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8vo. A long-ish autograph note written written by Roosevelt to his old friend and White House appointments secretary, Marvin H. McIntyre, concerning the dissemination of news about the ongoing London Economic Conference, a meeting of representatives from 66 nations held at that city's Geological Museum between June 12 July 27, 1933: "Mac This is merely to quiet the press and incidentally to tell them the truth! I have of course sent and received London cables as each day for a week but any news must come from London. Tell them as background [underlined] that I have every confidence that the conference will not "bust up" and that our people will work hard to keep it going. FDR" Based on the content, the note was likely sent to McIntyre around July 10th, following a message FDR issued to the conference on July 3rd which rejected a tentative agreement between the United States, Great Britain, and France to temporarily stabilize the American dollar, stating that he "would regard it as a catastrophe amounting to a world tragedy" if the meeting, "called to bring a more real and permanent financial stability and greater prosperity to the masses of all nations," instead "allowed itself to be diverted by the proposal.affecting the monetary exchange of a few nations only" before seriously considering those "broader problems" He added, "The sound internal economic system of a nation is a greater factor in its well-being than the price of its currency," which, in many ways, reflected Roosevelt's prior declaration that his focus as the new president would be on reviving the U. S. economy, regardless of that agenda's potential negative impact on concurrent efforts to restore trade and combat the international effects of the Great Depression. The outcry was intense as alluded to by FDR's comments about quieting the press and the number of London cables he "sent and received" over the course of the preceding week with many, including British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, fearing the announcement would destroy the conference, thus FDR's instruction to McIntyre to tell reporters on "background" that the United States did not wish that to happen. McIntyre had just started as the White House Appointments Secretary, but had served as Roosevelt's Press Officer during the 1932 campaign, and clearly was still handling some aspects of that role for the nascent administration. Nonetheless, the conference did not fully recover, and closed without any significant agreements two weeks later. A unique, revealing look into FDR's behind-the-scenes tactics surrounding an important international moment at the very beginning of FDR's first term as president. Held with a contemporaneous typescript carbon copy of the contents. Two leaves cream paper, to edges pinked, rectos only. With typescript carbon copy.
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