Professor Hamilton's Diary: Sept. 10, 1935

Gwennie's trip to fair is cancelled; FDR has a "chat" with hate radio priest

Poor Gwennie. She was supposed to go to the Reading Fair today — it was Children’s Day — but had a cold and her parents kept her at home. Mr. Neuroth and his son continued painting the walls of the downstairs.

Still at home in Hyde Park, President Roosevelt had a visit from the controversial radio priest Father Charles Coughlin, brought to his doorstep by none other than Joseph P. Kennedy, a major donor and father of the future president John F. Kennedy. FDR characterized the meeting as an informal chat — which is highly doubtful.

Paid subscribers can read on about this meeting of opposites.

Joseph Kennedy, then chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, had been featured on the July 22, 1935 cover of TIME magazine. The image was accessed via Wikimedia Commons.