Henry L. Roosevelt
Henry Latrobe Roosevelt (October 5, 1879 – February 22, 1936) was an Assistant Secretary of the United States Navy.
A member of the Roosevelt family, he was born in Morristown, New Jersey, to Lieutenant Nicholas Latrobe Roosevelt, USN, who had a naval career of distinction, and was a grandson of Nicholas Roosevelt, an inventor and land-owner.
Roosevelt entered the United States Naval Academy in 1896 but did not graduate. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps on December 8, 1899 and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.[1] During his career with the Marine Corps he was stationed in, among other places, Philadelphia, Panama, Cuba and Haiti.
After retiring from the Marine Corps in 1920, he served as the European manager for the Radio Corporation of America from 1923 to 1928 and oversaw the building of large radio stations at Ankara, Turkey, and Warsaw, Poland.[1]
He returned to the United States in 1933 to head the Radio Real Estate Corporation, but was soon selected by Naval Secretary Claude A. Swanson for the post of Assistant Secretary of the Navy in the administration of his distant cousin, President Franklin Roosevelt.[2] He served in the position from March 17, 1933 to February 22, 1936. He became the fourth Roosevelt and fifth member of the Roosevelt family to occupy that office, after Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt (the current president at the time), Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. and Theodore Douglas Robinson.[1][2] Due to Swanson's poor health, Roosevelt was at times Acting Secretary. He made many tours of inspection and speeches, calling for the strengthening of the navy as a deterrent to war.[1][3]
In 1902, he married Eleanor Morrow, daughter of California Circuit Judge W. W. Morrow.[4] He had three children, William Morrow, Henry Latrobe, and Eleanor Katherine, who married Reverdy Wadsworth, son of U.S. Representative James W. Wadsworth, Jr..[4][5]
He was a hereditary companion of the California Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States in succession to his father.
He died at Bethesda Naval Hospital of a heart attack following intestinal influenza.[6]
References
- 1 2 3 4 Schriftgiesser, Karl (1942). The Amazing Roosevelt Family, 1613–1942. Wildred Funk, Inc.
- 1 2 "Another Roosevelt". TIME. 1933-03-27.
- 1 2 Whittelsey, Charles B. (1902). The Roosevelt Genealogy, 1649–1902.
- ↑ "Miss Roosevelt Engaged to Wed". New York Times. 1937-01-09. p. 14.
- ↑ "Henry Roosevelt Dead in Capital". New York Times. 1936-02-23. p. 1.
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ernest L. Jahncke |
Assistant Secretary of the Navy March 17, 1933 – February 22, 1936 |
Succeeded by Charles Edison |
