Looking Forward.

First edition of this early work by Franklin Roosevelt, written during his first term in office. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "For Henry R. Sedgwick with the affectionate regards of his old classmate Franklin D. Roosevelt The White House 1942." Roosevelt and Sedgwick were classmates at Groton School and Harvard College. Laid in is a letter dated September 22nd, 1939 from Sedgwick to Roosevelt which is singed by the former and reads in part, "As an old fried and admirer...may I tell you that I was never more proud of being an American than after listening over the radio to your address yesterday to the Congress of the United States...It is my devout hope, as it must be that of most Americans, that Germany, in its lust for world domination and its record of lawlessness and disregards the teachings of Christianity will be defeated..." The letter refers to Roosevelt's State of the Union Address given on Wednesday, January 4th 1939 in which, foreseeing WWII, he asserted, "In Reporting on the state of the nation, I have felt it necessary on previous occasions to advise the Congress of disturbance abroad and of the need of putting our own house in order in the face of storm signals from across the seas. As this Seventy-sixth Congress opens there is need for further warning. A war which threatened to envelop the world in flames has been averted; but it has become increasingly clear that world peace is not assured." On September 1st, 1939 the Second World War began. Bookplate of the recipient, an excellent example in a very good dust jacket.