Typed Note Signed in type "F.D.R.."1 pp. 8x5¼". On White House letterhead, sent from Warm Springs, Georgia, December 2,1938

"MEMORANDUM FOR BILL HASSETT" asking, "Will you please verify this quotation [not present] from John Adams and let me have it back?" Roosevelt, an avid student of history with a remarkable memory for prose, was smart enough not to forego fact checking. We are unsure when or if Roosevelt actually used this unknown quote of Adams. He may have been preparing for a discussion on neutrality which was the subject of a lengthy press conference on March 7,1939. Questioned about the possibility of American military action without a declaration of war, Roosevelt used the Quasi-War with France from 1798-1800 during the Adams administration as an illustrative example of such a situation. William David Hassett (1880 - 1965) was a longtime reporter for the Associated Press and the Washington Post before joining the White House staff as Roosevelt's assistant press secretary. He later became F.D.R.'s secretary and was with the President when he died in Warm Springs, Georgia in April,1945.