FIRST EDITIONS FROM THE LIBRARY OF ROOSEVELT'S AMBASSADOR & ADVISOR LINCOLN MACVEAGH, SIGNED BY MACVEAGH
(Rosenman, Samuel I.; MacVeagh, Lincoln). Roosevelt, Franklin D. THE PUBLIC PAPERS AND ADDRESSES OF FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, with a Special Introduction and Explanatory Notes by President Roosevelt. (5 Volumes). [FIRST EDITIONS from the library of ROOSEVELT'S AMBASSADOR and ADVISOR LINCOLN MACVEAGH, SIGNED by MacVeagh]. New York: Random House, 1938. Octavo, 9-1/2 inches high by 6-1/4 inches wide. Hardcovers, 5 volumes uniformly bound in blue cloth titled in gilt on the spines and with Roosevelt's name stamped in gilt on the front covers. The covers are slightly soiled and the spines are lightly faded. xliii & 911 pages; xxi & 622 pages; xx & 564 pages; xix & 675 pages; and xxiv & 721 pages respectively. Illustrated with a portrait of Roosevelt in each volume and a facsimile in the second volume. The bottom edges of the books are slightly soiled. Lacking the dust wrappers, else very good.
First edition.
Wonderful association copies, from the library of Ambassador Lincoln MacVeagh with the bookplate of MacVeagh and his wife Margaret in each volume. The Ambassador has signed Volume 1 "Lincoln MacVeagh / The American Legation / Athens". In Volume 5 he signs: "Lincoln MacVeagh / American Embassy / Athens" and adds a quotation from FDR: "Where there is vision there is tolerance, and where there is tolerance there is peace". Laid into Volume 1 is a retained carbon of MacVeagh's congratulatory note to Roosevelt dated November 9, 1932.
Lincoln MacVeagh (1890-1972), a Renaissance man, graduated from Harvard magna cum laude in 1913. He went on to study languages at the Sorbonne and became fluent in German, French, Spanish, Latin, Greek and Classical Greek. He served in the Atois, St. Mihiel and Meuse Argonne campaigns of World War I as an aide to the commanding general of the 80th Division and of the Ninth and Sixth Army Corps. He rose to the rank of Major. After the war he became a director of the Henry Holt and Company publishing firm where he became friendly with the poet Robert Frost. In 1923 he left the firm and founded the Dial Press. His name appears on the imprint of many of their publications. In 1933 President Roosevelt appointed him Minister to Greece. He followed presentation of his credentials with a speech in Classical Greek. While in Greece he conducted excavations beneath the Acropolis and made archeological contributions to the National Museum in Athens. He left Greece in 1941 when the German army over ran the country. From there he was appointed the first US Minister to Iceland where he negotiated agreements for the construction of the Keflavik airfield. In late 1942 he became Minister to the Union of South Africa and coordinated American wartime agencies there. In 1943 he was sent to Cairo as Ambassador so that he could assist the governments in exile of Greece and Yugoslavia. He returned to Athens as Ambassador in 1944. MacVeagh gave secret testimony before Congress concerning the Balkans in 1947, testimony that was an important factor in the formation of the Truman Doctrine. In 1948 as Ambassador to Portugal MacVeagh was influential in admitting her into NATO. In 1952 President Truman named him Ambassador to Spain. President Truman wrote to him on March 9, 1948: "On the occasion of your appointment as Ambassador to Portugal, I would like to make some personal expression of appreciation for the high services you have already rendered your country. During the past fifteen critical years you have served with distinction as Chief of the United states Missions to Iceland, the Union of South Africa, Yugoslavia and Greece. In this last post especially - as Minister from 1933 to 1941 and as Ambassador since 1943 - your scholarly statesmanship and diplomatic judgment have been of the utmost value."
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