Biographie
James Roosevelt, son of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States, and Eleanor Roosevelt, was born on December 23, 1907, in New York City. He was the eldest son and the second of six children, five of whom survived to adulthood. Their third child, Franklin Jr., born March 18, 1909, died on November 7 of the same year.
Following his father's path, James attended the Groton School (Class of 1926) and Harvard College (Class of 1930). Between Groton and Harvard, he worked in a Canadian paper mill during the summer. After Harvard, he enrolled at Boston University School of Law and worked selling insurance. He eventually left law school as his insurance business flourished, founding Roosevelt & Sargent. In 1933, he also worked as a radio announcer.
Close to his father throughout his life, James served as a political adviser and campaign manager for Massachusetts during FDR's first presidential campaign in 1932. In April 1936, he stepped away from his business interests—though retained half-interest in his agency—to assume duties of his late father's secretary, Louis McHenry Howell. He essentially served as his father's press secretary, officially becoming administrative assistant to the President in January 1937 and Secretary to the President in July 1937, a role similar to today’s White House Chief of Staff.
James resigned after the November 1938 elections amid allegations of directing business to his insurance agency while at the White House. At that time, most politicians and Americans viewed FDR as a "lame duck" due to the informal two-term presidential limit.
He moved to Los Angeles to work for film producer Samuel Goldwyn as vice president of Samuel Goldwyn Productions. In 1939, while still with Goldwyn, he founded Globe Productions, mainly producing shorts. In 1941, Globe produced the feature film Pot o' Gold, starring James Stewart and Paulette Goddard. He left Goldwyn in late 1940.
Commissioned a Marine Corps lieutenant colonel in November 1936 to serve as a military aide to his father, James resigned in 1939 to become a Marine Corps Reserve captain amid rising tensions in Europe. Before the U.S. entered World War II, he served as liaison to British forces in the Middle East and worked with Wild Bill Donovan, FDR’s Coordinator of Information.
Following Pearl Harbor, James requested combat duty and joined the Marine Raiders as second-in-command of the 2nd Raider Battalion. He earned the Navy Cross during the August 1942 raid on Makin Atoll in the Gilbert Islands. Later, he commanded the 4th Marine Raiders but was removed from combat in February 1943 due to medical issues and assigned to staff roles. He received the Silver Star during the U.S. Army invasion of Makin in November 1943. By the time he left active duty in October 1945, he was a full colonel and continued in the Marine Reserves, retiring in 1959 as a Brigadier General.
After the war, Roosevelt returned to California, briefly resumed radio commentary in 1946, and reentered politics as chairman of the California Democratic Party. He was eventually ousted after courting General Dwight D. Eisenhower to challenge President Harry S Truman for the 1948 Democratic nomination.
Following this setback, he pursued elective office. Like his brother Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr., who won a New York congressional seat in 1949, James secured the 1950 Democratic nomination for California governor but lost to popular incumbent Earl Warren by a wide margin. In 1954, he was elected to Congress representing California's 26th District, serving six consecutive terms. A liberal Democrat, he opposed Joseph McCarthy and was the sole congressman to vote against funding the House Un-American Activities Committee. His proudest legislative achievement was advocating for fair employment protections in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
While in Congress, he unsuccessfully challenged conservative Los Angeles Mayor Sam Yorty in the Democratic primary. He resigned in October 1965 during his sixth term after President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed him as a delegate to UNESCO. He left UNESCO in December 1966 to become vice president and director of Investors Overseas Services Management Company (IOS), a Switzerland-based mutual fund firm led by Bernard Cornfeld.
In 1969, while living in Geneva, his third wife, Gladys, stabbed him during an argument. IOS later collapsed amid fraud allegations, and Roosevelt was sued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an agency established by his father. The suit was dismissed in 1973 after he agreed not to violate securities laws and maintained innocence regarding any wrongdoing at IOS.
In 1972, he angered many Democrats by endorsing Richard Nixon's reelection but later campaigned for Jimmy Carter in 1976. Eight years later, he again endorsed former Democrat Ronald Reagan’s reelection.
In the late 1980s, Roosevelt led the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, claiming 1.8 million members. Critics accused the organization of using scare tactics to solicit senior citizen contributions. Roosevelt defended the group before Congress in 1987.
Married four times—one fewer than his brother Franklin Jr.—James Roosevelt had seven children. He died on August 13, 1991, in Newport Beach, California, at age 83, after suffering from Parkinson’s disease and stroke complications, the last surviving child of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.
