^Lot 113 Franklin D. Roosevelt

Partly-printed, war-dated DS as president, one page, 19.75 x 14.75, March 27, 1943. President Roosevelt appoints Hugh B. Cox to be “Assistant Attorney General.” Signed at the conclusion by Roosevelt and countersigned by Attorney General Francis Biddle. In very good condition, with mild overall rippling and wrinkling from moisture exposure, damp staining along right side, and a bit of scattered light soiling. The gold foil seal is lightly creased, but intact.

One month after attending the monumental Casablanca conference in Morocco, FDR appointed Cox as Assistant Attorney General, a position that put Cox in intimate proximity of FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover. Together, Cox and Hoover actively pursued individuals suspected of loyalty to the Axis Powers, battling the possible flow of secret information that could have been responsible for the ever-rising number of merchant ships sinking at the hands of the German U-Boats. This exemplary document, bearing a crisp signature from the only president to be elected to four terms, is a testament to the ongoing mission to purge US soil of any and all individuals serving the enemy.