Franklin Delano Roosevelt A Man of the Century

on his interest in African exploration, his extensive knowledge of public affairs, and his
voluntary work as Secretary of the Memorial Cancer Hospital. Mr. Merriman was
elected a member in 1931. On April 5, 1929, supporting the candidacy that had been
seconded by Colonel Edward House, Woodrow Wilson’s confidant, of Judge Robert
Worth Bingham of Louisville, Kentucky, FDR wrote that the Judge was an old friend of
his and “I should be very glad to see him elected to the Century Association.” After his
election to the presidency, Judge Bingham was FDR’s choice to be Ambassador to the
Court of St. James and, of course, his newspapers and the Bingham family became
synonymous with great journalism. Poultney Bigelow wrote the newly elected Governor
asking him to support the nomination of Dr. F.F. Day, the newly appointed president of
Union College, citing the fact that FDR’s father had graduated from Union College in
1847 as a reason that might cause him to show sentimental interest. As a postscript to a
second letter to the Governor asking if he had written, Mr. Bigelow passed on some
gossip which must have indicated that FDR had an interest in the subject to the effect that
Prince Louis Ferdinand, the grandson of the Kaiser, was working for Henry Ford and that
he was not engaged to anyone – “least of all to a movie star” and that the Prince’s
grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm II, had cabled Mr. Bigelow to like effect. Other letters of
support were written by Governor Roosevelt for Francis B. Riggs, who had been
proposed by Dr. Endicott Peabody who reminded FDR that Mr. Riggs was a graduate of
Groton. He supported Maunsell Crosby, an amateur ornithologist who was a Dutchess
County neighbor. In June 1932 he wrote on behalf of Professor Robert M. Hague of
Barnard College. Mr. Copley Amory, Jr. to whom FDR referred to as his cousin was also
the beneficiary of a supporting letter that year from the Governor.
Franklin Roosevelt was inaugurated for the first of his four terms as President on
March 4, 1933. Whether it was the careful filing system of his devoted secretaries, Missy
LeHand and Grace Tully, or his own predilection as a collector to save what others might
find valueless, there are a considerable number of notices from the Century Association
that are part of the records kept at the Presidential Library at Hyde Park. A fascinating
profile of our cherished Century Club emerges from these documents. For example, in a
notice of the monthly meeting for November 1, 1934, it is reported that 142 breakfasts
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