Louis Mc Henry Howe - Work With FDR

Work With FDR

As a young Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1913, Roosevelt followed his Chief of Staff Howe's advice to directly and personally monitor labor conditions in the Navy Yards. This gave FDR valuable administrative experience in understanding and manoeuvring through government bureaucracy while also making connections to both labor leaders and the rank and file.

Howe accompanied Roosevelt on his 1920 campaign tour as the Vice-Presidential Nominee on the Democratic ticket under Governor James Cox, and the year after, sat at his bedside and read to him when Roosevelt was stricken with poliomyelitis. Howe's support was probably second only to Eleanor's in guiding and supporting FDR's personal and political resurrection. Howe had already become more intimately involved in the Roosevelt family situation when Eleanor had threatened to divorce her husband after discovering he had been involved in an extramarital affair with her social secretary, Lucy Mercer. With Franklin's mobility restricted, Howe played a mentorship role to Eleanor, helping her to become a more confident and effective public speaker. With this support FDR successfully attained the governorship of New York 1928, and then the presidency in 1932.

Howe's title of "Colonel" was an honorary bestowed upon him by the Lt Governor of Kentucky, Happy Chandler, during the 1932 campaign.

Howe's behind-the-scenes influence over Roosevelt was viewed with suspicion and sometimes outright hostility by other members of the political establishment. When Howe attempted to obtain a sinecure with the New York Parks Commission through Roosevelt the powerful head of the parks commission, Robert Moses, humiliated him by refusing to grant the post and making his request public. When Roosevelt became governor of New York he fired Moses in retribution.