John W. Barry

Poughkeepsie Journal

First lady. Icon of liberalism. Gun owner?

Yes, Eleanor Roosevelt, known for traveling the country to highlight the plight of the poor and marginalized, also was packing heat.

The mother of five had a .22 caliber Smith & Wesson pistol with a 6-inch barrel, front sight and a round top frame with an adjustable rear sight.

Her application for a pistol permit in Dutchess County was added in June to the extensive materials on Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park.

Bob Clark, acting director of the library and museum, said the pistol permit application is extremely important from a historical perspective.

“This is an example of a record that is out there — it was intended for an administrative purpose, but it has long-term, historical implications,” Clark said. “It’s very important that it has a permanent home here at the library.”

With debate raging in New York and around the nation about gun control and Second Amendment rights, the fact that one of the greats of the Democratic Party not only owned a gun, but carried it for protection, may seem hard to believe, but it was a different time, some say. Eleanor Roosevelt received death threats and her husband, Franklin Roosevelt, had survived an assassination attempt in Miami while awaiting his first presidential inauguration.

The Roosevelts had been in the political spotlight for years. For example, FDR was governor of New York from 1928-32. But the spotlight would only get brighter. Franklin Roosevelt had won his first presidential election in 1932 and he would win three more terms as president.

That assassination attempt in February 1933 prompted FDR to suggest to his wife that she let the Secret Service protect her. She declined.

According to Clark, Eleanor Roosevelt did not like to have a large entourage and preferred to travel alone.

But in October 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt received a gift or her 49th birthday from her bodyguard, Earl Miller.

“Her bodyguard, Earl Miller, wanted to teach her how to shoot a gun so she would have that skill, if necessary,” Clark said. “He worked with her to show her the proper way to shoot a pistol and that was really the beginning of Mrs. Roosevelt’s interest with handguns.”

According to James D. Julia Auctioneers in Maine, Eleanor Roosevelt’s pistol was sold at auction in October 2014 to a private collector for $50,600.

“I think it's fascinating,” said Jeremy Levenbach, 33, of Brooklyn, who on Friday visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde Park.

Political divide

Eleanor Roosevelt is considered a 20th century icon of the Democratic Party and someone whose liberal politics established an enduring benchmark that continues to shape politics today. The fact that she owned a gun offers yet another dimension to the historic legacy of a president and first lady who were based in Dutchess County but shaped national and global events.

Viewed from the perspective of 21st century politics, where Republicans and Democrats largely have lined up on opposing sides of the gun control debate, Eleanor Roosevelt’s pistol offers a fresh take on the ongoing debate over the rights of gun owners, the Democrats who want to curtail them and the Republicans who want to expand them.

“I think that having an icon in the political arena and, truly, someone who was a world leader, having a true understanding of what your Second Amendment rights are, as an American, is just incredibly enlightening,” said Mike McCormack, chairman of the Dutchess County Republican Committee. “She got it.”

Dutchess County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Elisa Sumner had a very different opinion.

“I don’t think you can compare what she did in 1957 with 2015,” Sumner said. “At the time, you weren’t having mass shootings. You didn’t have Sandy Hook (elementary school shootings). You didn’t have people walking around with semi-automatic weapons, Uzis and Kalishnikovs. I don’t think there is a comparison at all. You’re talking about two different time periods.

“She needed protection because of her liberal, civil rights circumstances. She needed protection,” Sumner said.

Levenbach shared Sumner’s opinion.

“I think it was such a different time,” he said.

Eleanor's travels

In 1937, Eleanor Roosevelt traveled to New Orleans and was provided with security, Clark said. She didn’t feel the security was necessary when she traveled in New York or Washington, because people knew who she was.

“She made a comment at that event,” Clark said. “She made an off-handed comment that she sometimes did carry a gun when she traveled and she knew how to use it. She also made the comment, ‘I hate guns.’”

Eleanor Roosevelt carried the unloaded gun in the locked glove compartment of her car.

Clark said the story picks up again in 1957. That’s the year Eleanor Roosevelt applied for and received a pistol permit in Dutchess County. She was 72.

The permit was among the items in Eleanor Roosevelt’s wallet when she died on Nov. 7, 1962. The date on the pistol permit was Aug. 5, 1957. Her address on the permit is listed as “ValKill Cottage, Hyde Park.” Her occupation is listed as “Writer & Lecturer.” She wrote that she was employed by “Self.” The permit is on display at the library.

Dutchess County Clerk Brad Kendall, 51 years after the permit was issued, was attending the annual meeting of the New York State Association of County Clerks. As was customary, a representative of the state police addressed those gathered. In 2008, the discussion turned to pistol permits and how the deaths of permit holders can make the the accuracy of the state’s database difficult to maintain.

The speaker, as an example, cited how Eleanor Roosevelt’s pistol permit, in 2008, remained active.

Kendall returned home and found the application.

“Sure enough, we had it,” he said. “It had never been noted she was deceased. Technically, it was still active.”

Eleanor Roosevelt’s pistol application indicated that she had previously been granted a pistol license in 1933. No further information was available.

But along with the application Kendall found was a document with Eleanor Roosevelt’s fingerprints.

The application had been processed by the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office and signed by then-Sheriff C. Fred Close. It included a photo of Eleanor Roosevelt wearing a hat, fur stole and double strand of pearls. The reason for the pistol, according to Eleanor Roosevelt’s application, was “protection.”

Clark said the timing of the pistol permit coincided with Eleanor Roosevelt’s travels throughout the South — by herself — in advocacy of civil rights. Those trips prompted death threats.

After the application was discovered at the county clerk’s office, it was returned to long-term storage, Kendall said. Earlier this year, older pistol permits were purged and, after consulting with the county historian and New York State Archives, Kendall turned the application over to the FDR Library.

The formal transfer took place in June during a naturalization ceremony that Kendall conducted at the FDR Library’s Henry A. Wallace Visitor and Education Center. The pistol permit application is not on display, but available for review by researchers.

John W. Barry:jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822; Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo

Eleanor Roosevelt

1884: Born

1905: Marries Franklin D. Roosevelt

1962: Dies

The Secret Service and the first lady

1865 - The U.S. Secret Service is created.

1917 – The Secret Service begins protecting the immediate family of a sitting president.

1963 – Congress passes legislation authorizing the Secret Service to protect Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of President John F. Kennedy, and her children, for two years.

1965 – Congress authorizes the Secret Service to protect a former president and his wife, during his lifetime.

1968 – Congress authorizes the Secret Service to protect the widow of a president until her death.

Source: U.S. Secret Service

Did you know

There are roughly 40,000 active pistol permits in Dutchess County, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Dutchess County is home to about 300,000 people.