Seth Kaller, Inc.

Featuring Franklin Roosevelt’s acceptance speech at the 1936 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the 1936 Democratic National Platform, and the results of the election of 1936, this lavish book includes statements by the first lady and cabinet members, sketches of other party leaders, histories of the Democratic Party, Congress, and the White House, and biographies of Roosevelt and Vice President John Nance Garner. With fantastic illustrations and advertisements.

President Roosevelt signed colorful printed illustrations of the White House, which were bound into this souvenir book created by the DNC to pay down the post-election campaign deficit.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. The Democratic Book 1936, with limitation page signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt under a beautiful color illustration of the White House. Original presentation Morocco gilt, with original illustrated title and limitation pages, 19 full-page portraits, dozens of in-text half-tones and illustrations, and a facsimile of the Constitution, and illustrated wrappers bound in; copy no. 256 [of 2500] cover gilt stamped inscription to FDR’s first cousin, “Lyman Delano,” 384 pp., 11¼ x 14½ x 1⅝ in.

Inventory #27795       Price: $2,000

Complete Transcript of Foreword by Franklin D. Roosevelt
Democracy is not a static thing. It is an everlasting march. When our children grow up, they will still have problems to overcome. It is for us, however, manfully to set ourselves to the task of preparation for them so that to some degree the difficulties they must overcome may weigh upon them less heavily.

I am confident that the people of the nation, having put their shoulders to the wheel, will build a better future for the children of the days to come.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Historical Background
After FDR’s reelection in 1936, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) faced a campaign deficit of about $850,000. To pay off the debt, Jackson Day dinners were held throughout the country. Addressed by the President via radio, the dinners raised $315,000. Also, DNC treasurer William Forbes Morgan convinced the President to sign 2,500 sheets, bound into The Democratic Book 1936, for donors of $250, raising more than $400,000.

After the New York Times reported on July 26, 1937 that hundreds of copies had been sold to corporations, Republican House leader Bertrand Hollis Snell and Rep. Robert Low Bacon insisted that this violated the Federal Corrupt Practices Act which forbid corporations from making federal campaign contributions. Snell showed a DNC letter that read, in part, “The sale of the book enables us to legally accept corporation checks, and this is the way all the companies who are assisting us are handling these expenditures.” The Democratic-controlled House failed to act, so Snell asked Attorney General Homer S. Cummings to investigate. In December, Cummings predictably announced that criminal prosecutions against the DNC for selling the souvenir convention books to corporations “would not be warranted.”

Condition: internally clean, leather cover somewhat rubbed with accompanying edgewear. Fine.