Tributes to Allied Leaders Part I: Franklin D. Roosevelt

 

 

Visitors to the Gibson House will be familiar with the framed letters displayed in the dressing room on the third floor. When giving tours of the house, I always point out my two favorites. One is from Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and the other is from President Harry Truman. Both are short but serve to thank Charles Gibson, Jr. for poems he sent to them. Charlie wrote an ode to honor the English prime minister, which was read to him at a science convocation hosted by MIT. And after the passing of President Franklin Roosevelt, Charlie wrote a poem in his memory and sent it to Truman, Roosevelt’s successor.

Whenever I directed tour groups into the dressing room to show them the letters, I always wondered whether there were any existing copies of those poems and whether there were any way to find out why Charlie cared so much about having them read by these men. After all, couldn’t he simply have submitted the poems for publication in some newspaper? Fortunately, I was able to locate copies of these poems and related documents—including Charlie’s response to Churchill’s thank you note and the letter he sent to Truman with the FDR poem—in the museum archives.

In a two-part post, I want to share these poems and provide background information regarding their creation and why Charlie wanted to have them read by Churchill and Truman. This week I am focusing on Charlie’s poem on President Roosevelt, and in our next post, the one on Winston Churchill.

Near the end of the Second World War, on April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage. Immediately afterwards, Vice President Truman was sworn into office to complete his predecessor’s term.

Upon learning the tragic news of Roosevelt’s death, Charlie composed some lines of poetry to express his grief at the passing of a man he so admired. Entitled, “In Memoriam,” they speak of a towering and heroic figure—a man martyred to his cause who “died to save the world.” Here Roosevelt appears almost as a messianic figure, who strode upon the world stage to defend it in its darkest hour. There is no mistaking that Charlie truly admired the man.

Shortly after completing the poem, Charlie sent it to President Truman along with a letter that helps explain why he did so. He wrote: “In begging you to accept my condolences, in the loss of our late beloved President, whose untimely death has plunged the whole world into grief, I am enclosing a poem in tribute to his memory.” As with his poem on the death of his nephew Lt. Warren Winslow (see “To the Heroes of the Sea,” September 17, 2015), “In Memoriam” was a means by which Charlie could express grief and contemplate the profound loss and tragedy of the Second World War.

Let the bells peal, if there be bells to tell;

They sing so seldom in this rubbled war,

Even with full Victory in store.

Let the drums’ ruffled roll

Accompany his soul.

Martyr to freedom and the cause of peace,

He died to save the world, with war’s surcease,

Rose to new heights on wings of adverse fate,

Turned to prosperity the sinking of the state.

The cherished memories of distant lands,

That held his premise high in their esteem:

His all untimely death to them must seem

A light extinguished on the desert sands,

For not alone America his sphere.

Even the good neighbor lived not only here.

God fearing, the whole world looked on his smile,

And recognized a charm that could beguile.

A fount of human sympathy is quenched;

With tears a freedom-loving world is crushed and drenched.

Friend of the friendless, protector of the poor,

The more abundant life for them was sure;

A rock in the dark waters of our age, he stood,

A master architect of peace, a force for good.

By Timothy Spezia, museum docent

Image Source:  http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/franklin-d-roosevelt/pictures/franklin-d-roosevelt/franklin-roosevelt

Sources:

Charles Hammond Gibson, “In Memoriam,” 1945.

Charles Hammond Gibson, letter to President Truman, April 15, 1945.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt,” the White House website, accessed October 17, 2015, http://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/franklinroosevelt