand[10] as well as graphic details surrounding the1921 paralytic illness that crippled his father. Published in 1973, the biography also contains valuable insights into FDR's run for vice-president, his rise to the governorship of New York, and his capture of the presidency in 1932, particularly with the help ofLouis McHenry Howe. A sequel toAn Untold Story with James Brough, published in 1975 and titledA Rendezvous With Destiny, carried the Roosevelt saga to the end of World War II.Mother R.: Eleanor Roosevelt's Untold Story, also with Brough, was published in 1977;The Conservators, a political book, in 1982.Eleanor Roosevelt, with Love: A Centenary Remembrance, came out in 1984.
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Roosevelt was married five times:
Roosevelt's military decorations and awards include:
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved on June 12, 2009.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 — A convicted dealer in stolen securities told a Senate committee today that he was hired in 1968 by Elliott Roosevelt, a son of the late President and a former Mayor of Miami Beach, Fla. to assassinate Lynden O. Pindling, the Governor of the Bahamas.
