FDR always proud of valley roots

Boyhood, river, friends stay in his thoughts

By Thomas W. Casey
For the Poughkeepsie Journal

It seems the bishop had asked FDR to consider his cathedral crypt as his final resting place. After all, the bishop explained, he already had some venerable captives in his crypt, including the remains of President Woodrow Wilson.

Alas, the bishop did not know his subject well, for FDR was aghast anyone would suggest his final resting place would be anywhere other than the place of his birth and boyhood in the Hudson Valley. He dictated instructions to Miss Tully on how he was to be buried in the Rose Garden of his Hyde Park home.

Hence it is that tourists from around the world have journeyed here to visit the home and burial site of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt on the banks of the Hudson River.

Countless volumes have been written about Roosevelt as an unsurpassed leader on the world and national stage in the century we now close, but scant attention has been paid to the depth and duration of his love affair with the valley.

His crucial role as president and commander-in-chief (a term he invented) at a time when the demonic forces of Nazism and Fascism threatened the existence of western democracy has been well chronicled by historians. They have also given thorough and critical appraisal of FDR as architect of the New Deal, the bold, sprawling domestic program designed to rescue a nation from the Great Depression.

Franklin D. Roosevelt Library The "Big Three" meet in Yalta in the Ukraine on Feb. 9, 1945. From left are British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin.

Valley forever beckons

However, a fascinating third facet of this complex personality has gone largely neglected, i.e., how remarkably parochial he remained. How, during his election to four terms, he remained in constant contact with his Hudson Valley ties through well over 100 visits to his boyhood home and through constant correspondence dealing with the history and development of the valley.

All indications are FDR’s boyhood was a happy one. All the ingredients were there — parental love, health, economic security, recreational opportunities offered by a vast estate, distinguished ancestry. All of these combined to form the exuberant adult who would later inspire a nation and world. When plagued by sleepless nights in the White House, he tells of finding relief recalling the honest fatigue brought on by boyhood sledding.

His interest in family and Hudson Valley history manifested themselves early on. At age 19 at Harvard in 1901, he chose as a term paper topic, ‘‘The Roosevelt Family in New Amsterdam Before the Revolution.’’ His Christmas gift to his mother in the same year was a copy of William S. Pellertreau’s, ‘‘Early New York Houses with Historical and Geneological Notes.’’

In 1910, at age 28, he joined a Dutch historical group called the Holland Society of New York and soon became a member of the newly formed Dutchess County Historical Society. He would later become the official historian of Hyde Park, a post he held for 10 years.

FDR’s involvement in local history brought him in contact with Helen Wilkinson Reynolds. Besides their common interest in regional history, both were physically handicapped. Reynolds, FDR and a Dr. Poucher would spend Sundays picnicing on his estate in what they called ‘‘historical afternoons.’’ Topics ranged from the Great Nine Partners Patent to the importance of the Hudson River during the Revolutionary War. Conversations were enlivened by a concoction known as ‘‘Dr. Poucher’s Punch.’’

In 1923, Helen Reynolds and FDR collaborated on a book about the history of Dutch-style homes in the valley. FDR appealed for their preservation and was appalled by what he called ‘‘the march of modernism.’’ To be sure, their collaboration found Helen Reynolds doing most of the actual work as FDR had perfected the art of delegation well before his White House years.

When FDR was called to the presidency, his abiding link with Hudson Valley history was through Helen Reynolds. They corresponded frequently and on many visits to Hyde Park, time was found for visits with her. In fact, he planned for her to become the curator of documents related to local history to be housed at the FDR Library. It was not to be, as Helen died in 1943, prompting Roosevelt to remark, ‘‘ ... what a tragedy. She was a good friend and we had worked together so much on things related to Dutchess County that I shall greatly miss her. And so much remains to be done with nobody to take her place.’’

In the summer of 1939, FDR made the Hudson Valley the center of world attention by arranging a visit of the king and queen of England. Correspondence shows an FDR more insistent they come to Hyde Park than to Washington, D.C. They found time to do both.

Menu topped by hot dogs

It was but a 24-hour visit, but time was found for a picnic at Top Cottage on the Val-Kill property. There, Roosevelt served good old American hot dogs — the story stole the day. The king and queen were escorted to Sunday services at St. James Church in Hyde Park. The queen was to later recall seeing a sign indicating it to be the church of ‘‘Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States.’’ Under it, someone — no doubt a local Republican — had added, ‘‘What a shame, it used to belong to God.’’

Roosevelt’s interest in local architecture remains everywhere evident today. He was partial to native Dutchess fieldstone and the slung Dutch roof. A few of the buildings where we can see his architectural signature include the FDR Library; the winged additions to his home; Val-Kill, his wife Eleanor’s home; the post offices in Poughkeepsie, Hyde Park and Rhinebeck; the Hyde Park Public Library; and the Violet Avenue and Haviland schools.

His architectural influences led one Poughkeepsie newspaper to exclaim he was Dutchess County’s leading architect. FDR commented at the cornerstone ceremony for the Poughkeepsie Post Office, ‘‘Let me straighten out this matter of my being an architect. I think the easiest way to put it is this: If when the post office is completed and you good people of Poughkeepsie have had a chance to look at it ... if, then you like it, I will take all the credit in the world. But, if you don’t like it when it is finished, why, I had nothing to do with it whatsoever.’’

Shortly before his death in 1945, weary of war abroad and depression at home, he confided to a friend, ‘‘Everything in me yearns to return to the Hudson Valley.’’

Thomas W. Casey is a professor of philosophy and regional history at Marist College in Poughkeepsie.